Recruiting and selecting staff can be an expensive and time consuming process. Poor decisions can be a disaster to your business.

According to the Harvard Business Review, 80% of staff turnover is caused by poor recruitment. On the other hand, the right person in the right job, will make an enormous contribution to your business success.

Recruitment is …
Activities which are undertaken to attract sufficient job candidates who have the necessary skills, competencies and potential, to successfully fill the needs of the job and assist the business in achieving its objectives.

The recruitment process is influenced by external factors such as labour market conditions, government policy and legislation and trade unions.

You will first need to plan your human resource needs – how many staff do you need? What will they do?

This will start to give you an idea of what you are looking for. Analyzing each job and preparing a job description and job specification will assist with this. Developing a person specification will give you an indication of the type of employee you need.

The next step will be to identify sources of applicants. This will depend on your budget and the type of job you are recruiting for.

Screening responses according to your criteria will save time and money in the interviewing process.

Very often, an interview is a subjective process. Interviews generally have a range of biases which affect their perceptions of applicants. Research has shown that despite the best of intentions, interviewers have an unconscious tendency to favor applicants who are similar to themselves.

Matching the right person to the job is the key. Depending on the level and importance of the job, the recruitment process needs to be rigorous. Testing can be conducted, if required, within certain boundaries and references should always be sought.

Always consider if the applicant will fit in with your company culture and the rest of your team. Will the person fit in with the vision and standards of your business?

The Recruitment and Selection Process

 

* Buy the SME Toolkit for more details about recruiting and selecting staff