How To | Successfully Recruit New Employees
Hiring employees can be stressful and extremely time-consuming; however, it’s necessary and important if you want to grow your business.
Your staff can become your most valuable asset so it’s important you make the right choices and decisions. In order to hire the correct person for the job, here are the steps to take!
1.Ensure you need a position filled
Make sure that’s its agreed amongst everyone within the office/business that a new position needs to be filled and make sure your finances can handle it. Ask yourself where you need help specifically and if it’s something that you think could be done from within, then consider hiring internally, to begin with, rather than externally.
Hire someone that will complement your skill base. For example, if you consider yourself a brilliant salesperson, but you lack the strategic knowledge needed to expand a business to the size you wish, then hiring a business director, manager or something similar could help fill in those gaps.
2. Create a clear job description
Ensure you are clear about the type of person you are wanting to hire, the specific skills they require and the amount you are willing to pay. If filling an existing position, speak to the person already doing the job to see if they can help you flesh out the description.
Throughout the hiring process, keep a close record of each candidate, including their weaknesses, strengths, expectations and interview notes. You can use this to refer to when selecting your ideal candidate.
3. Determine who is doing the recruiting
Consider the amount of time it will take to recruit a new employee and think of all the tasks it involves.
- Writing the job description
- Communicating with potential candidates
- Advertising the job both offline and online
- Answering questions about your business and the job itself
- Screening and interviewing
- Communicating with those candidates who are unsuccessful.
You may find you won’t have time to do all this on your own, so it may be more efficient to outsource to other team members or an outside recruiter.
4. Ensure each potential employee has a National Insurance number
All new employees must have a National Insurance number and all employees must pay National Insurance contributions to ensure their tax payments are only recorded against their name and to qualify for specific benefits such as the state pension.
If for any reason your new employee doesn’t have one, they can apply for an NI number online.
5. Carry out applicant checks
Once you have found your perfect candidate, you must make sure that your potential employee has the right to work in the UK, and passes all further checks which may be required or appropriate to their new position, such as criminal record checks.
Check references and employment history to ensure everything that you’ve been told during the interview process is true.
6. Provide a statement of employment
You need to send a written statement of employment to any employee who will be working for you for a month or more. This document will provide the new employee with the conditions of employment and you must provide it within two months of beginning work.
7. All employees must have a contract of employment
After a statement of employment, all employees must be provided with an employment contract that outlines their responsibilities, rights and working conditions.
There is no need for this to be a ‘formal’ written document; however, it must contain both implied and explicit terms of employment.
8. Obtain employers’ liability insurance
By law, you are required to have employers’ liability (EL) insurance as soon as you become an employer. Your cover needs to be for at least a minimum of £5 million and it needs to come from an authorised insurer.
It’s designed to compensate an employee who is injured at work and protects your business if it’s taken to court by that person who suffers illness or injury in the workplace. It’s illegal not to have the correct insurance in place or if you don’t display a copy of the EL insurance certificate in your workplace.
Whether you are hiring several new employees or just one, it’s important to follow the steps noted above. Don’t forget to consider how you will reward and retain high-quality workers. There are lots of ways to do this other than through wages and salary; for example, non-financial rewards and various incentives.
Always remember that your employees are your company’s most valuable asset. Finding good workers isn’t easy and that’s why a hiring process can be expensive and time-consuming.
However, if you ensure you get the hiring process right, then you will stand a better chance of finding the ideal person for the role. If you look after your new staff, they will stay with you longer, allowing your business to thrive and succeed.
For more insight on recruitment and employee engagement, visit our blog section or contact us today for a friendly, informal chat about how A&D Recruitment could support your business.
Tags: A and D recruitment, checklist, Hiring, recruiting process
