How You Recruit and Select New Employees Is Critical To Your Success. A Checklist You Can Use. (www.advancingyourorganization.com)

Employees are the largest single cost and resource in most organizations; and also where most of its risks lie, directly or indirectly. How you recruit, interview and select this critical resource will substantially contribute to your organization’s viability, productivity and success. Mistakes made here can have repercussions affecting your performance, revenues and costs.

The following checklist for – recruiting, interviewing and selecting employees- can substantially help you to effectively procure your most valuable and costly resource.

Recruitment

• Does your recruitment process, i.e. selecting employees to interview, have the information it needs to effectively recruit qualified job candidates?
• Is it performed expeditiously so that your interview process and then open positions are filled as quickly as possible; albeit in patient and forthright manner?
• As a basis for the recruitment do you use documented position descriptions that include required qualifications?
• Before the recruitment commences is there appropriate discussion between the operating unit with the open position and your HR department regarding the position and any related circumstances?
  • Is there a discussion as to targets – certain individuals, media, associations, networks, etc. -for the recruitment?
• Do you have metrics that measure elapsed time from start to finish of the recruitment process, costs to recruit, etc.?
• Is there appropriate interaction between your HR department and the operating unit regarding candidates that should be interviewed?
• Do you select candidates based primarily on the person’s match with your job description and desired work experience?
• Do you look for candidates that, while not “matching” your job description, will bring to your organization a valuable perspective and strong skills, which in long run will improve productivity? The point being – is your perspective too narrow and defensive?

Interview & Selection

• Does your interview and selection process flow quickly so that open positions are expeditiously filled?
• Do you conduct too few or too many interviews of respective candidates?
• Do you have a deliberative process that considers all factors before a decision is made?
• Do you use a scoring system based on desired qualifications and attributes to rate and compare candidates?
• Do you interview more than one candidate?
• Is your interview process a positive experience for the interviewee, so that even it not hired the interviewee has a positive view of your organization and will be willing to work for you in the future if a suitable position were open?
• Do interviewers meet in advance to review the objectives of the interview, the position to be filled, the candidates to be interviewed; and prepare the questions that will be asked?
• Are your interview questions reviewed by appropriate HR personnel to ensure that there are no discriminatory questions and that you will be obtaining the best information about the interviewee?
• Do you make your selection based primarily on the person’s match with your job description and desired work experience?
  • Do you also look for and interview candidates that, while not “matching” your job description, will bring to your organization a valuable perspective and strong skills, which in long run will improve productivity? ? The point being – is your perspective too narrow and defensive?
• Is the HR department involved in the interviews; not just arranging appointments but participating or providing suggested questions to ask?
• Does the HR department require that the interviewer(s) provide the reasoning used to select a certain candidate to be hired?
• Do you follow-up on references provided by interviewee?
• Do you use an outside firm specializing in background checks to perform this research?
• Do you value cultural and work force fit, personality and character, as well as, technical competency and experience?

Overall

• Do you have a clear understanding of what makes a successful recruitment, interview and selection process?
• Do you calculate and evaluate the costs for the overall process compared to the results?
• Do you ask all employees and managers for suggestions on how to improve recruiting, interviewing and selecting employees?