 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
10. Getting the Right Staff - The Selection & Recruitment Process
The differences between social enterprises and mainstream business are often seen when considering the quality of employment policies – often more attention is paid to balancing human and environmental issues with business aspects by a social employer. This is why most social enterprises have a code of ethics to help ensure that:
The areas below will help you to establish a broad set of guidelines and effective policies which will enable you to work towards "best practice" as an employer. This is an ongoing process however that requires a commitment from your social enterprise - allowing time to review your policies as well as keeping up to date with changing legislation and new ideas. Being a good employer starts at the recruitment and selection stage. There is nothing more crucial to the success of a start-up business than the skills and attitudes of the first few people it employs. You need to know how to attract the right staff. Developing a Job Description The starting point for hiring the right person for any position should be a job description, a clear outline of what the job involves. Remember that typically in a small company, people will have to fill many roles, so for example, while the principle duty may be as receptionist, the person may also have to type quotations, undertake filing, chase outstanding invoices, prepare the VAT return and maybe make the occasional cup of tea! To attract the right staff write down all that the job entails even if it doesn't all pigeonhole neatly under one job title. Specifically:
Downloadable Support Material
Consideration
What is a Personnel Specification? Having defined the job to be done, think hard about the person you need to fill the job - A personnel specification will help clarify your thoughts in hiring the right person and will cover:
Downloadable Support Material
HOW DO YOU WANT CANDIDATES TO APPLY? You must also give consideration to the application process. There are various options available to you:
This information should be contained in the Job advertisement that you place. You must then consider where you are going to place these ads – this is especially important in Northern Ireland. Advertising is the most common method of finding job applicants. You should include all the basic information:
Sell the job, by stating:
Make the ad less impersonal by using "we", instead of "the company", and "you", instead of "applicants". Choose the right newspaper, magazine, website or other advertising medium.
You must also give consideration to Equal Opportunities and Fair Employment considerations when advertising jobs in Northern Ireland. The readership profile of the different local newspapers and magazines should let you know if you are conducting a balanced and fair recruitment campaign – if you only advertise the post in a local newspaper that is predominantly associated with one religious group or that has a predominantly male readership, you will not be operating in accordance with requirements. The right people for a start-up business are often found via Recommendations and unsolicited applications (e.g. people walking in and asking for a job).
Foster links with local Schools and Colleges. Get to know them, so they send you their promising candidates.
JobCentres are most often used for the recruitment of temporary and permanent staff earning up to £15,000 a year.
You may need to use EmploymentAgencies and consultants. Agencies may specialise in anything from van drivers to research scientists. Good agencies will have a wide range of suitable candidates registered with them and provide a fast and effective service.
SELECTING APPLICANTS FOR INTERVIEW
Realistically, you will probably only want to interview about 5 people for every one available post. To make a shortlist of the most promising applicants, we strongly recommend using a scoring matrix — a simple but effective tool for producing a ’league table’ of the different applicants. Firstly, list each of the requirements that you included in the Person Specification. Secondly, score each application: if the applicant appears to be weak (0 point), average (1 points) or strong (2 points) in relation to each requirement. For example, if you require two years’ secretarial experience, a candidate with 4 years’ experience will score 2 for that requirement. Remember to take ´transferable skills´ into account. Thus, experience of working in a call centre would be very relevant to a receptionist’s post even if it is not exactly the same job. Thirdly, eliminate any applicant that has scored ’weak’ as regards an essential requirement of the Person Specification. Then invite the top scoring applicants for the job interview. Note that if two people score an equal number of points, you must invite both for interview. Downloadable Support Material
As you review the applications, make notes of anything that you might like to explore further in the job interview:
Making Practical Arrangements
You need to hold the job interview somewhere quiet where you can talk with interviewees without interruption. Ensure the venue is accessible for all candidates. Consider evening or weekend interviews — it may be easier for you to avoid business calls and other interruptions during these times.
