Your Guide to Smarter Hiring: A Complete Checklist for 2026

Advanced prep for accelerated hiring
- Develop company policies for all employees
- Create compelling job descriptions
Don’t be afraid to market your business
- Take the dive into social media
- Make your company an invaluable employer
Investing in your future HR team
- Take advantage of human resources software
- Plan for future hiring
Hiring strong talent with confidence
- Set your business apart during interviews
- Run compliant background checks
Continuous employee support and development
Fast-tracking your hiring pipeline

Ready to run background checks the modern way?

Hiring new talent can be overwhelming for small and mid-sized teams. Many businesses have limited talent acquisition teams or HR personnel, and in a competitive labor market, employers may feel pressure to hire quickly before a candidate accepts another offer.

Disjointed employee policies, unclear job marketing strategies, and manual background check processes can all hold you back while interviewing and onboarding candidates. But creating a strong hiring process and offering benefits that candidates actually want can help your business stand out and attract the talent you need.

Use the following checklist to kickstart or improve your hiring process as your business searches for top talent.

Advanced prep for accelerated hiring

Some businesses have already built a workforce but might not have solidified a strong set of policies or doubled down on writing compelling job descriptions. If that’s you, put in a little extra work and watch your approach to hiring transform.

Develop company policies for all employees

Setting expectations from the beginning will make the road smoother for your team. Documentation also helps protect your business and mitigate risk.

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Determine what hours and days you expect your new hires to work. Which holidays will they have off? How many weeks of PTO will they receive annually?

Determine your advancement opportunities before you hire new candidates, including the percentage and frequency of raises as well as how you’ll handle promotions.

Check your state’s laws to determine whether your company needs workers’ compensation insurance and sign up for it if so.

Create an employee handbook that clearly outlines all the policies you just set. This handbook should be given to every new employee on their first day of onboarding.

Create compelling job descriptions

Once you’ve identified the employees or roles your business most needs, start writing job descriptions for those roles.

A strong job description concisely outlines what your role entails, highlighting the qualifications you’re looking for as well as the pay rate and benefits that candidates want to know up front.

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Focus on accuracy and detail. It’s important to check your final product for professionalism, and candidates will appreciate an honest description of the role.

Along the same vein, avoid packing the description with industry buzzwords. It’s certainly good to include some keywords so your description shows up in search engine results, but overloading a job description with vague jargon isn’t helpful.

Consider putting the exact salary or hourly range in your job description, since candidates look for this information early. Some states and cities also require employers to disclose pay information in advance, so make sure you’re listing that in the job description if your state or local jurisdiction mandates it.

Look at AI options for streamlining your job descriptions. AI can help you create an initial draft of a description, consistent with current market job synopses, which you can then adjust for accuracy and tone.

If you plan to offer a hybrid or remote work option, make sure that’s noted in the job description as well.

Don’t be afraid to market your business

Marketing can feel overwhelming for SMBs, but look at it as a long-term investment. Successful marketing establishes your online presence and prepares you to scale in the future if that’s on the horizon for your business.

Take the dive into social media

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Develop a steady presence on LinkedIn, encouraging team members to post about events happening at your company or roles that have just opened.

Instead of spreading yourself too thin trying to post on every social platform, pick just one or two where your target demographic is statistically most active.

If your company already has accounts with social channels, gradually increase the number of posts you push live.

Similarly to social channels, post on the job boards most relevant to your industry and roles.

Make your company an invaluable employer

Marketing isn’t just posting job descriptions online; it also includes making your business stand out as a potential employer. This includes competitive pay, but other factors like time off and growth opportunities for employees also matter.

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Perform market research on similar roles and their associated hourly rates or salaries before setting rates to stay competitive.

Pay based on experience and skills, taking into consideration a candidate’s previous years in a similar role when you set rates. This also applies to performance raises over time.

If you’re hiring full-time employees, offer them healthcare benefits comparable to your competitors’ offerings, if you can. Like salaries, this will likely require some research.

Create flexible time-off policies to align with workers’ needs and expectations. Many job seekers care just as much about flexibility as they do about salary, so you’ll put your hiring team at an advantage if you offer increased PTO or flexible shifts and holidays.

Advertise growth opportunities for your future employees, making sure you plan to follow through on them. This can include funding skill training, developing a promotion pathway, and running a performance review cycle.

Make sure you can name your company’s core values or top three goals so you can articulate them to candidates. Strong values may resonate with candidates more than a simple job description.

Investing in your future HR team

Maybe your business only has one part-time HR administrator right now, or maybe the owner or office manager handles payroll and recruitment. But if you’re approaching workforce growth or scaling, you can set your future HR team up for success by using the right tools and planning ahead.

Take advantage of human resources software

HR software isn’t just for large companies—there are tools specifically designed for SMBs, too. While they may feel unwieldy or overwhelming at first, hiring and talent management tools actually save teams time in the long run.

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First on your list is a basic HR information system (HRIS) solution, which often includes payroll functionality, time tracking and time off, and employee benefits. If you find a tool that’s comprehensive enough, an HRIS may be all you initially need.

Payroll software calculates pay, allows employees to view their own pay stubs, and often helps you handle tax forms and procedures.

