Gold Standard Recruitment

We all know the cliché that people are your most important asset, but the reality is, that the cliché is true. It’s an organisation’s people who are critical in the success of any business and it is their knowledge, skills and behaviours which lifts one organisation above its competitors.

Although much time may be put into the Recruitment and Selection process, organisations may be missing a trick by not maximising the benefits which a recruitment opportunity brings.

Many people will have worked in organisations where there was a tendency, perhaps through time constraints and the pressure of other work, to simply revert to the original Job Description and Person Specification and then, by doing what they always did, get what they always got.

If you take a look around your own organisation, it is worth asking the question, who is here and who is not? If you see considerable homogeneity and clear occupational segregation, then a recruitment opening provides you with the opportunity to take a fresh look at what you are doing and make sure that you are reaching out to all possible talent.

If you wonder why you should, then you might like to take a look at the latest research by consultants McKinsey which finds that ‘companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians. Companies in the bottom quartile in these dimensions are statistically less likely to achieve above-average returns. And diversity is probably a competitive differentiator that shifts market share toward more diverse companies over time. (Diversity Matters, McKinsey February 2015.)

Some organisations have not yet reaped the full benefit that a diverse workforce can bring and some managers can also still hold the belief that a role is full time or no time, thus missing out on valuable skills and experience from those who have family or other commitments which preclude full time work. This rich pool of talent is waiting; the organisation which is diverse and flexible may find that it has given itself a competitive edge.

1. How to recruit the right people

 

Know your statistics

Larger organisations should hold monitoring data on their staff. The analysis of application rates for roles, the shortlisting outcomes and the final hires can sometimes come as a surprise when looked at in detail. If particular groups are not applying, then this begs the question why. This is where an organisation needs to go back, not just to the job description, person specification and the advert, but they also need to look at the messages they are sending out more broadly. What does the website look like? What images are used? What sort of language? Do you promote your positive working practices? What about other material? Who is this appealing to and what unconscious messages might it be sending?

It may be that the patterns you see in your data sets suggest that some upskilling is required for recruiting managers, including ensuring that they have had training in unconscious bias as part of broader recruitment and selection programmes. Few managers would like to think that they overtly discriminate, but it is the recruitment in one’s own image and the construction of cultural fit that can inadvertently lead to exclusion. Such exclusion could, of course, amount to unlawful practice – but would certainly suggest a waste of talent.

Analyse the role

There are key stages to any review of a job opening and clearly, a primary one is to analyse the role. It may be that the departure of a member of staff provides the opportunity to review the position, disperse some of the tasks and duties to other staff, thus providing greater variety and stretch in their roles, it may be that some requirements are no longer needed.

It is more though, than just analysing the role’s requirements. It is about presenting them in a way which is appealing. If you look at how the role is described, has it been articulated in a way which might make it more desirable to one group than another, have you inadvertently turned off a candidate group? A common error is to use adjectives which infer traits which can be strongly associated with a particular gender. Care is needed in the presentation of the role to ensure that it doesn’t inadvertently deter candidates whom the organisation would like to attract.

The Person Specification is what enables candidates to assess themselves against the requirements of the post. It should outline the skills, qualifications, abilities and experience which is required in relation to the position. In putting this together, it is important to interrogate the information included.

Is the person specification put together in a way which identifies those aspects which are Essential and those which are Desirable and thus trainable? It’s important to avoid adjectives such as ‘Excellent or Good … skills’ as this is not measurable, rather it seeks subjective decision making which is hard for the candidate to demonstrate and even harder for those shortlisting to assess. Also, no numbers!

Numbers of years’ experience does not give you any evidence of ability and you risk breaching the Equality Act in relation to age discrimination. Demonstrable experience to the level required in the job is what you need. Don’t forget, many candidates can bring transferable skills from other sectors, yet often personal specifications screen out candidates from other sectors who may bring a valuable perspective.

Advertising the role

Where do you advertise? Do you use the same outlets and approaches? Seek feedback from your current staff, where did they look when applying to your company. What attracted them? Was there anything that put them off? If you are seeking to diversity your staff group, think whether the current channels you are using are likely to reach your target group. If your advert comes with images, proceed with care. Any images you use, just like your text, must not infer that you have a particular group in mind for the role.

