Employing staff: Common mistakes in the recruitment process

To build a successful team of staff, its important to avoid the common mistakes in the recruitment process that can be made by managers.

• Don’t rush it – take time to assess the available candidates and allocate enough time for interviews where you can properly assess a candidate’s strengths and abilities.
• Know the role – its vital to clearly understand the ins and outs of the business and the roles and responsibilities involved in the job in order to make a fair assessment of the candidates’ suitability. Adding a colleague or team member to the interview panel who will be working closely with the new employee can help to add this insight into the process.
• Don’t be reactive – its important to have a clear job description outlined at the start of the recruitment process. Don’t be tempted to shape a role around someone who presents themselves unless they look really, really good.
• Review the role – just because a team member leaves, don’t rush out to fill the same role without reviewing the position. Maybe this is a good opportunity to restructure the team or create a new position in line with the long term vision of the business.
• Keep communicating – keep candidates informed during the recruitment process and maintain the flow of communication. A good candidate may go and accept a job elsewhere because they haven’t heard from you within a reasonable time frame so make sure they are kept informed about the timescales of the process.