As we head out of the lockdown and hopefully come into some form of normality, with many people returning to a physical workplace, albeit on a hybrid basis, many organisations out there will be thinking about recruiting additional staff to join their teams, which they may have put off until there was more certainty around lockdown measures easing.

No matter how senior or junior a role you are looking for, it’s important to make the right choice and now it’s far more complex than “just pick the one you like the best”. The cost of getting the wrong hire in can be great (estimated to be around 30% of their first year’s salary), especially to a small organisation in terms of lost training and time spent trying to exit the individual.

Candidates now aren’t just interested in pay, they want to find the work interesting and feel an affinity with the Company they’re working for.

Here are my top tips for hiring the right candidate, first time around

• Make sure the job you advertise is an accurate reflection of what it will actually be!
• Think about your Company culture and the characteristics that the right person will need to have to be a good fit, not just about how good they are at the job.
• Be realistic about who’s on the market and what you are asking for. Don’t turn down candidates who can do a good job but only meet 90% of your criteria. Don’t hold out hoping you’re going to find the “golden unicorn” candidate!
• Put the salary or hourly rate of pay on the job advert – candidates get very frustrated not knowing this up front and it saves time getting applications from people expecting more than you can afford to pay.
• Make your advert wording friendly, and representative of your company’s culture and values so you use it to entice the right person to want to come and work for you.
• If you have great benefits, make sure these are clearly displayed on your website’s careers page or listed in the advert.
• Move quickly through the process. It’s a fast moving candidate market and the right candidates won’t hang around waiting for you to make your mind up. Set some clear dates aside in your diary to look at CV’s and shortlist and look to interview soon after.
• Prepare some key interview questions but make sure you don’t discriminate or ask inappropriate questions like “are you thinking of starting a family”.
• Put the candidates at ease during the process – they’re more likely to open up and show you who they really are if you do this rather than ask very formal questions, but make sure you know what information you want out of them.
• Consider if you can offer hybrid working if the role allows it as many people will be wanting this kind of flexibility. It also means you can hire from wider than just the local community.

And when you’ve done all that…

• Make sure they get a written contract of employment no later than their first day, ideally before as this is a legal requirement.
• Make sure that they have a great experience working for you by planning a welcome/induction programme that gives them key information (e.g. who’s the company’s oracle, where to get a cup of tea). Don’t bombard them with lots of formal policies to read over. Keep checking up on them to make sure they’re getting on ok rather than just pointing them towards a desk/machine/vehicle and leaving them to get on with it.

Here’s how I can help you if you need further assistance or don’t have the time to manage the whole process on your own:-

• Provide an outsourced Recruitment service whereby I source candidates for key roles and conduct initial interviews
• Help Companies by putting together recruitment campaigns, advert wording, job descriptions, interview questions etc.
• Carry out pay and benefits benchmarking against similar organisations so you remain competitive
• Write you a contract of employment for your new hire
• Put together an induction programme so that your new hire feels at home
• Coach line managers in how to look after a new hire and what to do in the first weeks/months.

If you’d like my help please call me on 07585 335059 or email doug.betts@surebettshr.com for a free no obligation chat.