Over 30 years of experience have told us that:

1. Most companies do not have a reliable process and make up a new one every time they have a vacancy.
2. The best employers Recruit for attitude and Train for experience but most employers limit their search to only those ‘with the right CV’.
3. Simple recruitment processes work best. Using a recruiter means fewer touch points.
4. Too little attention is paid to creating a job description and candidate profile.
5. Employers need to understand their employee proposition and sell themselves at every stage.
6. Psychometric testing is no more reliable than good interview skills and intuition.

We work with some employers who are fantastic at this. They use processes that work, really understand what they have to offer, create compelling job descriptions and move quickly in order not to lose the interest of the best candidates. Our experience of the best and worst of this might help you to develop a best-in-class recruitment process:

Before you even start you should define your recruitment needs and goals.

Where will you need more/less people in the next 12 months? Who can you train now to meet those needs? Can you build a talent pool from people you have already interviewed, trade contacts or internal recommendations? Which recruiters work in your space?

1. Job description and candidate profile.

This document serves three purposes. Prospective candidates are going to read it so it needs to sell the idea of working for you. The essential/desirable skills required will be used to assess each candidate so they need to be accurate and realistic. You might use it in annual appraisals to assess skills in key areas so it needs to be up to date.

Every recruitment process should start with this in order to be clear on the desired outcome.

2. Candidate Attraction

There are only 3 ways to attract candidates – contact people you already know; advertise to attract new candidates, approach people who seem to have the right experience. If you have an abundance of time you might choose to do this yourself. If your time is precious you might appoint a recruiter to take care of the candidate attraction for you. Either way, a multi-channel approach is essential if you are going to maximise your chances of success. In every channel, make sure you showcase your compelling Employee Proposition.

3. Candidate Screening

Establish clear and consistent criteria for evaluating applications based on your job description. You should be able to screen against the essential hard skills that must be on the CV (eg. qualifications, location, product knowledge, market experience, previous job titles). The soft skills (personality, style etc) can be considered at the interview.

4. Assessment and Selection

Our article on how to stand out as an interview will help you to understand how to ask questions and score answers at an interview that will be consistent across all candidates and help to reveal a shortlist. Most employers use a video call at the first stage and invite candidates to the office for a second and final stage.

Never lose the personal touch. Be welcoming, sell the opportunity, offer refreshments, show them around – it will help you stand out to candidates who are interviewing elsewhere.

5. Candidate Experience

Great employers start every interview by confirming what stage you are at, what stages will follow and when the outcome will be communicated to the candidate. It is best practice to offer every candidate feedback on their interview performance and your recruiter can help with this.

6. Decision Making 

Involve multiple stakeholders in the decision-making process to ensure diverse perspectives.

Trust your scoring system if you have used one and allow the line manager to make the final decision. Communicate that decision immediately with a phone call. The candidate will value the personal touch, have an opportunity to ask questions and the employer/recruiter will be better able to assess the likelihood of acceptance.

7. Preboarding / Onboarding 

As an employer, you are vulnerable from the time you make a job offer to the moment your candidate starts. Counter-offers and competitive offers are frequent and you need to be proactive to ensure that you do not lose the candidate you want.

Some tips are:
• Invite the candidate to a ‘meet the team’ session as this creates emotional connections.
• Include them in (non-confidential) internal emails and newsletters. Send them training and product information.
• Call them every week to check in or to provide some information. 

On the day they start, ensure you have a thorough induction process and that the right people are briefed and ready. Too many people start a new job and feel unwelcome on their first day because of a poor induction.

8. Review

As part of the induction, ask your new candidate for honest feedback on the recruitment process. Do the same with the stakeholders involved in the decision. Make improvements now and seek to continuously get better in this area.

Cavendish Maine can help you every aspect of this including recruitment advertisements, job descriptions, candidate profiles, interview questions and job offer letters. Please contact us for more information.