How many of your team members have come and gone over the past 12 months or 2 years? Recruiting is an important part of running a successful business and a mistake in the recruitment process which leads to an early employee resignation or dismissal can cost you two-thirds of the employee’s annual salary. To recruit STAR employees who will stay, follow these 9 simple steps.
- Ask yourself the right questions before recruiting
- What position are you looking to fill or replace?
- What skillset and competencies do you require for the role?
- How much are you willing to pay the right person?
- Do you have a clear, precise Position Description for this role?
- Decide on the right medium
Depending on the position you are looking to fill, you can use a number of different methods to advertise for the role. SEEK is one option, however consider these others:
- Advertise the vacancy internally, recruiting from within increases staff retention and motivation. If the employees themselves are not interested in the positon, they might discuss the opportunity with a friend or family member. You can even ask your employees for referrals, and reward your staff with a voucher if the person they referred is still employed after six months.
- Use social media. If you have a Facebook or LinkedIn page, or even a careers page on your own website, you can advertise directly to attract the right candidate.
- Write an attractive job advertisement
Well-written advertisements will help attract the right type of candidates. Ensure you cover these points:
- Educate potential candidates about your company and what you’re looking for in a team member
- Explain to applicants what experience, skillset, competencies and behaviours they must demonstrate to be considered
- Outline your offer – is the role full time, part time or casual? What salary or salary range and does this include on-target earnings (OTE), commissions or bonuses? What are your business hours?
- Challenge applicants to send their résumé along with a cover letter, including five reasons why they think they are the best candidate for the position.
- Efficiently manage applications
Once you receive enough applications from high-quality candidates, you need to ensure you are organised. Review each applicant’s resume and cover letter, depending on the role you should aim to select 7 – 10 resumes at this stage.
- Screen resumes & candidates
Once you have chosen the best and most suitable applicants, prepare a list of five to six questions to ask them. Call applicants and make sure you follow your screening guide so you ask each applicant the same questions. Ask them to elaborate on the five reasons they believe they are the best candidate for the position. If you are happy with the applicant’s answers, schedule a face-to-face interview. If not, inform them you will get back to them after you evaluate all applications.
- Conduct interviews
Select 3 – 5 strong candidates whom you would like to interview. Depending on the role, two rounds of interviews may be necessary to ensure the right candidate is selected. First round: As soon as applicants arrive for the first face-to-face interview, ask them to complete an application form to gather their details. To make good decisions and ensure compliance with legislation, we highly recommend you always follow an interview guide. Second round: Ideally, 2 – 3 candidates who excelled in the first round should be interviewed by another person in the business who can provide a second opinion. This time, educate the candidates more about your business and share your vision, showing some of the products, services and systems you use.
- Do relevant background checks
Conduct reference checks before making the offer to the best candidate. Ask the candidate for permission to conduct reference checks by providing their referees in writing and always request more than one reference as it will help form a better idea of what the candidate is really like. Ask the referee about the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, describe the position the candidate is applying for and ask the referee how they feel the candidate would fit into the position.
- Make the job offer to the successful applicant
Make the offer once all background checks are completed and you are confident you have the right candidate. Explain the package in simple terms so the candidate fully understands. Provide a copy of the position description and employment contract, including all terms and conditions and confirm the start date and time. Explain how they are going to be inducted into the business to ensure they are successful in their new role.
- Properly induct your new team member
Make sure your new staff member understands your business policies and procedures and educate and train them on your products, services and systems. Create an Action Plan relevant to their position so they grow into the organisation over the coming weeks and praise them for each milestone they achieve, whilst providing constructive feedback to keep them on track.
- 86% of new hires decide to stay or leave a company within their first six months*
- New employees are 69% more likely to stay longer than three years if they experience well-structured induction!*
For more information on the recruitment process, don’t miss out on our Live Webinar “How to Recruit STAR Employees for your business”. Click on this link and register today!
*Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/12/social-tools-can-improve-e/
