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We are very pleased to introduce this months guest blogger, Jayne Johnson from Better People, who gives suggestions on what owners should include in their recruitment plan to help the growth of their business.

How to recruit the right people for your small business

When you are faced with having to recruit for your own business, the prospect can seem daunting. You want to find a person you can trust, a person who cares as much about the business as you do, who can really do what they say they can do. You want to feel confident that they will look after your customers and that they will be easy to manage. You want to find someone you can trust.

You will also want to make sure that they fit in well with the rest of the team and that they will add value to your business.

The best way to start this recruitment process is to outline exactly what it is you want the person to do and how they will be managed, measured and motivated.  What you will find below are just some basic pointers and headers to work from when planning your Recruitment Campaign.

What exactly will the job entail? –Think through each area, each task and responsibility and note them down. Think through every aspect of their working day from where they will sit, to what their routine will be, the equipment required, their training and how success will be measured. Don’t be tempted to pull a generic job description off the internet or out of a cupboard from when that role was last recruited for 3 years ago – this needs to reflect the needs of your business today.  How will you describe your business? Are you driven by ethics? Do you have a particular values based proposition? Do you know why you need this?

There is a temptation to think that a professional recruiter can do this for you, so you don’t really need to think about it and yes, a good recruiter will make this process easier but you will be the person interviewing these individuals and the final decision will be yours so your full engagement in the process is essential.

A good recruiter will work through this with you as they are invested in getting the right person to stay with you rather than have their candidate leave a mis-sold badly managed employment situation. My suggestions for a good recruitment plan are below.

Recruitment Plan for Small Businesses.

1. Job Description (see above) Everything they do every day including targets etc. If commission is to be paid this needs to be planned and delivered as part of the job description. Good sales people will want to see this before they commit to an interview. Don’t’ forget that employees can’t deliver if they don’t know what it is that you want them to do.
2. Day to day operational stuff – training and induction ,keys, equipment, phones, business cards etc, reporting lines, measurement management and motivation.
3. Applicant Attraction – where will you get these people? Where will you advertise? Who will process the incoming applications? How much are you prepared to spend? Who will write the adverts? )  A Job Description is NOT an advert!)
4. Recruitment and Selection – work with external recruiter (check exactly what their process is, what are you getting for your money?) to pre-select candidates and create shortlist or do this yourself- How will you decide which candidates to see? What are your benchmarks? Will you do a profiling exercise such as Talent Dynamics or Disc for example? When will the interviews take place? Feedback – commit to getting feedback to candidates withing 48 hrs.
5. Candidate interviews – who will be present at the interviews? First interview – what will you ask? Second interview? If so why and what will be in it? Do you need interview scripts? ( Interview scripts help the interviewer to keep control during the interview and ensure that all candidate are benchmarked equally against the same set of questions) Do you think there is value in asking candidates who are asked back for a second interview to complete an assessment/exercise of some sort to demonstrate their expertise and way of thinking? If so, prepare the assessments and interview scripts to reflect your particular criteria for that particular job.
6. Score sheets and interview notes. The completed interview scripts along with scores against the candidates answers will help you to makey our decision and protect you against any future claims of unfair or discriminative recruitment practices.
7. Keep these documents to build up a library and recruitment manual for your business.

You might think that as a professional recruiter, I am bound to make this process seem as complex and scary as possible! I don’t want to make it scary but I do want to help you through one of the most important business investments you will make. Whether you work with a recruitment consultant or not, you will still need to have all these areas covered. The external recruiter will not be able to decide who is best for your business – that decision is yours.  Good Luck and Happy Hiring!

Better People Ltd has a unique approach to recruitment. We meet you to discuss your needs and then create a bespoke recruitment campaign based on your organisation and the individual role. We pre-screen and interview all candidates before putting them forward, and will only do so if we’re happy they will fit in and stay put. Our approach saves you time and improves retention. Better People – Stay. Please feel to contact us for help with your recruitment need, Jayne on 01844 319286.