common recruitment mistakes
TRANSCRIPT
Common Recruitment Mistakes
By Liam Mooney,
Managing Director of Blue Pencil,
Founder of Fit For Business
Liam Mooney
- Founder of Blue Pencil,
Recruitment Company
- Over 15 years experience in
recruitment and has built a
database of over 100,000
candidates without advertising
- Founder of Fit For Business,
SME Business Network
- E-mail:
•Average of about $50,000 per bad hire
•Fixed costs of hiring including recruitment fees, visa costs etc.
•Tarnished reputation. A bad hire leaves a bitter taste. No one wants to work for a company with a reputation of high staff turnover
•Damage to existing staff morale
•Damage to your own clients’ morale
•Corporate responsibility to person you are hiring
The cost of a bad hire
Why do some companies get it wrong?
Lack of Vision from Management
• Assess candidate personality
• Assess your own personality as a leader
Rushing to Hire
• Don’t rush to hire on basis of CV alone
• Follow a standardised recruitment procedure
• Correct procedures mean you will get access to a bigger talent pool
• Don’t hire because you are relieved to have found someone with the right experience
Searching for Candidates
•Don’t fish in the same waters as everyone else.
•LinkedIn, advertising etc. … returns are low
•Networking Groups
•Headhunt
•Work on your company’s reputation. Everyone will want to work for you
Poor Use of Recruitment Agencies
• Don’t search wide and far
• No motivation for agencies to do things right if they’re one of 50 agents, a company instructs
• Build relationship with one agency and work on an exclusive basis
• Your agent should be your trusted “business advisor”
Poor HR Staff
• Can you be sure they are not causing talent leakage?
• Do they have time to go through all the CV’s? They should assess one
• Many HR people don’t see looking at CV’s as part of their remit
• Employ HR staff who understand your industry
Assessment of a Vacant Role
• Who makes the ultimate decision to hire and is there a reporting chain?
• Do you do market research on salary information before trying to fill the role?
• Do you write a detailed job spec and does it conform to UAE legislation?
No Consistency in Interview Structure
• Process should be the same for every candidate to assess fairly
• Surroundings should be relaxed and formal. Coffee shops are a big “no”!
• Ask appropriate questions
• Remember candidates will talk about a good interview. This is free marketing for you!
No Testing of Technical Ability
• Never assume!
• Take the time to test experience
Offer Stage
• Spirit of negotiation can break down quickly at this stage
• Make sure you know the salary expectations of candidates before making an offer
• Provide clear offer letters and employment contracts
• Be transparent
Bonus Element of Your Offer
• Does it encourage greed or team work
• Vitally important to create a structure that motivates staff to project the common good of your company and not reward on individual performance
• Loyalty and team work should be rewarded
Probationary Period
• Do not use as a safety net for poor recruitment practices
• Must have induction period, assessment and training
• Consider a buddy scheme to make sure your new employee settles in
• Your company is on show to the new employee. You don’t want bad PR!
What we do?
• Recruitment health checks to make sure your procedures are correct
• Tailored recruitment packages for SME’s to make things affordable
• We can work on a regular part-time basis at a daily rate to help with recruitment. Not everyone can afford a recruitment agency or their own HR Director
Conclusion
If you get your recruitment process right you should generally hire the right person
Time for Q & A after Natalie’s talk about HR practices