Writing a job advert is just a small part of finding the right person. Here’s our advert to help you hire the perfect candidate for your next role.
Job title: The Right Person
Hours: Full-time
Trial period: 3 months – but be willing to let people go after this period if they genuinely aren’t working out.
Location: Your office
Description:
Finding the right person isn’t just about getting someone with suitable experience. They have to want to work for your company, fit in with the office, have the right mind-set for the industry and prove they can do everything they claim they can on their CVs.
Key responsibilities & duties
Your key responsibilities when looking for the right person are:
• Knowing what the role is: While it may be advertised as an Account Manager or Personal Assistant these roles vary wildly from company to company. Knowing yourself what the role will entail on a day-to-day basis means you’re more likely to hire someone who can cope with the position.
• Knowing where to look: Job sites are great but there are plenty of other places to look. Check LinkedIn profiles for people in your area that might have suitable experience. Or ask around at networking events. If you’re using a recruitment firm, make sure they have handled similar companies to yours in the past.
• Interviewing thoroughly: For some jobs, one interview might be enough. However, if you’re spending tens of thousands of pounds a year on this person, you might want to hold a number of interviews looking at everything from their personality, to how they handle pressure, their skills and more.
• Providing suitable tests: A lot of jobs have a number of daily tasks that need to be completed quickly and without fuss. Use these tests during interviews as the chances are they will take up a large part of their day.
Qualifications
It’s worth quizzing potential employees about their qualifications and training in interviews. This is because training can vary depending on who carried it out and sometimes people might have all the training in the world but have failed to pick anything up from it.
Other great interview questions include:
• Who are you going to be 10 years from today?
• Why do you work?
• What makes you get up in the morning and do what you do?
• What would constitute success in this role?
• What would you do if you were not offered this role?
Additional skills
Outside interests: By finding people who are pursuing outside interests similar to their job, you can filter out those who are just doing their job for the pay cheque and those who are actively involved and trying to progress their career.
Career direction: You can also spot clues here as to what direction they might want to take their career in – do they run a social media blog or have they been volunteering as a press officer?
Social life: What they do outside of the office can also be useful information for finding whether they will fit in with the office dynamic.
Posted by Nazia Ahmed, HR Director