Bringing the right people on board is central to the success of any business – though it’s often easier said than done.
Effective recruitment is an ongoing challenge that no organisation can shy away from. Whether it’s in the initial phases of growth or part of wider expansion further down the line, companies must understand how to assess their hiring needs and act on the information available to them if they wish to pinpoint and attract exceptional talent.
Having worked with hundreds of businesses across nearly every sector, our HR experts are well-placed to offer some practical advice on what works well, and what doesn’t.
Let’s get straight to it.
Understand the role you are recruiting for
Not enough businesses take time to understand the raw abilities that underpin top performance in the role they are advertising. Factors like industry experience and qualifications are important, of course, but they do not guarantee that you will find the best possible candidate at the first time of asking.
Finding the right person means mapping out a complete person specification ahead of time. Think about the talents and personality traits that your ideal hire must have, and how their strengths will complement the top performers already within your business. This knowledge is vital to inform watertight job descriptions, KPIs, measures of success and clear goals that the new hire can work towards from the get-go.
Get your interview structure right – and listen up!
We hear about the ways in which candidates should prepare for interviews all the time, but how often do we talk about preparation for those asking the questions? A solid interview structure is essential for hiring managers and business owners that are intent on finding precisely the right talent for the right role.
First of all, each question must be justified. Establish the key phrases or sentiments that you will be keeping an ear out for during the interview. This is the only way to set objective measures and a pre-determined scoring mechanism, so that every important detail the interviewee says can be captured, evaluated and compared with other candidates. Don’t let emotions or superficialities cloud your judgement, and be prepared to listen hard!
Use structured, research-based interviews to identify talent patterns
Arguably the biggest hiring challenge facing modern businesses is being able to pinpoint and measure talent patterns among staff. Top companies stay ahead of the competition by studying the predictors of success within their teams, before feeding this information directly into their recruitment process and search for ideal candidates.
Psychometric testing is the perfect way to dig deeper into the strengths and weaknesses of existing employees and prospective hires. By conducting research-based assessments across a broad range of skills and competencies, managers get a stronger insight into the abilities and behaviours of talented individuals, as well as a better understanding of how teams work together. This makes psychometric testing a must for any business looking to make informed hiring decisions every time they put out a job advert.
Looking for support with your own approach to hiring? Head here to find out a little bit more about the work we do at PACC, including bespoke interview structures and psychometric testing.
You can always give us a quick call on 0161 883 1149 to talk through your needs.
