Developing a Smooth Recruitment Process

Done right, recruitment means a stronger team and an even better work day. New team members can bring a new energy and a new perspective too. But it’s a competitive market, and making a successful hire means making sure that your recruitment process is smooth.

Once you have found your perfect match and you’ve completed the interview and reference checking processes, it’s time to reel them in.

1. Make the offer

Your offer is more than just salary alone. Spend some time clearly describing the role, your expectations, the hours and holidays, any extra training and staff benefits. This will give some more context to what you’re offering, which is important during the negotiation phase.

2. Sign on the dotted line

Once you’re both happy with what’s on offer, it’s time to make things official. A robust employment contract will make sure that you’re fully protected should anything not work out. And you may want to factor in a trial period.Generally, this is about three months if you’re hiring a permanent staff member. While you are on the paperwork, you will need to gather details on payroll, their tax codes and share details on any staff retirement savings or health insurance schemes you offer.

3. Preparing for the first day

Having a good first day will get things off to a great start. Write a checklist of everything that needs to be sorted, such as security passes, car park allocation, email address, uniform or ensuring that you have a desk and chair ready for your new team member. Arrange any training or health and safety briefings for your new recruit so they get started on the right foot.

4. Put together a welcome kit

Assemble everything that your new hire will need on day one. Have any hardware ready and waiting, or passwords and accounts in place. Consider what personal touches you can add to help make this easy for them – perhaps a welcome letter. If your company has any kind of branded item, like a t-shirt, cap or reusable coffee cup, you could add these. And you may want to include a welcome gift such as a gift card for the cafe that the team heads to, or simply bring in morning tea that day. Most importantly, set some time aside on this first day to introduce them to the team, especially the people that they can turn to for assistance and give them a tour.