Persuasion involves making both a logical and emotional appeal to influence your audience to see your view. Effective persuasion involves overcoming resistance and having justifications for what you want to ask. Approaching your boss to persuade her to hire an employee is arguably a daunting task. It puts your credibility and reputation on the line, so you must build a solid case for your boss to seriously consider it.

Timing

Take time to keenly observe your boss so you can identify an appropriate opportunity to make your pitch. Because you seek to appeal to his emotions as well as their logic, pick a time when he is free, calm and ready to listen. Because a request by an employee for the employer to hire new employees is a weighty matter, your boss also needs time to hear you out. The key is to try as much as possible to get to your boss when he is at his most receptive.

Identify the Need

Once you have an audience with your boss, make the case for the new hire by stating clearly why he is needed. This is often the hardest part of the persuasion as it involves demonstrating to the boss that there is a need that the existing staff cannot meet. It could be that there are not enough employees or that the organization could benefit from the skills of a new employee. In both cases, the challenge is in presenting the pitch without undermining your boss and selling yourself or your colleagues short.

Offer a Solution

Do not just present the boss with a problem, but go ahead to propose a solution. In deciding to approach the boss to hire an employee, you might have someone in mind or you know how the right candidate can be sourced. If it is that you have someone in mind, sell her skills, experience and utility to the boss so she will be convinced of your pick.

Justify

To convince the boss that yours is a good idea, you should address all the relevant issues and appeal to his authority. You should present your boss with a practical breakdown of the cost and benefit of hiring the new employee. Hiring a new employee could result in higher sales or better customer service and consequently enhance the organization’s competitive advantage. This could be used to explain away the additional cost of paying the new employee.

Be cautious

You must be very cautious when you decide to recommend someone that you know to your boss. It is one thing to know someone in a social setting and another to interact with them professionally. Before you vouch for them, ensure that you are wholly familiar with their professional qualifications, employment history and workplace behavior. It is also important to consider how your work relationship will progress if she is hired into your organization.