The new Labour legislative changes are on the way, and our team has produced a series of clear and concise ‘Guides’ breaking down the relevant employment and HR-related areas of likely change to provide practical help. In this blog our Tina Munro builds on her Day 1 Unfair Dismissal Guide, and talks about the importance of being prepared and getting the basics right.
Within the next month it is expected that the government will be announcing their Employment Rights Bill. Among the many changes planned are basic rights from day one in a new job and it’s not hard to understand why going forward. Many employers might consider taking a more cautious approach to recruitment when the consequences of making the wrong choice are likely to lead to a more complex and potentially expensive dismissal process.
When it comes to recruitment and selection, getting the basics right is key. Do you have high employee turnover or often have to rely on the probationary dismissal clause? Perhaps you regularly dismiss employees with less than a few months service? These may suggest your recruitment process isn’t very effective or perhaps you just recruited in haste to get the vacancy filled.
There are several important steps to finding the right individual to fill a job vacancy. ‘Gut feeling’ may come into making the choice at the end of the day, but let’s take a look at how you can increase the chance of hiring the right person first time.
Why are you hiring? – Replacing an employee who has just left, recruiting additional employees due to business growth, new skills needed for new technology – these are all good reasons. When an employee leaves, don’t just assume a direct replacement is needed, look at the job description and consider the workload, the responsibilities, the skills needed. If anything has changed, then a job analysis should be carried out or at the very least, a revised job description.
Job Analysis – Gather information about the job, the content, the context in which job is performed, the responsibilities, requirements, competencies, skills, qualifications and education etc. From there you can determine the level of the job in the organisation, specific tasks and duties and the skills required to perform them and everything else needed to provide a comprehensive job specification and job description. A vague job description or job advertisement can lead to confusion and is likely to attract the wrong candidates from the outset.
Job Advertising – Agree the recruitment campaign, the budget and timescales, availability of candidates, the level of candidate. From there, other decisions will be made including whether to recruit internally, where to advertise i.e. company website, social media, job boards, recruitment agencies, talent pool databases, headhunters, employee referrals, job fairs. Determine which method is going to be most effective for the role you are seeking to fill.
Creating a Shortlist – Go through all applications in detail and compare CVs with the job specification and job description to root out those with the most suitable skills and experience. Next, a short phone screening exercise might be useful with standard questions designed to further shortlist the most suitable candidates for in person interview.
Interviews – Determine who will be involved in the interview, make sure they are properly trained/briefed. Prepare to ask a mix of general and competency-based interview questions designed to gain a deeper knowledge of the candidate, their qualifications and skills, experience and cultural fit for the organisation. The same questions should be asked of each candidate so they can be compared and assessed fairly.
Testing – Skills-based assessments are more frequently being used as part of the selection process. These can involve technical tests, situational exercises, behavioural assessments and psychometric testing all relevant to the role and designed to provide additional information about a candidate’s suitability.
By going through a structured evaluation process, you will have increased your chances of selecting the best candidate for the job and someone who closely matches the criteria you established at the start. Thereafter following up with a formal offer of employment, reference checks and good engagement through the induction and onboarding process is advised.
Discrimination during Recruitment and Selection
During the recruitment process employers must be very careful that they do not discriminate against applicants at any stage. Writing a job advert using phrases like ‘young and dynamic’ or ‘must have 10 years of experience’ as well as using job titles like salesman or waitress are considered discriminatory. When screening and selecting for interview, it may seem obvious, but it is unlawful not to select someone because they are pregnant or for any one of the other protected characteristics as set out under the Equality Act 2010. There are only a few specific circumstances where an employer may be able to justify that an applicant needs a certain protected characteristic to do a job, and advice should be taken in this situation.
At Gravitate HR we recognise that a structured recruitment process can often be time consuming. We can provide expertise at any stage in the process as detailed above so if you need support with your next recruitment exercise or campaign, why not book a call or contact us on 0141 459 7458 to see how we can help.
Follow up on our most recent blogs here: Blog – Gravitate HR
Want more information on upcoming legislative changes? See our information download page here: Legislation Changes – Gravitate HR
