Getting the right staff with the right competencies and behaviours into a firm is crucial. Getting the wrong staff – and having to dismiss – typically costs three times the person’s first year salary. Recruitment and selection is a key management activity. Getting it right is a science.

TimelessTime consultants have successfully recruited well over 1,000 staff spanning the levels from director to shop-floor. Here are some of the issues we will engage with when we work with you.

Check out what our clients Assurity Consulting say about our methods.

A Metaphor for Recruitment

Sometimes it's good to think about complex issues and processes as metaphors. And maybe the best metaphor for recruitment is fishing.

In thinking about catching fish, we would have to think first what sort of fish we wanted to catch. If it's trout, we should go to a mountain stream. If it's marlin, we'd best go to the Caribbean. Then we have to decide on the sort of lure and other gear we'd need. And of course, once at the pool or river or sea, we'd need to think about how we'd use the lure to attract the fish.

All that's before we get a fish on the line. Like making a job offer, often the good ones slip off before we can land them. We could even relate to the keep net as a device for retaining the offerees while in their notice periods, prior to joining the hiring company.

We could go on. But the point about metaphors is that they help us understand complexity. Fishing's good as a metaphor for recruitment and selection. In both, managers have specific decisions and actions to make to optimise the outcome. It's not just about selecting from a basketful offered to them by others. It's not just about selecting from a bundle of CVs offered from agencies.

Recruitment is a Process

There are four parts to recruitment: analysis, search, selection and induction. Few managers embrace all four. Most focus on search. The result is often the wrong person in the wrong job. Recruitment and selection needs all four to be effective.

No Place for Guesswork

Managers can tell in seconds if they like someone. But it can take up to five hours to tell, through structured questions and tests, whether or not a person will likely excel in a job. Managers must embrace the science behind recruitment and selection.

Recruitment comprises analysis, search, selection and induction. Analysis determines the nature of the person needed and the job they’ll do. Search finds candidates. Selection determines which shortlisted candidate will excel. Induction makes sure they join and stick with the firm.

Job Analysis

Before starting the search for a new recruit, it’s critical that a job analysis is done and that job descriptions and person profiles are developed. These documents drive search. Where a firm has no strategy, it can also be useful to go back to set out the strategy. Strategy determines why new staff are needed and what skills and knowledge they need.

Search and Selection

There are many instances where managers may need to assess and select staff but there is no single way and no single set of tests or instruments. Assessing and selecting involves understanding the firm’s needs, understanding the roles in the firm and understating assessment and selection methods. From this, TimelessTime consultants build an assessment and selection method. This will likely make use of aptitude tests, personality tests, work sample tests, situational judgement tests and a structured interview. For some jobs, an assessment centre run over a day or two, may be needed to build enough evidence to tell who is the best candidate.

Induction

In as many as 30% of instances, new hires leave in the first year. After an offer is made, the activity must intensify to make sure that the new hire joins and stays. The new hire must be inducted and trained to do the job, and then their performance must be managed.

Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment and selection involves finding good candidates and determining, through scientific methods, which will do best when working in the role. We do that for you. Check out how our recruitment and selection for The Marketing Eye netted three excellent new senior staff members.