Four key considerations for employee recruitment success

Recruitment success is dependent on several factors but there are four key considerations within the broader picture that are critical to get right.

The cost of hiring a new employee in both time and resource can be high. Therefore, it’s imperative you have an efficient recruitment process in place. You not only want the employee to have the necessary skills, but you also want to be sure they will fit within your organisation, your culture, and their role.

These four factors will put you on the right path to ensuring your recruitment is a success.

Job descriptions

It’s a legal requirement to have a job description in place as part of any employment agreement.
A well-written job description supports recruitment and selection, enabling you to create advertisements, screening and interview questions based on a thorough understanding of what the role involves and what you need in terms of background, experience, and other attributes to perform successfully.
Make sure that the job title matches the content of the role.
Don’t hide what could be seen as the less attractive parts of the role.
Keep the job description updated. As roles grow and evolve it’s important to keep track of what people are doing. When it comes time to replace a staff member, your job description will already up to date.
The job description is included in the contract ensuring both you and the employee will be clear regarding expectations.=

Interviewing

An interview is a key milestone in the recruitment process. It’s your chance to really discover if there is a match between your role and the person.
Make sure the candidate does the talking. Ask questions and delve for information.
Before the interview identify what, you are looking for, such as their skill set and background, personality and culture fit, core competencies and career aspirations and create questions to suit.
Follow a structure and use the same question format for each prospective candidate
Get feedback during the interview and write down your thoughts immediately after the interview.

Reference checking

Before you make an offer, a critical and important part of your recruitment process is the reference check. It’s so important that it’s not just a box-ticking exercise!
Make sure you have permission to conduct references. Whether that’s via email or using an application form at interview stage.
Reference check with the right people.
Use a standard form, that is relevant to the role.
Cover off any doubts or hesitations you might have with tailored questions where required.
Don’t make assumptions, probe for more information.
Don’t ‘fill in the gaps or answer for the referee.
Ask open questions to elicit more of a response.
Most importantly though – do the references! Do not skip this step!

On-boarding

Prior to the new employee starting, inform the existing team, allocate and prepare a desk / office, arrange business cards, mobile phone, and stationery, set up system logins, voicemail, email, and any other technology requirements.
Welcome the new person. Provides a sense of value and make a positive first impression
Ensure you cover the company culture, values, vision, products, services, and organisation structure as a standard part of any induction.
Set up one on one meetings with key colleagues.
Cover policies and procedures such as leave applications, sick leave, emergency procedures, accident reporting, drug and alcohol, social media use, vehicle use, dress code, code of conduct etc.
Take time to do the job training. Book time in their diaries. Don’t bombard them – break the sessions up and spread the load. Have subject matter experts participate on the programme.
Have ‘induction checkpoints’ where you stop and assess. If you have gone off track, what hasn’t been covered?
Prepare a checklist for appropriate team members (Manager/colleagues/HR).
A good induction will make a huge difference to how your new people settle in, and it will be remembered by them.

Securing the right person for your company and for the position will minimise the long-term cost of recruiting, onboarding, training, and retaining. Successful employee recruitment is not about finding people who can survive in your organisation but finding those who will thrive in it.