The process of recruiting and selecting employees

Successful managers know that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure when it comes to dealing with employee problems. The risk of hiring a bad employee can be minimized with a sound recruitment and selection process. Recruiting and selecting the right employee for a position is important for the long-term benefit of our business. The process of recruiting and selecting employees can be divided into five main steps which are considering the needs of the position and the business, building an applicant pool, evaluating the applicants, making a selection and then, hiring and training them.

The first step in a recruitment process, and maybe the most important, is to understand the job in order to recognize the best possible person to fill it. We must know if the employee need to have good written and communication skills, if this position require interaction with other employees, if this person have to read, drive, calculate… Developing a clear understanding of the “ideal” employee for each position is important in attracting such an employee and ensuring that he or she gets the job. That’s why we must determine the time requirement of the position (part-time, full-time, temporary…), do a job analysis to describe all aspects of the job through observation, interviews with other employees, recommendations of experts, work diaries, and make a list of tasks to be performed. Then, we also must develop a job specification to group the necessary employee qualifications in terms of knowledge, abilities, skills or licenses.

Getting qualified and interested applicants is a common concern. Even if the most successful employee recruitment methods, usually used by agricultural employers are word of mouth and referrals from current or former employees, recruitment also can be done through government agencies, schools/universities/colleges, classified ads, private agencies, and the Internet. Knowing the kind of individual who would best fill a position helps, too. For example, to hire a manager, we must determine the kinds of magazines a successful manager might subscribe to and the organizations to which he or she might belong, in order to advertise our position through those channels. We also have to develop a network of other people in the business, as well as in schools and colleges and let them know about your position. Concentrated efforts are frequently much more effective in the long run than a shotgun approach. But the best method of recruiting new talent to our business is still to make our business the kind of place where talented and hard working people feel appreciated and valued. This makes it easier to retain good employees and develop a reputation for being a great employer.

Evaluating applicants can be difficult because it’s easy to misjudge applicants–either letting a good employee slip through the cracks or being fooled by someone who is very impressive in the interview process but just isn’t the same when he starts working. That’s why it’s very important to go over the job analysis and description, highlighting the skills and qualifications we need to evaluate during the selection process. We also must choose our methods of evaluation, and for a complicated position requiring several skills, we will need more than one method to determine if an applicant has all the necessary tools for this job.

The main evaluation tools used are written and oral applications to gauge the applicant’s ability to write, read, communicate, and it’s also an excellent tool when technical knowledge is required. Other ways to evaluate applicants are the interviews, in which employers and potential employees are allowed to get to know each other, and practical tests in which the applicants are asked to perform one or more of the required skills. Finally, we can check the references provided by the applicant in which it should include past employers, but we must keep in mind that some employers may hesitate to provide negative information, or to tell the truth about a former employee.

After all applicants have completed the evaluation process, it’s time to make a decision and extend an offer. If none of the applicants meet our criteria, we must re-open the application process. Or, we can hire someone on a temporary basis, with the intention of making it permanent if his or her performance is satisfactory after a specified period of time. But it’s possible as long as the employee and employer are on the same page, if not, legal and employee morale problems may.

Handling the hiring process in a fair and legal manner is important. Training employees is vital in preparing them for success. They will need advice on everything from the informal relationships among co-workers to their own specific job responsibilities. That’s why, it can be helpful to set up a mentor relationship between a new employee and an existing employee who knows the ropes. Performance evaluations should also be done on a regular basis for everyone who begin working in a new company in order to stop bad habits before they start. When an employee is new, instruction and guidance will most likely be viewed as helpful.

After the employee has been on the job for a while, the same instruction or guidance might be viewed as criticism. The best thing we also can do while training is to create an environment in which employees are not afraid to ask questions. We must take the time to listen to both questions and ideas and new employees may bring a new approach to old problems because of their fresh perspective.

Recruiting and selecting the right people for our business is a challenge, and every situation is unique. If we are innovative, persistent and realistic, and can communicate the strengths of our business and the benefits of the positions we offer, we should be successful in attracting high quality employees to build careers with our business.