How to Design a Better Hiring Process For Your Business?

A business is only as good as its employees! The workforce of an organisation is its most valuable resource which makes or breaks its reputation. However, recruiting the right people has always been a challenge for business owners. With so many candidates in the pool and the urgency to find an eligible and qualified individual, it becomes an exhaustive and cumbersome task. Also, it is vital to improving the efficiency of the recruitment process to save cost and time.

Thus if you are planning to purchase a business for sale in South Africa, you will need the best people to increase profitability and productivity. These talented professionals will support you with their expertise, experience and knowledge. There are several departments in an organisation that cannot function optimally without the presence of skilled and competent workers. So here is how you can design a better hiring process that helps in finding the right people for the right roles.

1. Create A Recruitment Plan

A recruitment plan helps the management and the human resource department to work in a streamlined and systematic manner. The plan should have the steps outlined for identifying the hiring need in the company. It should define all the possible recruitment sources for different roles – employment agency, online job seeking websites, employee referrals or walk-in interviews. The plan must also have a communication process wherein the team and managers are informed about the recruitment.

The next part of the plan should talk about the screening criteria depending on the job roles and business goals. It should also have the guidelines for conducting interviews, such as not making a candidate wait for more than an hour for a face-to-face interview. A planned approach helps in managing the process efficiently and without any hassles.

2. Popularise Your Work Culture

Attracting the best people in the industry is dependent on the image of the brand. Most people would want to associate with a reputed brand which is known for its flexible and friendly work environment. You can make it happen for your brand by marketing the values and the company culture. If your business emphasises on achieving the perfect work-life balance, then you must advertise it while posting the ad for a vacancy.

You can make your existing employees your spokespersons and ask them to write positive reviews about the organisation online. You can upload pictures of company outings and team lunches on the social media pages of the business to grab the attention of potential candidates.

3. Write Appealing Job Descriptions

The job description should not try to sell the company to the potential candidates. It should focus on the role and the capabilities needed to fill the position and fulfil the responsibilities. It should answer pertinent questions like work hours, range of salary, reporting person, duties, day-to-day operations.

However, it should not be too lengthy. Keep it precise as no one would be interested in reading a page-long description. It should broadly inform the candidate how the business will satisfy his needs and what does it expect in return. It will help you to find eligible and qualified candidates and get rid of the casual applicants who are not suited for the job.

4. Screen and Assess The Applicants

The screening part is usually taken up by the human resource team, which eliminates all the resumes that do not have minimum qualification or experience. The next step is to organise them into categories of best-matched applicants, highly matched applicants and moderately matched applicants. The categorisation should be based on their knowledge, skill set, competence, and personality.

It must include conducting simulations to test their abilities, personality review tests and assessment of communication and interpersonal skills through phone calls, emails and direct contact. The first round with the HR department should be able to identify the finest candidates who should be called for the second round with the reporting manager or the management team.

5. Maintain Consistency During Interviews

Unstructured interviews can make the most eligible candidates have an unfriendly and annoying experience. It is essential that the person interviewing the candidate must be prepared with the right set of questions and should be informed about the time limit. The manager in charge of interviewing candidates should not have other meetings lined up for the day and should be focussed on finding the right person for the job.

They must examine the body language, disposition, enthusiasm levels, emotional intelligence and presence of mind of the applicants. They must also honestly answer the questions of the candidates and give them a peek into the work environment of the organisation. It helps both the parties to understand whether they can adjust in the company or not. The mangers should conduct mock interviews to develop a framework and keep it structured.

6. Background And Reference Check

The human resource department must run a thorough background check of the shortlisted candidates, which should include checking employment history, educational certificates, and credit history. These days screening the social media pages of individuals also help in gaining sufficient knowledge about the person and his character. It helps in identifying whether the personality of the candidate would fit with the values of the organisation or not. You must always shortlist more than one candidate for the position as sometimes the top candidate might decline the offer.

7. Negotiations and Onboarding

The salary negotiations should always fall within the budget even if you find a highly qualified candidate. You cannot incur high expenses in order to hire an overqualified person. In case you are unable to find a suitable applicant, then discuss the issue with the management. Sometimes the position can be put on hold, or someone else from within the organisation can be promoted and trained to take up the role.

The induction part should include orientation wherein the HR department should get the candidate familiarised with the organisation, its people, customers, hierarchy, and teams. The new recruit should be assigned a mentor so that they quickly absorb the mission and vision and align their personal goals with the long-term objectives of the business.

Conclusion

If you have planned to purchase a business for sale in South Africa, then you must be aware of the ideal recruitment process. Keep the tips mentioned above in mind to find the right people for your organisation and leverage their knowledge to grow the business.