Whether you’re looking to fill a certain role, obtain a new set of skills, or you want to diversify your workforce, having a clear and defined hiring process is a must when it comes to building your business.

We caught up with the businesses which have developed innovative hiring strategies to secure the best.

With employees being your greatest asset, it’s important to make sure you get the right fit when it comes to hiring. In recent years, this has led to a shift in how some recruiters evaluate CVs – instead of looking purely at degrees or experience, it has become key to gauge a potential employee’s enthusiasm and passion.

It’s a move that Karl Thurlow, head of business operations at adventure firm Wilderness Scotland, has adopted. “We’re still relatively small, so over the next 12 months we would be looking to hire only a couple of positions,” Karl explained. “We like to look for specific skills, of course, but we also look for an element of passion. That can be either related to the kind of work we do, or simply showing passion for doing the job correctly and wanting to achieve.”

Karl believes that having enthusiasm for the company’s product helps the business strengthen its internal culture and the service it offers to customers. “We discover that passion through a face-to-face interview,” he explained, adding that the enthusiastic, positive attitude they’re looking for can expose itself in a variety of ways. “But it doesn’t even have to be about the outdoors. If they say ‘spaceman’ to a question of what would your favourite job be without any constraints, then we want to hear the passion in their voices about it.”

It’s something that Roger Smith, managing director at Thomas Graham & Sons, agrees with. “When it comes to hiring, we don’t look for skills so much as talent,” he said. “We look for people who are happy, prepared to work hard, and who get on well with others.”

He went on to add that this new way of looking at hiring brought about a change in their interview process. “We recently changed our interview process to a ‘three stage’ one which begins with a phone call. This way, we can increase the number of applicants we speak with and get a better idea of who might be a good fit.” The results speak for themselves, with Thomas Graham & Sons collecting a Family Business of the Year award. At the national ceremony, the founder of Family Business United, Paul Andrews, recognised that “the wider team were integral to [the business’] success”, paying homage to the company’s staff.

At Bristol board game café Chance & Counters, finding the right employees was essential to business success. So called ‘game gurus’ are the crux of the operation, the staff who guide customers to their table and find out the right board game for them through a series of questions.

Co-founders Steve Cownie and Luke Neal wanted enthusiasm and passion from their new recruits, but were also keen to see how they reacted under pressure, so they devised a set of role-play scenarios for the interviews.

“In one scenario, we’re four pissed lads. We don’t really like board games, but this place has been recommended to us. What do you pull off the shelf? This gives us an insight into what their board game knowledge and instincts are like,” Steve said.

“When they choose a board game for us, we’ll tell them we don’t like it. We’ll see how people react to someone cutting you off mid-flow.”

There are a few other scenarios too, from the ‘first date couple’ to the ‘lovey-dovey couple’, but each role-play gives Steve and Luke the chance to see how the potential employee behaves and responds to different customers. The co-founders believe that this gives both the interviewee and them a chance to work out whether the potential employee is a good fit for the role as opposed to merely referring to the experience on their CV.