Dear ,
I have been observing that business owners and leaders are often concerned about filling in the vacancies where staff have left due to resignations, promotions, dismissal or other – understandably so.
The initial feeling is to pressurise Human Resources or the line manager to ensure the position is filled as soon as possible. Now, that is often done in a rush, and the results – devastating.
It is common knowledge these days that interviews alone are simply insufficient to justify an appointment. When you recruit someone into your organisation or department, you want to make certain that this is the person I am going to be investing in over time and I am going to reap the returns of that investment in time. During interviews people are highly skilled at telling you what you want to hear and dressing up as the ideal candidate, putting up the best smile and practicing the best etiquette.
Think about this if you do not already have it as part of your recruitment policy:
1. Start by taking a good look internally for the candidate. You may be investing well in someone who already understands company culture and exhibits the right behaviours, even if they have little technical knowledge – that can be taught
2. Review the Job Spec you are putting out – is it accurately describing the position, the company and the person (experience, skills and attributes) you are looking for?
3. Make sure that those that are shortlisted after the interview go through some assessment that is linked to the requirements of the role
4. Ensure that most of the job elements can be assessed and that you have a tool to do that (psychometrics, an assignment, practical session, demonstration, and the like). Remember, there are personal behaviours that are hard to assess – try your best
5. Once you have gone through all these, call them in for a short meeting with management only or management and their ‘future team’ and let the team give you their feedback
6. Finally, remember that some positions may require that you get consent for credit, criminal, qualification checks – do all that you have to
The common saying nowadays is ‘hire slowly and fire quickly’.
Happy recruitment!