Your Recruitment Masterclass

Ahhh the recruitment process – that’s finding new employees. Easy enough, right? Wrong! If it were that easy, there wouldn’t be as many headaches or the massive finder’s fee when it comes to placing talent. Here, we outline our top tips when it comes to sourcing talent to ensure YOU have your bases covered.

You’re welcome.

#1 Know what you want 

It’s not just up to your HR department to draw up a job description for a desired job role. You need to know exactly what you’re looking for – WHO you are looking for. An Avatar, if you will. Sure, you may have considered that person’s hard skills, capabilities and prerequisites. But have you considered their soft skills? Do you know what kind of personality you’d like her to have? Should she be resilient, a go-getter and ambitious? Or would you prefer a more passive character who is a good lubricator for the team, who takes the initiative and gets on with the task at hand? What about the culture fit – are you paying attention to if there is synergy between that person and the business at large?

These more intangible features are all critical when it comes to the longevity of a person remaining and more importantly – thriving – in a given role. Remember, no hire is better than a bad hire.

#2 To Hunt or not to Hunt  

Have you decided the strategy you’d like to employ –ahem, ‘scuse the pun - in terms of sourcing that talent? Will you be utilising your in-house resources, or entrusting the skills of an outsourced specialist to find you your new skill set? Keeping it internal, will you hunt, or do you envision a more passive approach by posting a listing on various job portals?
There are pros and cons to either approach. More specific, rare skills sets demand a more particular, strategic expedition. Talent that is not on the market is more difficult to entice, and will likely be more expensive. That’s not to say those who are on the market are not rare gems themselves. It’s a case of finding that Avatar amongst a sea of less-than-savoury-fits.

#3 Screen 

First off, screen the prospective candidate’s CV to ensure there’s at least a basic fit between your needs and what your candidate may offer. A decent number of telephone pre-screens will be about 10 to 15 candidates. Here you ask the basic questions and get a feel for the person, and to make sure there aren’t any odd gaps in their CV, or anything else niggly. Whittle down your number to about five or so persons who you call in to meet face to face.

#4 Interview 

Plan the interview process very specifically. In our practice, we make use of competency based interview techniques, which you can read up on here and here. It’s of paramount importance to communicate to the candidate where they are in the process, because in all likelihood they are also in the midst of other interviews too. 

#5 Assess

The interview process may yield face value information which is certainly valuable. But we all know everyone presents themselves in the best possible light during their time in the spot light. How is the candidate as an actual employee? How does he react under pressure? Is she truly a go-getter, ambitious, conscientious, and and and? Psychometric assessment tap into those traits some people may not even be aware of. Psychologists and psychometrists are trained to match a person and job profile with scientific accuracy. This ultimately translates to the best probability for that person succeeding in the job profile. More on psychometric assessments here.

#6 Checks and Balances 

Here, you can compare what the candidate has told you with what the reference says. Up to 56% of employers have found a lie on a CV, demonstrating the imperative of cross checking the authenticity of the information you’ve been provided with. Checks can extend from previous employment, education right through to the character reference of the person in question.

#7 Offer 

The offer is the most delicate part of the entire recruitment process. One should never take for granted that the candidate will accept the first offer, and one should be aware ahead of time of how negotiable the package is. Generally your recruitment consultant will make the offer, but if the process is internal, the onus is generally upon the hiring manager.

#8 Onboard 

When we talk on boarding, we’re referring to more than just new employee paperwork and showing them where the bathroom is. We’re talking about a journey where the employee is made to feel valued and wanted even before they join the organisation. Not surprisingly organisation’s which have failed at this, have had the ill experience of a new recruit not pitching up for their first day of work!

#9 Retain 

What’s the point of going to all the trouble of recruiting the best talent if you can’t retain them? The single most competitive differentiator in any organisation is their unique talent pool. A talent management strategy not only sets your business apart, but marries the human capital strategy to the overarching business strategy goals. Need more convincing? Read more here.

#10 Exit 

It would be juvenile to think that your staff will remain with you forever and ever, amen. People move, grow, change careers, get bored, and get better offers. Knowing why they move on is a rich source of information that will feed back into your human capital strategy. It may also uncover some uncomfortable truths, such as a poor management style of one of the departmental heads, or low staff morale.

At Holistan, we pride ourselves in managing the recruitment process for you from A to Z. In fact our process includes not only sourcing your talent, but assessing their critical competencies, alongside the hard and soft skills even before we put our candidates forward to you, our client. This means less time and money wasted, and more probability for a successful match. PLUS we offer the LOWEST placement rate in the industry at *5% of annual gross salary. If you’re interested in hearing more, give us a call today 011 201 2112 or email info@holistan.com 

*T’s & C’s apply. ​