You need another pair of hands. Sales are up, you are stretched thin, and you just want someone in the seat who can do the job. So you write a quick advert, see a handful of people, pick the one you like best and hope for the best. When it goes wrong, you pay for it.
Knowing how to recruit the right people matters because a bad hire is expensive. Estimates vary, but the cost is generally put at somewhere between 50% and 300% of the annual salary for the role. Hire someone on £20,000 who lasts three months and you are likely to be at least £10,000 down, before counting rehiring, lost productivity and unhappy customers.
1. Analyse the job before you advertise it
Start by looking hard at what you already have. How do your current staff measure up to what the business needs next, in terms of experience, qualifications, skills and behaviours? The gap you find is the basis of the role. Then picture what someone doing the job well would look like.
Write or refresh the Job Description, covering:
- Job purpose – why the job exists and how it benefits the business.
- Job scope – who the person reports to, how many people they manage and what budget they hold.
- Job duties – the key tasks and responsibilities, routine and occasional.
- Job title – make sure it reflects the real responsibility.
Set the salary and benefits now too, checking adverts for similar jobs so your package can compete.
2. Build a person specification: essential versus desirable
The Job Description tells you what the job is. The Person Specification (or Person Profile) tells you who can do it, across experience, knowledge, qualifications, skills and behavioural competencies. Split every attribute into two columns.
- Essential means a must-have. Anyone lacking an essential attribute should not be considered. Simple as that.
- Desirable means nice to have. They often decide between two otherwise suitable candidates.
Before you put something in the essential column, ask what would happen to performance if it were missing. If the honest answer is “not much”, it is desirable. Think too about the behaviours you expect, because they usually reflect the culture, values and standards of your business. A clear list of competencies, such as Analysing and Solving Problems or Drive and Initiative, makes recruitment far more objective.
3. Keep your recruitment process legal
Your Job Description, Person Specification and whole process must stay within employment and anti-discrimination law, so you are not unfairly advantaging or disadvantaging anyone. If a decision is challenged, the onus is on you as the employer to justify it.
Be particularly careful about indirect discrimination. A tribunal will look at whether far fewer people from a particular group could meet your criteria, whether you can genuinely justify those criteria as a real requirement of the job, and whether the person lost out as a result. ACAS, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation are good places to get advice, often free.
4. Define your EVP so good people want to work for you
Smaller firms often battle a perception that they are less stable, offer fewer career opportunities, pay less and work out of uninspiring premises. Your answer is a compelling EVP, your Employee Value Proposition: what makes you different from, and better than, other employers. You should be able to say it quickly and concisely.
Look beyond standard benefits and holiday. The guide’s example: “all of our promotions are based on performance and not time served; 90% of our supervisors and managers have been promoted from within the business.” An SME can offer a bright candidate the chance to learn more and directly influence how the business grows. But know the going rate and be ready to at least match it, because good candidates will not join for less. And make your workplace one people are proud to show their family.
5. Write a job advert that filters as well as attracts
Your advert is a wide filter. It should draw in people who match your profile and encourage the wrong ones to select themselves out. Be clear about your culture and the role’s downsides, and spell out the essentials.
Choose your channels with care. National press is expensive, local and trade press cheaper but narrower, and job sites quick but variable. Brief any agency fully and agree all costs up front, as fees can reach 25% of first-year salary. Do not overlook internal candidates. Then check your advert is on the right TRACK:
- Targeted through the right media.
- Reflective of the role’s requirements and responsibilities.
- Attractive in both content and appearance.
- Clear about how to apply and by when.
- Keeping focused on attracting the right candidates.
6. Keep your applicants honest
Most candidates polish their CV, so experienced recruiters treat it as the start of a conversation, not the verdict. Tell applicants up front that you will check their documents, then actually check certificates, identity and right to work in the UK. At interview, ask about their experience, qualifications and skills, and probe beneath any answer that does not ring true.
The best protection for a small business is a selection process with several stages, so you are never relying on the CV alone.
7. Screen applications fairly and consistently
Three traps catch people out: not being clear what you are looking for, favouring someone because they remind you of yourself, and rushing the sift. Use a simple tick-box screening form based only on your Person Specification, allow undistracted time, and have a colleague double-check your scoring.
Decide which background checks the role needs, such as references, qualifications, employment gaps, criminal records, driving licence and right to work. Employers can be held legally responsible for their employees’ actions, but candidates have privacy rights too, so only gather what you need and follow data protection rules.
8. Make your selection with the right tools
With a shortlist of three to six, you need methods that make finer distinctions. Use a structured interview, a work sample exercise (a welding test for a welder, for example) or ability tests where they fit the role. For senior or complex roles, an assessment centre can add presentations, in-tray exercises, group exercises, role plays and further one-to-one interviews.
Treat unsuccessful candidates well, because they will talk about you. Tell them promptly, thank them personally and offer a named contact for feedback.
9. Make them an offer they can’t refuse
Move quickly, because good candidates do not hang around. Make the first offer by phone, be enthusiastic, explain the full package and know exactly what you can agree to if they negotiate. Follow up with a personal offer letter setting out the main terms, and ask for a signed copy back.
Offers can be conditional on references, right-to-work proof, a criminal records check, a medical (applied to everyone, not selected individuals) or a probationary period. Use the FAST approach to references: Focus on verifiable facts, Ask questions tied to your Person Specification, Seek more than one, and Treat non-factual opinion with scepticism. And do not let your runner-up go until your first choice has accepted.
Before day one, register with HMRC if this is your first employee, get their P45 and National Insurance number, check your employer’s liability insurance and plan a proper induction.
10. Assess and review your recruitment process
Reviewing your recruitment and selection process is vital. Track how appointed people perform at the end of probation and later reviews, and compare that with what you judged at interview. Ask candidates and interviewers for feedback.
- Measure the average time to fill a vacancy.
- Track how many starters are still with you after 12 months.
- Add up the direct costs, such as advertising and agency fees, and the indirect costs, such as management time.
To succeed in business, you need to know everything you can about that business.
Graham Jarvis
That includes how you hire.
Where to start
Before your next vacancy goes live, sit down for an hour with the role you are about to fill. Write a one-line job purpose, then list every requirement and force each one into either the essential or desirable column, asking what would really happen if it were missing.
That single exercise will sharpen your advert, make your shortlisting fairer and give you a clear yardstick for every interview.