How to Persuade Your Boss to Hire an Employee

Your boss is concerned first with her own needs.
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Your recommendation and a big smile can go a long way toward convincing your boss to hire a new employee. But even if you are the best-liked person in the office, you still need to make a strong case. Your boss may be constrained by budgets, her stingy boss, or may even be a little clueless about the growing needs of the company. Make your pitch by presenting facts and numbers to show how the new employee will make your boss's job easier, less risky and more effective.

    Step 1

    Keep tabs on your boss' mood and present the proposal to her when she's in a positive frame of mind. Even the best proposal will be rejected when she's having a bad day.

    Step 2

    Convince your boss that your company or department needs an additional employee. If there's not a problem, she won't see the need to bring in someone else to fix it. This is most easily shown by documenting a problem that has been difficult to solve. For example, show that customer satisfaction is down because you do not have enough sales staff to quickly see to a customer's needs.

    Step 3

    Show that your candidate is the solution you've been looking for. She can make things better by bringing additional expertise, experience or simply another bodies to accomplish tasks.

    Step 4

    Talk up your candidate's prior success. Even if she's your friend, your boss doesn't want to hire someone who's just going to sit around looking lost; show she can get the job done. Your department may need additional expertise that your boss is not familiar with. Help your boss to see how your candidate will fit into the big picture in the company. For example, hiring a programmer familiar with a different language can help to serve new needs of existing customers and allow the company offer additional marketable services.

    Step 5

    Tell your boss how you know the candidate you're putting forward. This may be prior employment, long friendship or simply an impressive interview. You two may have some wild stories from college, but those are best left out.

    Step 6

    Budget the new hire into your department to show your boss that you can afford to hire her.

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