The top seven mistakes when it comes to recruiting talent for your business. How many of these apply to you? We all know that recruitment is incredibly important and it is even more important if you are a growing business because you will need to recruit more and your ability to attract the right people at the right time will be one of the key things that determine how complicated or how easy your life is.
It is really important to turn recruiting into a super strength in your company and if you don’t the risk is that you’re going to mis-hire, and mis-hires come with cost they come with wasted time they come with aggravation for you and your team. It is just not worth getting it wrong. In my experience, these are the top seven mistakes that I see all the time and hopefully this video will help you prevent falling into these completely avoidable traps for your next hire.
Number one is not being crystal clear on what you are actually looking for. I know it sounds obvious but so many people start the recruitment process with a very vague job description. That’s where it goes wrong. For new roles you really do need to do proper soul searching. What are the specific skills that you are looking for. What experience are you looking for? What attitude and mindset characteristics are you looking for? and obviously is there a good values fit you need to get really clear on all of those areas so that you can start the recruitment process with clarity of what you are actually looking for.
If you are vague then you are going to pick somebody that you like and not somebody that can actually do the job that you need them to do. For existing roles, again, the same applies. Things change re-evaluate roles don’t just copy and paste the same job description. Sense check that you are clear on what are the outcomes that that role needs to achieve and, therefore, what skills experience and personal attributes the person needs to be able to achieve those outcomes consistently.
Number two is lack of a structured recruitment process. Most businesses have a two-step process CV in, interview, and then it’s a yes or no and that’s not going to cut the mustard. If you want to get really good at recruiting you need a proper process. There needs to be several steps that will involve telephone interviews face-to-face interviews, various skills tests. Do not be lazy about your recruitment process. It requires thought it requires rigor work with somebody to help you have a proper process in place something that gives you the proper tools to be able to assess a candidate’s experience the various environments that they’ve worked in their ability to achieve the outcomes that you are after in your company and everybody in the company needs to understand that process and needs to be trained properly to be able to execute that recruitment process consistently.
Number three. Taking too long to get started with the recruitment process. So many small businesses are terrible at this and as a consequence they recruit when they are under massive pressure. At the moment it is probably taking between two to six months to be able to find good quality candidates and get them on whatever seat you need in your business. So, if you only recruit when you’re absolutely desperate the risk is that you’re going to make a bad decision. Be mindful of your recruitment. Take the time to plan your recruitment properly. A little tip on this make sure that for some of your key roles you’ve got sufficient notice periods in place so that you’ve got enough time to replace key people in your business. For most roles, a one month notice isn’t going to work. You might need two to three months to fill those vacancies.
Getting the timing right on recruitment is really really important. So plan your recruitment in advance and make sure that you get on with it when you need to. So that’s it for now stick around for the next episode of “Mind Your Own Business” where I’ll share the rest of the top seven mistakes when it comes to recruiting great people for your business.
