Recruiting employees is always a stressful operation. It is a challenge to find the employees who work well, have great skills, and are motivated to succeed. You also must ensure compliance with a variety of Federal and state employment laws while finding the perfect fit for the job. What are some tips that can make it easier?
1) Design your staffing plan before you are desperate for employees. A good staffing plan looks at your current turnover, projected retirement levels, projected new business goals, and succession planning to help you make a strategic plan on how many employees you will need to recruit over time.
2) Know the laws, rules, and regulations that impact recruiting employees. Ensure you are complying with the laws, regulations, and codes that can impact your recruiting process. From know what interview questions you should not ask, to understanding how different recruiting methods can be discriminatory, to complying with regulations on background and credit checks, there are lots of legal landmines out there that can trip you up.
3) Write (and keep up-to-date) clear job descriptions. A good job description is a living document, not something you do once every couple of years. Job descriptions should establish the responsibilities of the job, list specific requirements and essential functions, and be reviewed regularly to ensure that it is still accurate.
So, your job descriptions might include:
• Organization/Purpose: Give a brief description of your organization and a brief description of the position’s purpose within your organization.
• Impact: How the position interacts with other departments within your organization.
• Essential Functions: List the major duties in order of importance. You can bullet these, and use sub-bullets to provide more specific information.
• Marginal Functions: Duties not essential to the job, but expected from time to time.
• Job Requirements: The list of requirements that MUST BE MET to qualify for the job. Once you have these, you should not hire people who do not meet the requirements, or you raise your risk of discrimination claims. You can list separately any additional preferred qualifications, but don’t make them required.
• Education/Experience Required: List required academic degrees, certifications, licenses, and whether you require experience in the position.
• Technical Skills: List computer skills, specific programs, specific equipment and technical requirements. Indicate a level required (basic, intermediate, advanced).
• Interpersonal and Language Skills: The specific behaviors you require for this position: Do they spend a lot of time communicating with other employees or clients? What languages are they required to speak or write?
3) Advertise: Recruiting employees in today’s technology age can be dangerous. To ensure that you are not discriminating, you should use a variety of recruiting methods that can reach a diverse group. One way to pick the recruiting methods that work for a specific position is to consider where a person who does that job goes-are there specific journals they read, or networking groups? The more skilled the position is the more specific recruiting avenues you may have available. Then there are some standard methods: newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, professional associations, social service groups, employment or staffing agencies, job boards, schools, job fairs, flyers, etc. Don’t get stuck in a rut though, try something new (just make sure you measure your return on investment). Try advertising on vehicles, billboards, pizza boxes, etc-wherever you think your target employee moves and lives.
4) Don’t forget your current employees! Not just for referrals, but for succession planning. Take time to focus on who in your company holds a key position, and look at other employees that may be able to one day step into those positions. What training will they need, what can you do to help them be ready?
Recruiting employees will always be a challenge. With the right tools, and a strategic plan, you can recruit the employees you need.