Last week I spoke about cash flow and how important it is to ensure your prices cover all costs and therefore generate a healthy profit margin, which enables you to pay your staff and suppliers on time. Today I will look at the 3rd biggest problem for companies in Wales in 2017 – recruitment.
Whether you love managing people or loath it, employing the right people for your business is essential. Of course, how successful you are at recruiting will determine how easy your job as a manager will be. Get it right and you will be smiling, get it wrong and your entire business could suffer. We are all familiar with the phrase ‘one rotten apple’!
I have seen numerous techniques for identifying suitable candidates and interviewing them. These range from a chat in the pub with a ‘friend of a friend’, to a barrage of psychometric profiling on candidates who have already passed recruitment agency tests and interviews. The truth is, there is no right or wrong method. You must do what works best for your organisation and the position you are aiming to fill. However, I have noticed themes which appear to be common in successful recruitments, irrespective of the method used. These are just some of the tips I have found useful:
- If you have someone in your business who has proven to use their ‘gut feeling’ to good effect when judging people for previous roles, use them. Although sometimes unexplainable, it is an important factor. However, be aware of those who say they are a good judge of character but have no history to prove this.
- Ditch the traditional chat about their CV and instead use competency based questions to really test their thinking and reasoning.
- Set real life tasks. Asking candidates to perform a small sample of the actual job they will be hired to do makes perfect sense. It will reveal so much about how they will fit within your organisation.
- Be patient. If you do not find a candidate you are happy with, keep searching. Filling a position with a candidate you have reservations about invariably leads to problems later. These are definitely problems you could do without!
Thank you for taking the time to read my insights into the three biggest challenges for businesses in Wales in 2017.