Recruitment Q&A

Going through the mountain of resumes I receive to find someone appropriate. Also responding to each one to say that I have received their application and then responding to say whether they are successful or not. It is very time consuming.

Not sure what the law says about your particular case, but when I am hiring I am not looking just for the best person for the job. Nope. I look at everything I think might influence my future employee. So if you fear for your own, and safety of your employees you can elect not to hire.

I used to be the legal counsel for both Hudson and Robert Walters. Recruitment companies are very similar. The real key is to find that one recruiter within the space you are seeking to recruit. Their networks and candidate database is what is valuable.

I was wondering how businesses liked to check a person's attitude and why they choose the method they do - With personality tests - Seeing their performance under tests by assessment centres - In an interview - Through a third party referral such as an employee or their previous employer

Write engaging copy in your recruitment ad that actually speaks to them. Marketing people are generally more outgoing personalities, sociable and with creative flair. You're essentially competing with advertising agencies so have a look at how they attract them.

Run your ads on marketing/advertising blogs such as Campaign Brief. Look beyond Seek. Also advertise your job on social media.

Think about what young people want - work-life balance (maybe offer flexi-time), a creative working space, a social atmosphere, being part of something they can be proud of (delivering quality work, corporate social responsibility efforts, working for a reputable company).

Hi Kellie,

To add a bit more context, can you expand on what you mean by "blind recruitment", and specifically why you're thinking of adopting this strategy for your business?

I know for certain businesses or positions e.g. modelling agencies, hiding some or all of the candidate's details doesn't make sense.. but for others, there may be merits in doing so, I guess it just depends on your business and what you're trying to achieve.

Hi Kevin,

It really depends on what kind of role you are trying to fill. I've interviewed staff for more data entry type roles and the best way to handle them, and these are tips I have gotten from friends that run their whole business on offshore assistants is to allocate a budget and a very specific task for them to do that is reflective of what you are hiring for. And this has to be SPECIFIC, as in allocate a due date, a process to handle questions about the task, a way to submit the task and also allocate a time bracket in which to complete the task. If you are not specific the following can occur:

• They may do a great job, but spend many hours on it costing you more money in the long run, if this is not disclosed from the outset you could be walking into a troublesome relationship
• They may take too long and not meet the scheduled date. 
• They may ask too many questions and not be proactive in finding solutions which ends up costing you more time managing.
• They may not submit the task in the right way.

All the above issues need to be prevented and clearly stated so you can concentrate on finding candidates with the right skill set and not try and fish out ones that can follow basic instructions and processes.

Hire 10-15 contracts at one time, and then evaluate the top candidates based on task performance. You may want to give an alternative task to complete before then hiring a team.

It's also great to have some backups to contact in case your original hire goes astray. If it's your first time hiring I highly suggest you use an agency, this will ensure that if your staff is sick or away or leaves you won't need to spend time retraining or finding someone to fill in - you may pay more per hour but these are the little things that I think are worth paying for.

Make sure you are clear with the Agency regarding what they look after and what they don't. At minimum they should cover training, sick leave management and replacements.

I haven't had any experience remotely hiring higher level management type staff so I can't comment on that :) Perhaps someone else here may give that questions a shot?