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are particularly useful for moving candidates through the hiring process and managing different interview stages.

Talent management systems tend to be more beneficial once you have a slightly larger workforce, but keep them in mind—they help HR personnel manage recruiting, onboarding, and employee training.

Plan for future hiring

Make sure hiring dedicated HR personnel is a top priority as you grow—you’ll often need them sooner rather than later.

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If you’re a business owner or administrative assistant and you’re handling the hiring process, know when to look for dedicated HR staff (often once you hit 10 or 15 employees). A part-time HR admin working a few days a week is a great option for a startup.

You may also benefit from an HR manager or HR generalist once you hit around 20-30 employees.

If your business is rapidly scaling or just growing more quickly than expected, it may be time to start forming a recruitment team.

Hiring strong talent with confidence

Now that you’ve posted your job descriptions and set up software, you’re ready to review applications and start hosting interviews. Determine how many interviews you’d like to conduct for each candidate, and set up your background check process to be completed as effectively as possible.

Set your business apart during interviews

Striking the right balance between careful consideration and speed will help you evaluate candidates without excessively prolonging their interview period.

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Conduct the right number of interviews depending on the role and your needs. A single phone call probably isn’t sufficient to determine a fit, but a five-step interview process may lose your candidates to a speedier competitor.

Ask thoughtful, intentional questions of candidates, making sure you ask similar questions in each interview to comply with fair hiring laws.

Don’t wait too long to give a candidate an offer—it’s not respectful of their time, and you risk them going with an earlier offer instead.

Run compliant background checks

Background checks are a critical step in the hiring process for many employers, giving your team information about a candidate’s qualifications and eligibility for a particular role. While background checks aren’t the only deciding factor in a hiring decision, they can help businesses build trust with their candidates and demonstrate compliance with federal and state regulations.

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Decide which checks you need to run for each role, such as criminal record checks, motor vehicle record checks, or drug testing, based on compliance regulations and your organization’s background check policy.

Follow federal laws, like the Fair Credit Reporting Act, when running background checks. The FCRA governs how employers may consider and use the information on background checks to hire their employees.

Know the adverse action process for making a negative hiring decision, which requires you to notify candidates if you consider choosing not to hire them based on information reported in background checks.

Understand when you’re allowed to run a background check, which varies by state and local laws. Ban the Box regulations restrict when employers are allowed to conduct background checks while hiring.

Consider using a third-party background check service regardless of your business size. There are affordable options for smaller teams and limited budgets, and using a background check provider saves time and effort for your administrative and HR personnel.

Continuous employee support and development

This process doesn’t stop once your new team members first walk through the office doors. Now you’re shifting from hiring to retention, from interviewing to empowering, as your business grows and learns to support more employees. The following steps will help you successfully manage your SMB’s workforce over time.

Make your team feel valued

While benefits such as health insurance and office perks like catered meals can certainly help, they’re only one factor in showing your employees that you value their time and skills. Often, flexibility and growth opportunities matter even more to workers.

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Ask whether the perks you offer make sense for your employees, whether those perks will truly be valuable to them.

Be flexible with scheduling and offer remote work options as often as you can.

Cultivate a work environment where employees feel comfortable bringing their concerns to leadership, rather than one where questions and frustrations are shut down.

Implement consistent performance management

It can be a huge advantage for hires to enter a role knowing that advancement opportunities are available at their new workplace. Now, your team can further empower new hires by giving them actionable steps for growth.

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Consider implementing performance management software, which makes the review and raise process much easier.

If a performance management tool isn’t yet feasible for your business, set up a spreadsheet for overall performance tracking, and make sure each employee has their own job expectation sheet.

Schedule consistent performance review cycles, perhaps one to three times a year. Ideally, each employee’s manager will run their direct reports’ reviews so the full burden doesn’t fall on your HR administrator.

Determine how often you’ll give raises and set a consistent method for calculating the amount or percentage.

Encourage your team to network

Training your employees to be recreational recruiters sets your hiring team up for success. This is especially important if your business will scale rapidly in the next couple of years.

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Ask employees to promote and share open roles at the company with their personal and social networks.

If you’re hiring for major roles or need positions filled immediately, consider offering referral bonuses to your employees, even if that bonus is small or includes a prize rather than a dollar amount.

Talk with them directly, asking your team if anyone knows a friend or former colleague who would be a great accounting manager or SEO consultant, for example.

Fast-tracking your hiring pipeline

A strong hiring process, paired with compelling benefits and the right software solutions, can help your business stand out from the competition. With careful planning, the limitations of enterprise teams’ hiring pipelines can become your strength.

Employers can pivot faster, finalizing hiring decisions in a shorter timeline and making candidates an attractive offer.

A tighter timeline for hiring requires your business to complete background checks quickly. With Checkr’s AI-powered background check technology, you can run reports faster and move forward with making offers and onboarding your candidates. Our platform integrates with over 200 HRIS and ATS solutions, so you can sync your hiring software with all your background checks and build a stronger hiring process. Get started today.

Win top talent with the fastest, smoothest background checks

Disclaimer

The resources and information provided here are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Always consult your own counsel for up-to-date legal advice and guidance related to your practices, needs, and compliance with applicable laws.