Making the perfect hire

Recruitment can be a time consuming and expensive process but if you employ the right candidate everything will be worthwhile. However, recruit the wrong person and the implications for your business can be significant.

The following guide should help you make sure you choose the ideal candidate for the role and not the person who you have to let go after a couple of months and repeat the whole procedure all over again.

To ensure you hire the ideal candidate you need to start at the very beginning and create the right job advertisement. This needs to include an accurate job description that reflects the position’s duties and responsibilities. In the job requirements section, you need to explain clearly and concisely exactly what you expect from a candidate with regards to professional experience, qualifications and industry knowledge.

Research your business sector to see what other companies are paying for the same position. Although money isn’t always the deciding factor for candidates choosing a job, the salary needs to be competitive to ensure you attract the right calibre of applicants.

Source applicants through a diverse range of mediums including social media such as LinkedIn, company website and a recruitment agency. Don’t forget your most important asset, your staff. Appointing existing staff through promotion or even as a departmental change has several benefits overtaking on external candidates. You already know the strengths and weaknesses of your current employees and internal promotion is an excellent motivator and helps boost team morale.

Study all relevant CVs thoroughly to check they match the criteria you are looking for paying particular attention to the timeline to see how long a prospective candidate worked for previous businesses and also to spot any unaccounted-for gaps in their career.

If you are fortunate enough to be inundated with potential candidates, you can start with telephone or video interviews to save time and reduce the number to a more manageable level for the face-to-face interview stage.

Alternatively, depending on the type of role you are recruiting for, you can organise a group interview which helps you determine the soft skills of candidates. You can determine who works well as part of a team, their problem-solving skills, communication skills and who has leadership qualities. You can get a real picture of which candidates fit into the company culture through this method.

At the interview stage, it is crucial that you ask the right questions, and these will depend on the position you are recruiting tailored to what you want to find out about the candidates. Examples include: What is your proudest professional achievement? What key attribute sets you apart from the other candidates? And, why are you leaving your current position? After the interview process, you need to use uniform criteria to evaluate each candidate equally.

Where candidates are still inseparable at this stage you can speak to members of staff who spoke with them outside of the interview. Speak with your colleague who met them in reception and walked them to the interview or the person chosen to give them a guided tour of the company and they can give you valuable feedback.

However, remember that the most impressive candidate during the interview stage may not necessarily be the best one to employ. Sometimes by giving candidates a problem to solve or a work-related project to do, you will gain greater insight into which is the ideal candidate for the role. Alternatively, you can see how they react away from the tense atmosphere of the interview room by taking the final few candidates out to lunch with members of your team and see how they interact whilst you monitor predetermined behavioural traits that you believe are essential for the position.

After all that you should know who is best suited for the position and if you are still torn between two high calibre candidates then use your intuition but remember to check each referee personally.

Once a candidate has been selected, make the offer immediately because exceptional staff are highly sought after and may be approached by your competitors. As soon as they accept the offer make sure you send it in writing with a start date because everyone appreciates a prompt, professional service. Then you can look forward to the rewards of all your hard work and efforts during the recruitment process as your latest addition to the team proves you have got the perfect candidate.

To find out more about how to ensure you recruit the best candidates you can speak to one of our business experts.