Obviously you will want to interview the candidates yourself, but it is often good to get a second opinion. Consider asking a business acquaintance or a local business adviser to attend the interview also. If you are involving another person, make sure he or she has a chance to review the applications before the interviews. Invite the Applicants to Interview
Inform Unsuccessful Applicants Of course, you also need to send the other applicants a letter thanking them for their interest but explaining that, on this occasion, it will not be possible to offer them employment. Downloadable Support Material
Preparing the Interview Content
In advance of the interview day, prepare a set of questions on which to base the interview. Some people ask exactly the same questions of all candidates, as they feel this is the fairest approach. But this greatly limits your ability to explore interesting points or issues in a little more detail, and is therefore not recommended. The best approach is to use the same core questions for each interview, but to allow yourself to ask some additional follow-up questions to investigate answers further. Use your Person Specification as a guide when preparing questions. It will list various requirements in terms of qualifications, experience and personal qualities. You can prepare a number of questions related to each of these areas.
It is becoming increasingly common to ask some situational or behavioural questions. These ask the applicant to describe how he or she reacted to different situations in the past. For example, for a job where the employee will have to deal with complaints, you could ask a candidate to tell you about a time in the past when they had to deal with an angry customer.
You must not ask any questions about a candidate´s race, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, childcare arrangements, national origin, disability or anything that could be construed as asking about these factors. These ´protected characteristics´ may not be taken into consideration in the selection process. The general rule of thumb is that your questions must be job-related. Downloadable Support Material
Using Tests If you wish, you can ask candidates to complete tasks or tests that will help you predict if he or she will be able to perform well in the job in question. Here are some examples:
It is important to note that if you ask one candidate to perform a test, you should ask all candidates to do so. Candidates with a disability must have all necessary facilities to perform a test. For example, a disabled candidate for an administration post should be allowed to use their own voice-activated typing equipment. Prepare Interview Answers Remember that interview candidates may well have some questions for you. If you want to give a good impression of your business, you should have answers at the ready. Could you answer the following questions now :
INTERVIEWING AND SELECTING JOB APPLICANTS 1. BE PREPARED On a general note, ensure that you are well prepared for interviewing job applicants. Before each interview, review the application of the interviewee to refresh your memory and to check that there are no issues you need to clarify during the interview. If you have asked someone to help you conduct the interviews, decide who is going to ask what questions and who will take notes. 2. DURING THE INTERVIEW Put the Candidate at Ease Be Patient Take Notes Ending the Interview The following are 5 important tips for interviewing:
Base your decision on an objective assessment of the evidence for each candidate against the selection criteria. Again, it is useful to use a scoring system in interviewing job applicants to turn observations into numbers. If you grouped your questions according to the requirements set out in the Person Specification, then you can have ten points available for answers relating to qualifications, twenty points for experience and so on. For a sample Interview Scoring Matrix, click here. Some people add up the two scores from a candidate´s application and from their interview performance. However, it is more common to focus only the interview score. When you have completed the scoring process, you should end up with a new ´league table´ of the candidates with the strongest at the top of the league. You will naturally want to award the job to the best person, but you should not make a firm offer until you have checked references. Checking References
Basic Facts Check the following practical issues first:
More Probing Questions The questions you ask should be job related or focus on the skills and qualities of the applicant. Like during an interview, you must avoid any sensitive topics like family commitments. Have a look at the following probing questions:
To see a sample Referee Questionnaire, click here. You can also contact education referees or personal referees, but remember that they may not be 100% objective in their comments as they have been ´hand-picked´ by the applicant. When you have finalised your decision, send your prospective employee a Letter of Offer. This is the first step in forming a contract of employment and should include:
Downloadable Support Material
Recruitment of Staff Summary
Now that you have appointed a new employee, you need to think about how you are going to introduce them to your business and to their new job. This is the subject of the next section.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Remember firstly that you should have obtained permission from the candidate to contact referees. This is best done before or during the interview. Once you have permission, you can contact referees by telephone or in writing. Written reference requests can be in the form of a short questionnaire, and are often accompanied by a copy of the Job Description. Whether by phone or in writing you will want to ascertain some basic facts but also explore the applicant’s’ qualities.
