Six Steps to Stress Free Recruitment

Whether your business is scaling up or if you’re hiring for the first time, we know that recruiting can be a daunting and sometimes stressful experience.

Instinct HR specialise in helping small business owners to become great employers, so we have developed this 6-part guide to help you through each stage of the hiring and onboarding process, enabling you to you hire with confidence and remove unnecessary stress from the process.

Part 1 : Defining The Role

Write a person specification. This important step is often overlooked by new and even experience employers. Think hard about the kind of person you need in the role you will be advertising. List the essential skills required to do the job, the experience needed, the?personal attributes,?and the behaviours you expect to see in an employee.

Write a job description. This is the one document that lives right through the employee lifecycle, so start with a blank canvas and invest time in getting this right; don’t be tempted to copy and paste from Google! Give deep thought to the role and where it fits within your business. Identify the primary duties and responsibilities of the role, and the key tasks performed. Specify the objectives and main outputs of the role.

Define your employment brand:?What type of person are you looking to attract to your business? What do they think of your business when they see your job advert or website? Do these things tell the real story about your company culture, your ethos, and your values??

Part 2 : Attracting Applicants

Promote your employment brand:?Ensure you tell a positive story about your business. Let candidates see your personality and your company culture. Shout about any great community and charity work you do.

Writing an appealing advert:?Tell a positive story about your company and the job that you are advertising. Sharing your company values and culture is more likely to attract the right candidates to your business. Use details from the job description and person specification to give an accurate picture of the role itself.

Avoid discriminatory language:?Familiarise yourself with the nine protected characteristics of the Equality Act that protects everyone in Britain; avoid direct or indirect discrimination.

Advertise in the right place:?Where do your ideal candidates hang out and spend their social time. It’s no good advertising on LinkedIn for non-professional roles, where people are likely to spend most of their time and Facebook and Instagram. Market leaders in the UK are online sites such as Indeed, Glassdoor, and CV Library, as well as LinkedIn Job of course; these feature thousands of jobs across all sectors, with powerful search capability.?

Part 3 : Selection

Sift CVs to shortlist for interview:?Use the essential experience and behaviours previously created in the person specification and job description to create clear and consistent selection criteria, scoring applicants against this.

Create interview questions and exercises:?Your person specification and job description will come in handy again when you create the questions to ask candidates at interview. 6-8 questions will be sufficient. Ensure you interview all candidates for the same role using the same process and questions; and score and record outcomes fairly and consistently.

Think diversity and avoid discrimination:?Treat all candidates fairly and with respect, be consistent and keep good records. Throughout the hiring process think diversity. Try to assess different candidates with different backgrounds, as they will bring new ideas and perspectives to your business, and may appeal to new markets.

Confirm identity and right to work: It is critical that you see physical proof of a candidates right to work documentation BEFORE you conduct an interview. Take a photocopy and retain on file for future reference. If in doubt, see the government guidelines at Gov.UK

Part 4 : Make The Appointment

Making a verbal offer:?Choose your preferred candidate from the selection and interview processes and make them a verbal offer. Follow this up in writing with a job offer. It is also good practice to include an equality & monitoring form at this stage.

Conduct pre-employment checks:?When the offer is accepted you can start your pre-employment screening and reference requests. There are a variety of checks to make depending on the role and any legislative requirements relating to it.

Issue contract:?Once the offer has been accepted you can create the ‘written statement of employment particulars’; commonly known as the ‘contract’. It is a legal requirement to ensure new employees receive this ON OR BEFORE day 1 of employment.

Part 5 : Induction

Create induction plan:?Ahead of your new employee starting, give thought to how you can create an amazing induction experience. First impressions really do count. How can you make the whole welcome and induction experience a really special one?

Create a robust induction plan for day 1, week 1, month 1, and beyond. Ensure it covers all critical and complimentary training, robust support, and communication throughout the entire period. Simply throwing them straight into work at this stage may well bite you later on!

Create time in the first few days to help your new employee develop a deep understanding of you, your business, its culture, values, and purpose.

Issue the Employee Handbook:?It is important to issue the employee handbook (or associated policies) BEFORE the 8th?week of employment. But the earlier the better as this document defines how your company will deal with certain processes required by the Employment Rights Act (1996).

Part 6 : Probation

Your employee’s probation period will vary depending on what you have specified in their contract of employment and is typically between 3-6 months.

Create a good structure?of training and support throughout this period and ensure regular communication. Focus on celebrating progress and supporting with training and development opportunities.

Conduct informal monthly reviews?and keep a record of the conversations that have taken place. If you have any doubts regarding the capability or conduct of the employee, consider expending the probationary period. It is important to follow good process and take advice if unsure.

If You Need Help

Instinct HR?have all the tools, templates, and most importantly the experience to support and guide you on this journey. Contact us if you would like a free consultation to understand what support you may need.

Darren Jones Instinct HR