Recruitment Process.
As a recruiter, whether we have the role of Manager of a company/ Business, Operations Manager, Human Resource Manager, whatever title you may give to the recruitment of staff, then we need to ensure we have a relevant recruitment procedure in place.
If you are reading this, then congratulations on recognizing the fact that you need to consider hiring new staff, either because your business keeps growing and you need to increase your staff, or you have realized as a Business owner you can no longer do everything yourself, and now need to employ new staff, and would rather employ than use contractors, or you have been using contractors and now wish to employ, and join the many Employers out there.
Once you have identified that you need more staff, and you have made the decision to enter the time-consuming effort of finding the right employee, then one of the important things is to consider and ensure you know how long the recruitment process will take.
Often companies miss out on the good talent, as they have a long recruitment process, which people either give up on, or they find another job whilst the process is ongoing, often people will keep searching the right job, until they have the offer on the table and have signed up for a new job, so don’t keep them hanging on too long….
Once you advertise the position, and there are many options, from Seek, Local Paper, Job Agencies, employment agencies, Facebook, think about the possible shortest time you close off applications, I suggest no more than 2 weeks, as the committed potential employees will be able to complete an application in this time frame.
Then consider, how long do you need to check resumes, and decide on which ones to interview, remember these days you could expect a minimum of 50 Applications, plus many more for some jobs. So consider allowing yourself time during the process, before applications close to be able to check applications, as there will be several you will be able to dismiss, e.g. no qualifications, no experience, poor or no cover letter’s, there are many things in which people leave out of applications that can assist you in reducing some of the potential resumes to check for a suitable candidate to be interviewed.
Once the 2 weeks/ application period, closes, then be prepared to choose potential candidates to be interviewed, within 3-4 days, and then start to contact people to arrange interviews as soon as possible. Which keeps the communications open between the employer and the potential employee, and ensure the potential employee knows you are serious.
Consider at this stage, when arranging the interviews, is whether you should be contacting the referees, prior to the interview which can give you extra information, for the interview, but also saves you time after the interview, however always remember to ask the potential employee whether it is okay to call their referee prior to the interview or not.
If you do not ring the referee’s prior to the interview, then ensure you leave time as soon as possible after the interview to contact the referee, as often potential employees, check with their referee, to see whether they have been contacted or not.
Once you have done the interview and spoken to the referee, ensure you are in a position to contact everyone you interviewed, and be ready to offer someone the job, as long as one of them was suitable.
Once you offer someone the position, then ensure they know what the next step in the process is, e.g. Police check, medicals, extra tests, etc.
Most potential employers, who apply for a position, appreciate knowing the outcome of the application process within about 4-5 weeks of when the process began, there is nothing worse than waiting for an interviewed 4-6 weeks after you apply for a position, as people will just keep applying for suitable positions, and you may miss out on a good staff member.
My suggestion is, you ensure you set the recruitment process from Start to finish and even include it with the documentation you put together as part of the information given to the potential employee when they decide to apply for the position, e.g. job specifications etc. Ensure you work to the timeline in which you have set, and agreed to as such.
Good luck with your employing of staff in the future.
