Employers, you’re doing recruitment all wrong

| August 15, 2018

The standard approach many business owners take to recruitment which involves advertising and interviews can be a costly process that doesn’t secure the best employee for the role.

Business coach Jamie Cunningham says the traditional recruitment system we’ve all grown up with is inefficient and wastes both time and money.

“Most of us have gone through the process of sending in a resume, cover letter and having an interview, but too often it simply doesn’t find the right candidate,” said Mr  Cunningham.

“Companies don’t realise how costly employing the wrong candidate can be, especially if it’s a small business with fewer than 10 staff,” he said.

“Losing an employee within the first six months can cost a business thousands of dollars, on top of the time and energy it takes to train sometime, as well as the hit to staff morale when there’s a revolving door of new staff.”

Mr Cunningham has seen employee retention rates in the first six months for small businesses using the traditional method be as low as 14%. A survey of Mr Cunningham’s small business clients shows that by tweaking their recruitment process they have boosted their employee retention rates from an average of 40% to 85%.

“You can solve your recruitment woes by setting up a process that ensures business and applicant are the right match every time.”

“It’s important you find someone who is a match on values, beliefs, purpose and skill set.”

“Being very intentional about who you want to hire and how you go about your recruitment process can make a big difference.”

Mr Cunningham recommends small businesses approach recruitment in the following ways:

Begin with a unique job advertisement:  Your ad needs to stand out and connect with people at a heart level. Use it to showcase your values, beliefs and the personality style of the business. You know you’ve got your ad right when applicants comment on it in their application.

Don’t review all the applications:  Candidates often do a bulk send of applications and aren’t really taking the time to determine if the job is appropriate for them.  Rather than wasting time on reviewing applications, ask the applicants to answer of series of questions on a phone message.  This process alone will weed out around 70% of people who aren’t passionate or serious about the role.

Make the interview the last part of the process:  Rather than start with the interview which can be time consuming, leave this step until last so you only interview candidates who have real potential to be successful. You should have a strong sense of a person’s values and skills before you step in to an interview room.

Give the applications a test run to demonstrates their skills prior to the interview. Make sure your new hire can perform the tasks required of them by asking them to undertake a test run in a real situation they could face if employed.  You will quickly see if they can perform under pressure.

Pick the right personality:  Understand the kind of person who will succeed in the role – do they need to be direct, supportive, creative or something else. Include a personality assessment for all potential candidates so you understand who they are, their shortcomings and if they are happy to work on them.

“In small business, where one employee makes up such a large percentage of your operation, it is crucial to make sure you’re finding the right people,” said Mr Cunningham.

“An employee is a multi-year investment, so getting the right recruitment process in place will pay dividends down the track. Taking some simple steps will help you do that.”

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