Hiring effective employees

First Line Managers / 13 September 2010

Finding the right person for a role can be challenging, especially if you are a new manager with little experience of hiring staff. Karen Deehan looks at how to finetune your recruitment skills

You’ve got through the interview process and landed your first management role. Now you’re on the other side of the table and have become the one doing the hiring.

There are many factors to consider when recruiting new staff, but the first step is making sure the job description is clear and precise. “If you make the spec too general you’ll attract too wide a range of applicants,” says Warren Kemp, managing director of Recruitment Matters International. “If this happens, re-address the description with a list of ‘must haves’ and ‘nice to haves’ and screen CVs accordingly. Don’t make it too rosy; if you want people to rise to the challenge then write a challenging picture of the role.”

Using recruitment agencies can help you cherry pick the best candidates without having to wade through a pile of applications. “If you place an ad yourself or scour a job board you’ll only get the people who are looking for work right now,” says Kemp. “Recruitment agents will attract those who are seeking advice and may not have any irons in the fire yet – in short, they can reach people you can’t.”  It’s also a good idea to meet the agencies first so that they have a clear understanding of your business and its culture.

If you decide against using an agency, think carefully about where you advertise. A survey by GradFutures this year found that most recruiters spend the same amount on paper-based advertising as they do online, despite the fact that 70% of graduates use job websites as their first port of call and only 3% turned to print media.

Effective interviewing

Once you’ve shortlisted the responses to your ad, it’s important to be thoroughly prepared for the interviewing process. You only have a short time in which to assess candidates so have a clear structure in place. You could start with a few small talk questions to relax them, followed by a general discussion of their CV before drilling down into their technical competencies and interpersonal skills. Make sure you give the candidate detailed information about the role and invite them to ask questions at the end. Your aim should be to aid communication and bring out their best qualities, not intimidate them.

If you place an ad yourself or scour a job board you’ll only get the people who are looking for work right now. Recruitment agents will attract those who are seeking advice and may not have any irons in the fire yet – in short, they can reach people you can’t.

Warren Kemp, managing director, Recruitment Matters International

Varying your line of questioning will help you to build a fuller picture of the candidate. Open-ended questions will help draw them out, while yes/no queries can be used to fact check.

Jenny Murray, director of Spectrum HR, suggests asking for examples of how the interviewee behaved in past workplace situations, as this will help you predict how they will act in future.

“You should include situational questions such as ‘Have you had experience of X and how did you manage this?’ If they say yes, they should be asked for evidence and questioned on it. If they haven’t, it gives them the opportunity to demonstrate what they would do if faced with that situation,” she says.

As well as verbal responses, subtle changes in body language can be an indicator of how the interviewee is feeling. “Notice how someone acts when they’re answering confidently and see if it changes when you put them under pressure,” advises Kemp. If they start to look more guarded or their eye contact isn’t as direct as before, they may be less sure of their ground and may even be lying.

Most of us have been guilty of stretching the truth during interviews, but how do you know if a candidate has gone beyond that and is making things up? Richard Alberg, founder and chief executive of MyWorkSearch, suggests phoning previous employers as well as asking for written references, although many companies will only confirm the dates of employment and the person’s job title.

Verification agencies can help you check facts such as job titles and you can also contact the bodies that provided any training. “If issues emerge then allow the individual to respond, but you should be very wary of ignoring any information you gather,” warns Alberg.

It’s common for candidates to ask for feedback following an interview, but if they performed badly, how honest should you be? Alberg advises giving interviewees general comments such as whether they answered the questions properly or provided sufficient detail. Giving this kind of feedback will help the candidate learn from the interview experience without becoming personal. “Don’t get drawn into specifics as you don’t want to re-open the interview,” he warns.

On the other hand, you may be in the fortunate position of having two excellent candidates you can’t choose between. Looking back at your list of requirements and seeing who possesses more of them can help, but sometimes it may come down to personality, says Murray. “You need to consider how well each person will fit the culture and the team. Failing that, one may have slightly different skill sets or ambitions that suit the business more, and even salary expectations can make a difference. It can be a tough decision but there is nearly always something that sets one candidate apart.”

If you’ve found the perfect person through a recruitment agency, beware of trying to avoid paying the fee. “If you offer the candidate the role, bypassing the agency rarely works out,” says Tracy Flowerday, partner at recruitment consultants Talentarc. “Agencies are hot on candidates that have been interviewed and then conveniently find a new job that they’re cagey about. Legally, if you’ve received an agency’s terms of business then you are liable to pay a fee. This would stand up in court if you tried cutting them out.” She also recommends only using two or three agencies to keep things manageable.

Bad choices

Once you’ve reached the end of the process and you’ve recruited the candidate, what happens if they don’t live up to expectations? If you’ve used an agency, you may be entitled to a refund, depending on how much time has elapsed. “All agency terms of business are different, but three months is usual with a sliding scale fee or free replacement,” says Flowerday.

If you’ve recruited the person yourself, then the standard three-month probationary period should give you enough time to assess whether the person is suitable for the role, although many companies now extend this to five. However, the chances are that if you’ve given a true picture of what the role involves and the interview process has been clear and focused, you’ll have recruited a welcome addition to the team.