ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Hiring for Success
Hiring someone new to work in your business is one of the most critical decisions a business owner makes, although it is not always given the justice it deserves. If a position is vacant, or additional staff are needed, recruitment decisions are often driven by the pressure to get someone in quickly, rather than waiting for the best person to fill the job. Lack of proper and systematic recruitment process can also result in a high cost to the business. The direct and indirect costs of this recruitment process are many, and have been estimated to be at least 30% of the new person's salary on average: Recruitment costs ? include advertising and agency fees (if used), travel Cost of time ? for everyone involved in the interview process Cost of having the job unfilled -if the process is lengthy Cost of lost productivity ? "the show must go on!" Co-workers are picking up extra workload and completing unfinished projects. The reduced productivity of managers who lose key staff can be a big issue Cost of training ? on average it takes 20 weeks for new employees to become fully productive. Consider also the costs of orientation, learning materials and lost productivity of the manager overseeing the new employee Costs of person filling in ? this may be a current employee, in which case their own job suffers, or a temporary person. Further costs are incurred when the process is inefficient and time-consuming, and when the process does not result in the best person for the job being hired. So the incentive to hire the right people and keep them for as long as possible should be a focus for all businesses. So what approach to recruitment gives the best chance of long-term success? Job Definition You need to have a clear understanding of what the job involves in terms of activities, responsibilities and priorities. Once the nature of the job has been clearly defined, we can begin to specify the attributes (education, skills, experience, competencies) of a person who is likely to do the job successfully. It is these, particularly the qualitative skills, that make the biggest difference to job fit. Attracting and Assessing Applicants There are numerous sources for finding applicants for a job. Some of these include traditional newspaper advertising, approaching people directly, use of agencies, job groups, unemployment agencies and so on. The one you use will vary depending on the job and industry. When it comes to assessing applicants, most people make the same mistake ? we all believe we are good judges of character, and trust our gut when it comes to making hiring decisions. Sometimes this will work, often it will not. A sound recruitment process works to take as much of the subjectivity out of the process as possible. To achieve this you need to be organized in your approach to hiring. There are all sorts of assessments and "psychological" testing available now to make more objective hiring decisions. This is not practical for many business owners, so at the very minimum you should include the following steps in your process: ·Have a written definition of what the job involves ·Decide what skills are essential for the position ? this can include technical skills and qualitative skills such as communication, negotiation etc. ·Develop a list of questions to get an understanding of each applicant's experience in each essential skill. There are numerous resources available on behavioural questioning techniques to help with question design ·If possible try to interview with 2 people present to ensure you are not being biased in a particular direction ·Ask every applicant exactly the same questions, and note down their answers so you can compare them afterwards ·Make your selection based on each applicant's fit to the essential criteria ? only use the responses they gave you during the interview, don't let your "instinct" take over. One of the major benefits of using sound recruitment and selection practices is that they increase the likelihood of selecting successful employees. The hiring decision is an important one with many consequences. A good choice results in an effective employee who will help your business meet its goals and objectives. A poor decision will lead to reduced productivity and increased costs. Megan Tough is a published author, coach, facilitator and speaker. Her business, Action Plus, works with professionals to create sustainable and profitable income streams. Make more money and have less stress! To learn more and to sign up for more FREE tips and articles like these, visit http://www.megantough.com
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Problem Solving When problem solving, you may recognize that you were working on a symptom instead of the problem. An analysis of the more clearly defined problem may require an alteration to the objectives or the ideal solution. These reviews and changes are costly in terms of time and effort which emphasizes the need for rigid scrutiny during the initial problem definition to avoid wasted time and effort. Once implementation begins, it is even more difficult to learn that the entire action plan and subsequent efforts were based on symptoms in lieu of authentic problems. Innovation Management ? Producing Great Products, Motivation Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. Turbo Charge Your Career With The Most Powerful Leadership Tool Of All: The Leadership Talk: Part 2 In Part One, I described the Leadership Talk and how it is a much more effective leadership tool than presentations or speeches. Overcoming Resistance Virtually any type of organizational change involves role transitions of some type. In light of role transitions, it is almost natural for employees to resist major changes in the workplace environment. Some contend that resistance to change is "natural"; they contend that this resistance is instinctive; that humans have a desire for perpetual stability. Five Key Strategies for Making Your Nonprofit Business More Effective Consistently applying these strategies will help you achieve attention-getting results. Give it a try and track your progress. How To Hire Superstars Can a person's behavior and values really determine if they will be a future