Liam Mooney, an expert in recruitment, outlines common mistakes companies make that lead to costly hiring errors, such as rushing the hiring process and poor use of recruitment agencies. He emphasizes the importance of a standardized recruitment procedure, assessing both candidate and company personalities, and maintaining a consistent interview structure to ensure fair evaluations. Mooney advises investing in tailored recruitment processes and building strong relationships with agencies to enhance hiring outcomes.

1. Common Recruitment Mistakes
By Liam Mooney,
Managing Director of Blue Pencil,
Founder of Fit For Business

2. Liam Mooney
-Founder of Blue Pencil, Recruitment Company
-Over 15 years experience in recruitment and has built a database of over 100,000 candidates without advertising
-Founder of Fit For Business, SME Business Network
-E-mail: liam@fit4businessclub.com

3. •Average of about $50,000 per bad hire
•Fixed costs of hiring including recruitment fees, visa costs etc.
•Tarnished reputation. A bad hire leaves a bitter taste. No one wants to work for a company with a reputation of high staff turnover
•Damage to existing staff morale
•Damage to your own clients’ morale
•Corporate responsibility to person you are hiring
The cost of a bad hire

4. Why do some companies get it wrong?

5. Lack of Vision from Management
•Assess candidate personality
•Assess your own personality as a leader

6. Rushing to Hire
•Don’t rush to hire on basis of CV alone
•Follow a standardised recruitment procedure
•Correct procedures mean you will get access to a bigger talent pool
•Don’t hire because you are relieved to have found someone with the right experience

7. Searching for Candidates
•Don’t fish in the same waters as everyone else.
•LinkedIn, advertising etc. … returns are low
•Networking Groups
•Headhunt
•Work on your company’s reputation. Everyone will want to work for you

8. Poor Use of Recruitment Agencies
•Don’t search wide and far
•No motivation for agencies to do things right if they’re one of 50 agents, a company instructs
•Build relationship with one agency and work on an exclusive basis
•Your agent should be your trusted “business advisor”

9. Poor HR Staff
•Can you be sure they are not causing talent leakage?
•Do they have time to go through all the CV’s? They should assess one
•Many HR people don’t see looking at CV’s as part of their remit
•Employ HR staff who understand your industry

10. Assessment of a Vacant Role
•Who makes the ultimate decision to hire and is there a reporting chain?
•Do you do market research on salary information before trying to fill the role?
•Do you write a detailed job spec and does it conform to UAE legislation?

11. No Consistency in Interview Structure
•Process should be the same for every candidate to assess fairly
•Surroundings should be relaxed and formal. Coffee shops are a big “no”!
•Ask appropriate questions
•Remember candidates will talk about a good interview. This is free marketing for you!

12. No Testing of Technical Ability
•Never assume!
•Take the time to test experience

13. Offer Stage
•Spirit of negotiation can break down quickly at this stage
•Make sure you know the salary expectations of candidates before making an offer
•Provide clear offer letters and employment contracts
•Be transparent

14. Bonus Element of Your Offer
•Does it encourage greed or team work
•Vitally important to create a structure that motivates staff to project the common good of your company and not reward on individual performance
•Loyalty and team work should be rewarded

15. Probationary Period
•Do not use as a safety net for poor recruitment practices
•Must have induction period, assessment and training
•Consider a buddy scheme to make sure your new employee settles in
•Your company is on show to the new employee. You don’t want bad PR!

16. What we do?
•Recruitment health checks to make sure your procedures are correct
•Tailored recruitment packages for SME’s to make things affordable
•We can work on a regular part-time basis at a daily rate to help with recruitment. Not everyone can afford a recruitment agency or their own HR Director

17. Conclusion
If you get your recruitment process right you should generally hire the right person
Time for Q & A after Natalie’s talk about HR practices