We know all too well the challenges of recruitment, that's why we've created this step-by-step guide to DIY recruitment and what to expect if you decided to do it solo.
Now imagine that your employee has departed, you’ve swallowed the costs knowing it’s going to take time to find a solid replacement but need to make the decision to either source new candidates using a Recruitment Agent or to do it yourself.If you choose the DIY option, along comes a set of recruitment challenges and costs that can zap up your valuable time such as:
- Advertising the position
- Interviewing possible employees
- Sorting out contracts, wages and conditions
- Establish training programs
- Providing support for your new employee
- Keeping them!
We'll discuss each of the points in more detail below.
Advertising & Interviewing
The first cost right out of the gate, is the marketing costs to attract new staff. You’re not looking to attract just anybody, you want and need the best.
- Costs - include your time taken to prepare a great job advert and the cost of listing the job in the right publications.
- Time - Once you’ve shortlisted your candidates you will have to dedicate time to interviewing and screening each appropriately.
- Long term viability - as well as trying to determine the long-term viability of the employee from limited interview time, their references and experience need to be checked to ensure they’re appropriately skilled for the position. This may include hiring the services of an outside company that offers personality and skills testing.
And, if you don’t get the right employee in the first round, you’ll need to repeat the entire process.
Wages & Conditions
To attract the right candidate you need to have an appealing long term offer.
- Competitive wages - the wages offered need to be competitive and the conditions a cut above the rest. For a skilled and highly trained candidate to select your establishment you need to be able to deliver the future career they’re looking for.
- Top working environments - You’ll need to maintain a great working environment.
- Making sure everyone is paid equally - your current staff may also need to be financially compensated to be consistent with the salary you’re offering to new employees. If your staff compare their wages and find any inconsistencies it can lead to employees feeling undervalued. The risk of losing another staff member is likely if there is inequity of pay.
What will it cost you financially to bring all staff into line with wage increases?
Training & Productivity
Once you’ve hired your new employee, you’ll need to dedicate resources to ensuring they’re properly trained. The amount of time required will vary depending on the experience and talent of your new hire.
- How much time are you able to contribute to this training?
- Will you need to hire other staff to train or provide in house training?
- Will other staff be taken from their duties to help teach the new employee the ropes?
- Will you need to hire casual staff to handle the additional workload?
The process of developing a well-oiled company can affect the productivity as it’s thrown into disarray to cater to a new employee. Your staff may find themselves doing uncompensated overtime and neglecting their own duties while training the new employee.
Consider what this new employee will cost you in terms of training costs and commitments. Getting the right employee will keep this cost to the minimum.
You may also experience a reduction in personal productivity after the leaving employee hands in their notice. While it’s not a certainty, it’s common for a departing staff member’s motivation to drop off in their last weeks. This means you’ll need staff to cover the gap between the last employee’s resignation and the new employees start date.
Integration & Morale
How your new employee integrates into the business can set the tone for how the business runs. Bad morale is risky, as it leads to staff dissatisfaction and potentially more staff leaving.
To keep the focus on producing a top quality service or product the staff needs to be able to work together to get the job done, every time.
You’ll need to be able to determine that your new employee has the right interpersonal skills and attitude to integrate into the team seamlessly. A good work ethic and a respectful attitude goes a long way! Personality testing by an expert is invaluable.
Guarantees
As with any DIY process, you are without guarantees.
Even with your best efforts, it’s still possible that your newest employee will upset the apple cart, or leave!
If you don’t find the right employee, you may even find yourself repeating the recruitment process over and over, compromising the functionality of your business and your customer experience. Most recruitment agents only offer a 3 month window for rehiring.
With TPRC, you’ll be backed with our proven process that takes the stress out of your recruitment process.
