Julie Sykes, of Yorkshire based HR specialist consultancy JCS HR, explains the principles to ensuring you recruit the best, most appropriate, people for your business. In any business, staff can have a critical impact on success, and this is particularly true in SMEs where employee numbers tend to be lower and therefore the impact of someone who is not giving their best, or who is not a good fit for their role, can be much greater. Yet, given this fact, most small businesses – if they were being honest – would acknowledge that they are much less rigorous in the processes they apply to the recruitment of staff than those they apply if making a decision to invest a similar amount – or even smaller amount - of money in a piece of capital equipment.

1. City
Business
Region
article
130126
v1
CITY
BUSINESS
REGION
ARTICLE
Key
Principles
of
Good
Recruitment
Practice
Julie
Sykes,
of
Yorkshire
based
HR
specialist
consultancy
JCS
HR,
explains
the
principles
to
ensuring
you
recruit
the
best,
most
appropriate,
people
for
your
business.
In
any
business,
staff
can
have
a
critical
impact
on
success,
and
this
is
particularly
true
in
SMEs
where
employee
numbers
tend
to
be
lower
and
therefore
the
impact
of
someone
who
is
not
giving
their
best,
or
who
is
not
a
good
fit
for
their
role,
can
be
much
greater.
Yet,
given
this
fact,
most
small
businesses
–
if
they
were
being
honest
–
would
acknowledge
that
they
are
much
less
rigorous
in
the
processes
they
apply
to
the
recruitment
of
staff
than
those
they
apply
if
making
a
decision
to
invest
a
similar
amount
–
or
even
smaller
amount
-­‐
of
money
in
a
piece
of
capital
equipment.
Think
about
it,
if
someone
is
employed
on
an
annual
salary
of
£15,000,
that
represents
an
investment
of
£75,000
over
5
years
–
and
on
top
of
that
there
are
various
on-­‐costs
such
as
National
Insurance,
sick
pay,
holiday
pay
…..
If
any
company
decided
to
invest
that
amount
of
money
in
any
kind
of
equipment,
machinery
or
premises
it
is
highly
unlikely
that
they
would
do
so
without
significant
research,
negotiation
and
thought
before
making
the
final
decision.
Yet
when
it
comes
to
recruitment,
quite
often
a
single,
short
interview
is
all
the
‘research’
that
is
done
before
making
a
decision
to
employ.
In
many
SMEs,
managers
become
managers
because
of
their
technical
expertise
and
not
necessarily
because
of
their
line
management
expertise;
often
they
learn
their
line
management
skills
‘on
the
job’
rather
than
through
off-­‐job
training.
In
these
circumstances
recruitment
and
interviewing
may
appear
daunting,
but
it
needn’t
be.
Good
recruitment
practice
is
not
rocket
science!
Our
advice
is
that
in
order
to
maximise
the
likelihood
of
recruiting
the
best
candidates,
ensuring
that
new
staff
get
up
to
speed
as
quickly
as
possible,
and
to
avoid
‘problem
employees’
and
reduce
staff
turnover,
companies
need
to
follow
the
same
key
principles
that
they
would
do
when
considering
any
other
type
of
investment
–
or
even
buying
a
new
family
car:
1. Be
absolutely
clear
what
it
is
that
you
need
–
in
this
case,
what
is
the
job
that
needs
to
be
done,
and
what
are
the
skills,
knowledge,
and
behaviours
that
are
needed
for
someone
to
do
that
job
well.
2. Identify
good
sources
of
applicants
–
advertise
in
the
right
places
to
get
the
best
applicants
3. Use
the
selection
process
to
‘test
out’
applicants
against
your
requirements.
4. Obtain
testimonials
and
references
wherever
possible.
Once
you
are
clear
exactly
what
the
job
is,
and
what
is
needed
to
do
that
job
successfully,
your
selection
process
should
be
designed
to
‘test
out’
candidates
against
your
requirements.
DO
NOT
rely
on
an
interview
alone.
There
are
lots
of
simple
tools
and
techniques
that
can
be
used
to
increase
the
chances
of
finding
the
best
candidate.
These
include:
• Ask
for
a
covering
letter
explaining
why
applicants
think
they
are
right
for
your
job;
this
has
a
number
of
potential
benefits:
o Anyone
who
is
genuinely
interested
in
the
role
will
draft
a
letter;
anyone
who
is
randomly
sending
off
their
CV
for
anything
will
be
put
off
o It
will
provide
additional
information
to
that
given
on
the
CV/application
form
o It
can
give
an
indication
of
things
such
as
the
quality
of
their
work
–
is
it
laid
out
nicely,
is
it
full
of
spelling
mistakes
etc.

