Feeling the pressure to recruit in a hurry?

Despite the best planning and intentions, ‘stuff happens’ and as a manager we can find ourselves feeling ‘under the pump’ to fill a position as quickly as possible.
At the back of our mind, we know the truth in the saying ‘hire slow, fire fast’ but with a surprise resignation letter sitting on our desk, or knowing that the busiest time of the year is just around the corner, or that you just can’t procrastinate any longer about taking on that extra person – you need to act now.
How do you hire and get the best result, as quickly and as cost effectively as possible?
Here are my 5 tips:
1. Know what you need. There’s no point heading down the recruitment campaign trail if you don’t know what you and the business really needs. And it can’t be some airy fairy, imaginary, out of this world role that in reality, is impossible to fill. Be real. Once you’ve figured out exactly what you need – put it in writing – in the format of a written job description. You or your recruiter should not do one ounce of work on the role beforehand.

2. Research – know your market. Many times when I’ve set out to recruit for a client I’ve had to give them a harsh reality check in terms of salary expectations and candidate availability. To avoid wasting time, choose an experienced, specialist recruiter to work with, one who knows your industry in order to increase the chances of a quick, satisfactory hiring outcome.

3. Write the best advertisement to attract the best!
Make your role stand out from the rest. Always put yourself in the shoes of the candidate and ask yourself WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? If you were reading the ad – would you apply for your role?

4. Be prepared to move fast. Set yourself up to respond quickly to great applicants. In a candidate short market – applicants typically will apply on line to multiple roles at once. If you’re going to have any chance to secure the best candidate you firstly need to have the resources to reply and start the screening process … pronto!, or you’ll miss out! Consider using video interview technology such as RecruitLoop, to access great candidates and fast track the whole short listing process. Oh, and make sure that the key decision maker who needs to meet the short listed candidate for 2nd round interviews, or sign off on their job offer, is not on an overseas holiday or out of town on a conference during that critical week when you need to make an offer.

5. No short cuts. Let’s face it, we know that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Despite feeling the pressure to make a job offer on the spot to what looks like the ideal candidate – do your due diligence. Don’t let a desperate internal HR officer or a smooth talking recruiter (who unfortunately often only has their best interest in mind – not yours or the candidates) talk you into making a rushed decision. Follow the process. (You should only be working with a recruiter who has a process!) Ask yourself – have reference checks been completed, do you have copies of qualifications, certificates, transcripts etc?

Making the right recruitment decision is all about risk management and having a clear process to follow. Business owners can save lots of time, money and headaches by working with professional recruitment consultants. Get to know one as soon as possible!

This article was written by Tamara Blythman who has 20 years Australian recruitment industry agency experience and is the founder of Pinstripe Recruitment. Contact her at [email protected]