Recruiting new people can be a risky, imprecise, and expensive task.

A poor employee, or even a good employee in the wrong job can have a serious negative impact on a company. Hiring the wrong person is a waste of time, money, effort, and team spirit. The financial cost when employing the wrong people can be significant and has been estimated to be at least 25% in basic annual salary of the employee, plus the cost of time spent interviewing candidates and then the cost of ending the employment and further incidental costs.

There is a logical sequence when recruiting a new person and employers often have their own preferred ways of advertising, short listing and selecting (whether to accept a C.V. or use an application form? whether to use a recruitment agency? Whether to have a structured interview process or not?).

The very first step is to look at the vacancy. Is there really a vacancy? If there is a genuine vacancy has it changed? what does the employer really want? This is called the Job Analysis and it is tempting to skip or rush, but evaluating the vacancy is key to identifying the vacancy. Consider what is really needed – the skills and aptitude, the responsibilities, the hours etc.

Write a Job Description, it will help you to identify the tasks and responsibilities and reporting lines, it will help candidates to understand the role and will be a valuable document during the course of an employee’s time with you, (it may need to be changed and updated over time).

Decide how you are going to advertise the post and select the right person. How will you reach the best candidates? How will you shortlist? What will you ask candidates to provide? Who will do the short listing and selection – what are the criteria they are using? Is this step in your process free from any discriminatory bias? When are you checking that candidates applying for the role have the right to work in the UK? It is best to plan the recruitment and have these answers before you start!

There is significant employment legislation regarding recruitment. The Equality Act 2010 is relevant for the whole period of an employee’s relationship with the employer – even before the employment has started. Discrimination isn’t always overt and can even happen unintentionally. It is important to ensure rigorous processes are in place to avoid any discrimination. Recruitment processes can be a potential barrier to neurodiversity, and this is increasingly recognised. Neurodiversity refers to the natural range of difference in human brain function, but in a workplace context, it’s an area of diversity and inclusion that refers to alternative thinking styles, such as dyslexia, autism, ADHD and dyspraxia.

Short listing is the first sifting of applications.

Review your applications and score them based on those that meet your essential and desirable criteria. Remember not to reject a candidate based on a protected characteristic such as a disability or their gender. Depending on how many people you want to interview, you will then have a selection of applications to move to the interview stage.

You have now reached the stage of interview and selection. How will your interview be conducted? Who will conduct the interview? Will there be more than one interview? Make sure (again) that there is no discriminatory bias. Is there a test or an assessment? Will the interviewee meet the team? It is important that all interviewees have the same (as far as possible) interview experience and are asked the same questions and it is important that you keep notes of the responses.

Make your offer, if it is accepted don’t forget to contact your other candidates and thank them, their experience of you as an employer might be advantageous one day.

Author

Nicky Ackerley BA(Hons)

Nicky is the owner of HR Support Consultancy. She has a BA(Hons) in Business Studies, is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has been a practising HR manager for more than 20 years. HR Support Consultancy has provided the BVNA Members Advisory Service (formerly known as the Industrial Relations Service) since it began in 2002. Email: nickyackerley@hrsupportconsultancy.co.uk

VOL 36 • February 2021 • Veterinary Nursing Journal