2. City
Business
Region
article
130126
v1
• If
there
is
a
particular
skill
involved
in
the
job,
test
it.
For
example,
ask
applicants
for
a
chef’s
job
to
cook
you
a
dish;
ask
PA
applicants
to
handle
an
in-­‐tray
exercise;
ask
data
entry
applicants
to
carry
out
a
data
entry
exercise;
ask
sales
applicants
to
make
a
presentation.
• Use
psychometric
tests
–
these
can
test
out
anything
from
numerical
or
verbal
ability
to
spatial
awareness;
there
are
also
questionnaires
which
can
give
insights
into
personality
–
to
enable
you
to
ensure
that
candidates
are
a
good
match
for
the
requirements
of
the
role.
• Ask
for
references.
Obtaining
meaningful
references
can
be
problematic,
with
lots
of
companies
only
prepared
to
provide
basic
information,
and
whilst
this
is
useful
to
confirm
details
provided
in
the
CV
or
application
form,
it
isn’t
really
enough.
If
this
proves
to
be
the
case,
ask
for
personal
referees
BUT
be
clear
exactly
who
the
referee
is,
what
the
relationship
is
to
the
candidate
and
what
information
you
need
from
them
to
help
you
make
a
decision,
and
ask
specifically
for
that
–
do
not
just
send
out
generic
reference
requests
as
more
often
than
not
they
will
not
provide
much
useful
information.
The
interview
still
remains
an
important
part
of
any
recruitment
exercise
but
in
order
for
it
to
be
worthwhile
it
needs
to
follow
some
key
principles:
• Be
clear
what
you
want
to
get
from
the
interview
• Ask
questions
aimed
at
obtaining
that
information
• Use
the
principle
that
past
performance
is
a
good
indicator
of
future
performance
and
ask
candidates
to
give
you
specific
examples
of
them
using
a
particular
skill,
dealing
with
a
particular
situation,
applying
a
particular
behaviour.
Don’t
ask
‘
what
would
you
do
if….?’,
instead
ask
‘tell
me
about
me
about
a
time
when……’
When
recruiting
new
staff
most
companies
focus
almost
exclusively
on
the
skills
and
experience
that
job
applicants
can
demonstrate,
which
is
understandable
since
without
at
least
some
relevant
skills/experience
applicants
are
unlikely
to
be
able
to
carry
out
the
job
requirements.
However,
‘problem
employees’
tend
to
be
those
who
do
not,
or
will
not,
apply
their
skills
effectively,
or
who
fail
to
recognise
and
respect
company
requirements
and
standards.
Our
experience
of
recruitment
and
staff
management
shows
that
personal
attributes
and
behaviours
can
be
much
more
influential
in
determining
an
employee’s
success
or
failure
in
a
job.
Managers
recognise
the
difference
between
their
best
and
worst
staff,
and
quite
often
the
difference
is
not
in
the
skills
and
experience
they
have,
but
in
the
way
they
apply
them;
it
is
not
so
much
‘what’
they
do,
as
‘how’
they
do
it.
Behaviours
such
as
initiative,
team
working,
interpersonal
awareness,
ability
to
cope
with
pressure,
concern
for
standards,
flexibility
or
integrity
can
be
vital.
So
the
key
to
a
successful
recruitment
is
to
start
by
identifying
not
only
what
skills,
knowledge
and
experience
are
required
to
do
the
job,
but
also
what
personal
behaviours
are
essential.
The
selection
process
should
then
be
designed
to
gather
information
which
demonstrates
whether
job
applicants
have
these
essentials.
Although
it
might
appear
difficult
to
gather
information
on
personal
behaviours
and
attributes,
it
is
actually
no
more
difficult
than
identifying
whether
or
not
someone
has
a
particular
skill.
If
someone
is
a
good
salesperson
they
will
be
able
to
describe
an
example
of
when
they
closed
a
particularly
good
sale;
if
someone
has
initiative
or
can
handle
pressure,
they
should
be
able
to
describe
instances
when
they
have
applied
these
abilities.
The
manager’s
skill
is
in
putting
together
the
right
questions
to
pull
out
examples
of
what
he,
or
she,
is
looking
for.

3. City
Business
Region
article
130126
v1
A
final
thing
to
bear
in
mind
is
the
importance
of
ensuring
that
your
recruitment
practices
are
robust
enough
to
deal
with
a
challenge
if
they
face
one
from
someone
who
is
unhappy
with
the
outcome
of
their
application.
Again,
for
SMEs
this
doesn’t
need
to
involve
costly
or
complex
processes,
but
the
application
of
some
simple
principles,
such
as:
• Applying
the
same
process
to
all
applicants
–
applying
any
adjustments
that
might
be
required
because
of,
for
example,
disability
or
language
skills
• Keeping
records
• Wherever
possible
involving
more
than
one
person
in
recruitment
decisions.
Julie
Sykes
has
worked
in
the
human
resources
industry
for
25
years
and
celebrated
10
years
running
her
own
consultancy
in
2012.
The
company
is
based
in
Huddersfield
and
services
the
Yorkshire
and
Manchester
areas,
providing
consultancy
across
all
sectors
including
manufacturing,
government,
media,
financial
services,
medical
and
engineering.
http://www.jcs-­‐hr.co.uk
01484
602708.