You’ve posted a job advert, given it the best detailed job description, interviewed some great candidates and now you’ve got the job of choosing from the potential winners. You can see them all fitting the position, and doing a good job, but how do you narrow down the winner to just one?
Going through the employee selection process can be a hard task but getting the right employee is worth getting it correct the first time around! Hiring the wrong employee can be a costly experience and having a high turnover of staff can be damaging to not only the finance sheets but your business reputation.
Selection process
In order to get the right employee, you need to have a strong selection process in place. With a clearly defined process, it will be much easier to whittle out candidates that are not going to be right for the job - providing you with an employee that will fit perfectly in the new role.
To get started in the selection process, you need to have a good strategy which includes input from the department of where the candidate will be working and the heads of those areas to get the most important criteria in place before candidates start applying. This will all form part of the job description. A well-written job description detailing all that a candidate needs to know will help them when applying for a position.
Use a checklist
Having a checklist helps you keep on track of the candidates that you are interviewing. From their initial CV to the time they are sitting in front of you answering questions, keeping a checklist of each applicant will help with the selection choice at the end.
Review credentials
You will know what you are looking for in your applicant by the detailed job description that was written before the position was advertised. Having this job description allows you to check against everything that a candidate supplies, including their initial covering letter and CV along with the information they provide at interview. What skills, experience and attributes are you looking for and what personality traits would you like? Does everything match up to your expectations?
Look at in-house applicants
Many times there are employees within an organisation that are a good fit for new positions. Have they been informed of any potential job opportunities? Do you promote internal moves? Do you have a process for job moves within the organisation?
There are positive reasons to use in-house staff, the most obvious being that they already know and love your business, know your working practices and vice versa, you know them and what they are capable of. If you have a good employer that cannot see a chance to advance in their career, they may look to other outside opportunities, by promoting internally you are keeping good talent in-house.
Pre-Screen Applicants
They may look good on paper but can they deliver the goods when actually put on the shop floor? This is a vital stage that you need to ensure when going through a selection process. By pre-screening, you can often sieve out those that cannot provide the exact characteristics that you’d like.
A quick telephone pre-screen allows you to check out their communication skills along with the opportunity to ask if their salary expectations fit with what you can offer and whether they will slot in well with company culture. This process alone can take some candidates off the list from the start.
Check backgrounds and references
Again, everything on paper may look great, but checking with recent employers and supervisors can cement the facts. Verifying that a person has the skills that they state, the qualifications they mention and are capable of what they proclaim, is always a good benefit to the recruitment process. However, you must ensure that background checks are specifically related to the job they are applying for.
Ensure Communication
Job candidates like to be kept informed along the process of job applications. From start to finish, communication is a key factor that shows professionalism and manners for each individual. Good communication comes from both aspects, the hiring manager and the applicant. Always keep an applicant up to date with where they are in the recruitment process, communicate if they are required to do something or what the next steps in the process may be. Even a ‘thank you’ goes a long way for unsuccessful applicants, so they know the process is now over.
Use your website
To ensure that an applicant knows what values your company has and the benefits of working for the business before they apply, why not use your website to promote your company culture and values? By dedicating a section or page to what you are about and why it’s good to work for you, you’re giving an applicant chance to see behind the scenes before they take the step of applying for a job. If someone does not agree with what they see or read, or are not on board with your core values, it can deter them from applying and whittle them out of the application process.
Train your staff
Interview techniques and hiring processes are a talent which many companies do not realise takes time and effort to get right. Ensure that you have the right staff, are trained correctly in the hiring process and conducting interviews. They will know and understand what is required in the job position, how to read body language and tell whether someone is genuine and most of all, will follow recruitment processes.
If you don’t have someone that is capable or able to perform this correctly, it’s a good idea to use a recruitment agency to help.
By using a specialist recruitment agency, they will already have a good understanding of your industry, they will get to know your business and your requirements and from there will already have a pool of applicants ready to go through the interview process. They will nurture your job position and ensure that only candidates that have the skillset and specific requirements are put forward, keeping you in complete communication along the journey.
Here at Autoskills we specialise in automotive recruitment and are here and happy to help you find the perfect candidate for your next automotive job position. With the expertise and industry knowledge in automotive recruitment, we want your company to be assured that there is an applicant ready and waiting for your business, you just may not have found them yet!
If you’d like to find out more about how our recruitment process works or would just like advice in the right direction to go in when it comes to hiring, feel free to get in touch!