SuperStar for your company? If you knew the formula for hiring SuperStars and could cut your recruiting costs in half, would you start today? This article outlines three simple but critical steps for adding structure to your hiring process and raising your level of success. Business & Family Safety and Health Rating For good reason, practically every endeavor in life is rated. I've seen ratings on who or what's #1 in business, industry, NFL, NBA, MLB, person of the century, athlete of the century, technology, restaurants, university, neighborhoods, travel destination, best looking, best movie, best book, etc. It doesn't stop. In fact, there are multiple ratings for the same #1 spot because of varying value systems. Of course, each of us has our independent rating to see if it's in agreement with the masses, the experts, or promotional efforts. Knowledge Management - Capturing And Structuring Knowledge Into Reusable Assets Many organizations have an approach for identifying and recording lessons learned, perhaps as part of a post-project review or similar process. Unfortunately, lessons learned reports have a tendency to end up on a shelf gathering dust, or lost in the un-chartered corner of a fileserver somewhere. Let's get real. How many people will really trawl diligently through a number of lessons learned documents in order to glean some key point? The reality is, if you can motivate employees to initiate any kind of "learning before doing" activity, then you?re doing pretty well. Motivating For Higher Performance Employee motivation is probably the most important single manageable factor for success and profitability of all the facets of specialty store retailing. It is too vital to be handled on a hit or miss basis, depending on the whim or spirit that stirs the store owner or manager from time to time. What Is Business Sense? What is the principal thing you need to succeed in your business today? Money. Sure, you need it, but it is not the main ingredient for success. People. Of course they are necessary, but having them may not guarantee success. Excellent products or services. Well, this is a must to succeed. But you may have them and still not succeed. Promotions, visibility, marketing. These factors lubricate your business activities for success. So what is the principal thing? What Every Manager Should Know About How to Reduce the High Cost of Employee Absenteeism Employers pay a high price for absenteeism, often more than they may realize, in terms of both financial and production losses and employee morale. Managers may view the tasks of finding a substitute employee as a short-term inconvenience; however, absenteeism frequently has more serious long-term effects. Employers can, nevertheless, ensure that employees report in regularly and remain on the job. Interviewing: How to Stay Out of legal Hot Water Some interviewers ask great questions; others ask dumb questions; and, worst of all, some ask questions that can get them into legal hot water. The 10 Realities of Change I've seen several articles that begin with lines like "the only constant today is change." I assert that change that is constant can't really be called change. It's simply a new reality. It's time that we accept that things simply don't stay the same and speed to change is the new reality of business. Like any other new reality it requires new responses. Telephone Techniques: Boost Your Productivity With Effective Phoning One of the things that most impacts people's productivity is not being able to focus on completing one task at a time ? we are so overloaded with tasks and interruptions that it requires great discipline to avoid spending the entire day responding to other people's agendas. Telephone calls, both making and receiving them, are one of the greatest disruptions to the flow of the day and to our ability to concentrate on the task at hand. And the use of mobile phones, while a great asset to our business and personal lives, requires a whole new set of communication skills as well as business and social etiquette. By managing how and when we make and receive calls we can not only make better use of our time but make a better impression on the person at the other end of the line, too. The Rise of Corporate Chair Massages Employers have rapidly begun to understand the importance of stress relief in the workplace. Stress free employees have a higher retention rate and higher rates of productivity. It is no wonder, given these facts, that many corporations have been encouraging chair massages in the workplace. The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Conflict Becoming the Norm ? Part 1 A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble. Communication in Business Effective communication in business is not about creating the perfect PowerPoint presentation. It's not about writing the perfectly-pitched report. It's not even about assiduously alliterating {smile}. Seeking Help Where does the time go? Billable time. As a consultant, your practice may be doing reasonably well; you're charging $100-150 an hour. As an independent consultant, you're probably also doing everything from grinding the coffee to editing the umpteenth draft of your brochure. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Training is in the Eye of the Beholder This article relates to the Training competency, commonly evaluated in employee surveys. It comments on the value of training to both the company and its workforce. The Training competency investigates how your employees perceive the available training opportunities and quality of training. Growing an organization's internal knowledge base is crucial to the success of any business and ensuring a growing knowledge base means investing in the training of your employees. A Gallup poll conducted in 1998 reported that eight out of 10 employees said they would be more likely to stay with their present employer if they were offered more or better training. Specifically, the questions included in this competency are written to measure the adequacy, availability, content of training, and satisfaction with the delivery of training within your organization. Time for Change - Clearing the First Hurdle "Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it."
|
|
|
|
|
