Do you want recruitment success in 2016?

Recruit Successfully In 2016

Once the headache fades it’s time to start your business year on the right foot.

Need new talent? We can help you. If you’d still like to do it by yourself.

Then make sure you find it – here’s how…

The 2016 Gotcha Guide To Recruitment Success:

Week 1:

Day 1: Make a decision!

Are you struggling to keep up? Are your staff running from one crisis to another? Commit to finding that perfect person.

Day 1: Consider your long-term business strategy.

Where do you hope to be in a year’s time? Or five years? Consider which skills your business needs to get there.

Day 2: Get buy in and input from everyone else.

Don’t impose someone new on your existing employees. Tell them about your decision and ask for their input.

Or, what kind of personality are you looking for? Remember that ‘people’ issues are the reason why problems occur with new employees.

Day 3: Analyse your team.

You probably know them pretty well, but psychometric testing will give you an objective view and help you recruit someone that’ll fit right in. We find this step invaluable.

Day 4: Write your person specification.

Consider: skills, qualifications, values, motivations and personality. Keep in mind that it’s often difficult to pin-down traits, such as attitude, that can give you trouble down the road.

Day 4: Re-write your person specification.

Go over your person specification as many times as it takes to get it right.

Day 5: Write your job advert.

You’ll save yourself a bunch of time if your advert attracts the right people. Not sure what to include? Read this post.

Day 5: Post your advert.

You can post your advert on popular job boards, social media sites (LinkedIn is best) and your own website. If you do post on job boards, make sure you choose one that’s good for your industry.

Day 5: Make use of your contacts.

Ask around your networking group. Don’t make a secret of the fact you’re hiring. A good referral could point to exactly the person you need. And save you a lot of time.

Week 2:

Day 12: Review CVs

Create your own ranking system so you can separate the CVs into three piles: definitely no, maybe and definitely yes. Go through all of them in one hit – you’ll be more objective.

Week 3:

Days 13 – 14: Conduct telephone interviews of your shortlist.

This way you can get the basic questions out of the way. This will help you pinpoint show-stoppers early and make sure you only spend time interviewing genuine potential candidates.

Day 15: Invite the short-shortlist for interview.

Try to do this in over a couple of days. If someone really wants to work for you, then they’ll make the interview.

Day 16: Prepare for the interview.

Think about the questions you need to ask. Choose open questions that encourage the candidate to speak.

Week 4:

Days 20 – 24: Conduct first interviews.

Don’t read a script, but try to get the same information out of each candidate – then you can compare apples with apples afterwards.

Day 25: Review and feedback.

Make notes after each interview. Then, as soon as they’re all done, compare them and decide who to see again and who to reject. Inform all the candidates either way as soon as possible.

Day 26: Prepare for second interviews.

The second interviews may take longer and involve more people. If you require candidates to give a presentation or take a personality test – make sure you have a room and the equipment ready.

Days 27 – 28: Conduct second interviews.

As before, keep to your format and try to be consistent with your questioning. You’ll probably have specific questions for each candidate from the first interview – make sure you get the information you need.

Day 29: Review, feedback and make the offer.

You’ll probably have a good idea after the second interview on who’s got the job. Discuss with the other interviewers and send out rejections and make the offer as soon as you can.

Day 30: Agree terms, salary and sign the dotted line.

Draw up a contract, email it out and get it signed and sealed. The candidate won’t hand in their notice until they’ve got everything in writing.

The Next Month:

Day 50 – 59: Prepare for the first day.

Make sure you have everything ready – from where they’ll sit to who’ll be showing them the ropes. Take a look at our New Employee Checklist if you think you might be missing something.

Any teething problems can often be sorted out quickly and painlessly if you give your new employee a chance to tell you, openly, how they are getting on. It’s also good practice to get feedback from the rest of the team as well.

Day 60: Welcome your new employee!

You did it! You found someone to take the pressure off. All you need to do now is make sure they stay…

Recruitment is the one area in your business where you’ll need to invest time to save time. Plan your recruitment with military precision, follow our best practice guidelines and 2016 will be the year your business takes off.