Recruitment Tips

While job descriptions are important in many ways, describing job responsibilities clearly and concisely can be challenging. We encourage you to cover the following in your position description.

• What is the key criteria of the role? Qualifications,                   experience, level expertise, communications skills (is it         client facing or not?), technical ability, industry                         knowledge and so on.
• Which skills are essential and which are desirable?
• Where does this role fit in the organisation structure?           Who will the successful candidate be reporting to?
• How will success be measured in this role?
• What would a normal day look like?
• Who will the successful candidate be interacting                     with internally and externally?
• What IT systems will they will be using? What level of             expertise do they require (e.g. basic, intermediate or             advanced)?
• Will they need to develop over time and take on more           responsibility?
• What type of decisions will they be making in this role?
• What’s the most challenging part of this role?
• What support will they need in this role?

If you would like further help writing a job description, please call us. One of our Job Description Templates may be exactly what you need.

A good recruitment consultant should have an understanding of your industry, have connections and have the ability to sell your current vacancy along with your organisation. Here are some tips for choosing the right recruitment consultant for you:

• Do they have adequate recruitment experience? Like             most other jobs, learning how to become a recruiter             takes time. 
• Are they local? If they’re not, they probably won’t                   interview candidates face to face, they won’t have local         candidate connections or a local referral network, and           they won’t have a good knowledge of local salaries.
• Do they know your industry and have experience                   recruiting in it?
• Do they have a good reputation? A good way of                       judging is to ask to see testimonials. Also ask around             to find out who other people in your industry                           recommend.
• Do you get the feeling they can sell the job and your             organisation to candidates?
• Check their terms and conditions. Make sure they offer         a guarantee period and that the fees meet your                     recruitment budget. Always discuss this before                       beginning work with a recruiter.
• Work with only one recruitment agency (two at most).           This will ensure the recruiter invests the required time         and energy into the vetting process, rather than                     sending resumes in a race against other agencies. Also,         recruiters will work harder for you when they’re the               only  one on the job.

It’s important that you give your recruitment consultant the knowledge to represent your company and the role professionally. There’s nothing worse than a recruitment consultant who seems to know nothing about the role or who can’t answer questions succinctly. Candidates immediately become suspicious that the role is fake, and start to disengage.

Ideally you should not only meet your recruitment consultant, but also invite them to your workplace. Then be sure to educate them on:

• Your company – Where you’ve come from, where                   you’re headed, challenges in the market, your                         USPs, etc.
• The role – Go through the job description, and                         encourage them to ask questions, so they understand           exactly what you want. (If they don’t ask a lot of                       questions, there’s usually a problem.)
• The company environment – Walk them around the               workplace, so they can experience the culture,                         interaction between staff, the safety policies, the                     overarching dynamic (hopefully a positive vibe!).

Investing this time with your recruitment consultant will empower them to do the best job possible for you.

• Give 100% attention to the interview and be well                     prepared. Candidates respect this.
• Make the candidate feel welcome; use a few ‘soft’                   questions or comments to relax them.
• Structure the interview; include open-ended and                     behavioural questions.
• Manage the candidate’s expectations of the role and             its opportunities. Give them a job spec so they fully               understand the role before they consider accepting it.
• Find out a bit about their personality to see if they’re             going to enjoy your role, fit into it and want to stay.
• Don’t ask for personal information unless it’s relevant           to the job. Be careful of questions that could be                     construed as discriminatory (e.g. marital status).
• Trust your instincts; if something doesn’t feel right, dig         deeper.
• Welcome questions from the candidate. Remember               they’re interviewing you and the company too.
• Find out what other roles they’re interviewing for and           how they rate their interest in your position. Ask your           recruitment consultant to do the same.

• Be enthusiastic during the interview and promote your         company. Candidates want to know why they should             work for you. Sell the company culture, and talk about           your own experience working there and why you like it.
• Promote the job and the opportunities it opens up for           the candidate. It has to be worth changing jobs for.

Your recruitment consultant will have a detailed reference form they complete. It will usually cover the standard questions like reason for leaving current/old job, strengths, weaknesses, ability to work in a team, etc.

It’s important that you also provide your recruitment consultant with three to five additional industry specific questions or technical questions that you need answered.

Also, if you had any concerns after interviewing the candidate, ask your recruitment consultant to dig a little deeper into these areas during the reference check.

Ok you’re almost there! But this is where 20% of offers fall over. Failed offers are often due to:

• Unrealistic salary expectations.
• Salary offer not in line with market.
• A competing offer from another employer.
• A counter-offer from their current employer.
• Relocation issues.
• A miscommunication or misunderstanding about the           role and its requirements and expectations.
• Too much time between interviews.
• Slow or ineffective communication.

To strengthen your offer and acceptance stage of the recruitment process, we recommend you:

1. Ensure salary expectations are covered off right from the beginning, and that salary is also discussed throughout the interviews. It’s a sensitive topic and one that a lot of people avoid until the offer stage. Don’t avoid it. Make sure it’s part of your discussions so there are no surprises at the end.
2. Instruct your recruitment consultant to find out if the candidate is considering any other roles. If they are, your consultant should find out which one the candidate is leaning towards and why. You need to know all of this before making an offer.
3. Make sure the candidate has discussed all details of the role with their family and that they have their family’s support.
4. Make sure the candidate isn’t motivated only by money – before you make an offer. This will help you avoid being beaten by a competing or counter-offer.
5. Try to discover the candidate’s real reasons for changing jobs, and be sure your role ticks all those boxes.
6. Make sure you have a two-stage interview process. The issues listed above are much more likely to occur if you use a single interview process. A two-stage interview process will ensure all expectations and questions are addressed.
7. Make sure your recruitment process follows a strict timeframe, and that there are never any delays between each step of the process. The entire process – from interview to offer – should never be longer than 3 weeks, otherwise good candidates tend to disengage.

Approximately half of all senior hires fail within 18 months. And half of all contract hourly workers leave their new jobs within the first 120 days.

So every phase of the onboarding process is important. From before they begin their job, through their first month, to the successful completion of their first year. The faster they feel welcome and prepared for their jobs, the faster they’ll be able to successfully contribute to the company’s mission.

We recommend you focus on the following four areas during the onboarding process and initial 12 months:

1. Compliance – Teaching employees basic legal and policy-related rules and regulations.
2. Clarification – Ensuring employees understand their new jobs and all related expectations. In the first six months it’s critical that you sit down on a monthly basis with your new employee and make sure they don’t have any concerns.
3. Culture – Providing employees with a sense of organisational norms — both formal and informal.
4. Connection – Helping the employee develop the vital interpersonal relationships and information networks they need to function effectively. Note that informal networking is essential.