Also, don’t forget, YOU is the most important word in any advert. What will excite the person, why should they want to apply to your organisation? Don’t forget the basics, what is the role, which department, and where is it located? Crucially, what does it pay. Don’t use phrases such as ‘competitive salary’ this wastes people’s time and is frustrating. State the salary/ salary band. The applicant will decide if it’s competitive or not!

2. How to select the right person for the role 

Once your advert has generated responses, then you move into the challenging and exciting phase of selecting the right candidate.

Shortlisting

Make sure that the interview panel or a designated sub set from the panel shortlist. They should do so against the essential criteria specified for the role. As soon as a candidate fails to meet the criteria, that’s it, game over for that applicant. A clear record should be kept of why they failed to meet the requirement in case feedback is requested. Candidates who meet all of the essential requirements for the role and best meet the desirable criteria are called for interview. Keep in mind that clear records are needed for every candidate and they should be written in a professional manner as they may need to be produced. Advise shortlisters that they should ensure they are no hostages to fortune by writing personal comments about applicants!

As part of your process, you should highlight to candidates that you will make all reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability. If a candidate who has been shortlisted has a disability, a key member of staff will need to liaise with them over any necessary adjustments so that they can compete fairly in the process. It may be necessary to amend some parts of the process and interviewers might need briefing in how they conduct aspects of the process, including allowing additional time.

Tasks

Many interview processes include selection tasks. This is helpful as it provides a rounded view of the candidate. Remember though that this is not the opportunity for free consultancy! Tasks should be examples of aspects of the role that would be difficult to assess within the formal interview itself. IT tasks are a good example, it is easier to see what someone can do, rather than to get them to talk you through it in an interview.

Also, take into account the impression you make on your candidate when you ask them to prepare an interview task. Is it appropriate, how much of their time will it take? Have you given them enough notice? Be specific about the task and make sure that the candidate is clear what this is assessing so that they can ensure that they prepare against the brief and the criteria against which you are assessing them.

Interview

The interview is the opportunity for the interviewee to shine. As such, the location and the approach should be designed to put the candidate at ease and the interview should be conducted in a friendly and approaching manner with pre-agreed competency-based questions which have been carefully developed and tested in advance of the interview.

A pre-meeting just half an hour before the interview where questions are divided up is not a professional approach, especially given the financial investment which is about to take place. Train managers in competency-based interviewing skills so that they are clear of the knowledge, skills and behaviour that need to be demonstrated in the interview and to what level. A straightforward approach to competency-based questions is the STAR format:

Situation – Tell me about…

Task – What was your role?

Action – What did you do?

Result – What was the outcome?

For each question set, the panel need to be clear and have already decided the target response that they need to hear. This way they can avoid the risk of using one candidate as an internal benchmark, rather than scrupulously returning to the role requirements. This approach will demonstrate whether a candidate meets the requirements and how well they do so. It will highlight areas where training is needed and will also show if a candidate is actually unappointable. It also helps to avoid unconscious bias and the effect of ‘they are like me, so they will fit in then’!

References

The value of the reference has diminished over time, although we still seek them. Many employers make it a policy to either provide no references at all, or to do so in such a minimalist way that they only confirm the date of employment of your candidate and the duration of the employment. It is best to provide a template for references, this way you can be clear about what you want the employer to comment upon in relation to the job role. This way, you can avoid the other extreme of the reference – the essay! Given the varying approaches of employers to the provision of references, they are best used to confirm your assessment of suitability and not as part of the assessment process itself.

Feedback

Don’t forget the need to give feedback to candidates who are unsuccessful. They have given their time and put effort into submitting an application to you. It is unprofessional to brush them off and fail to give feedback where this is requested.

The feedback should be agreed for each candidate at the end of the interviews and should be drawn from the formal notes of the interview. It should be factual and specific given in relation to the personal specification. It should be balanced so that they are aware of their strengths and their areas for improvement. Take into account that this may be a candidate you would like to apply again. At the very least, you want the feedback that they give about your company to others to be positive! If they have a poor experience at any stage of the process, including refusal of feedback, how many people will they tell? This is not only a professional matter, it is about your reputation.

It is also good practice to seek feedback from them, what did you do well, what could have been better? Not only will they have learnt from the experience, but so will you!

Bonus Offer

You can make you recruitment and selection even more effective if you understand each applicants’ unique strengths. Formium Development can help you do this by incorporating strength-based questions into your interviews. Click Here for Your Copy of 9 Strengths-Based Interview Questions that you can include in your selection process.