Creative Times

Q. How do I make sure I employ the right person for my company?

Jenny Dunphy and Steve Maule from Allegis Group reply...

Start by asking yourself why it’s so important that you find the right people for your business? A quick glance at the costs and consequences of leaving a gap where a productive person should be is convincing enough! Projects behind schedule, missed deadlines and no time or ability to develop new business prospects can all have a major impact on your quality of output, your hard-earned reputation and ultimately your bottom line. Even worse, employing the wrong person can cost you much more..

A clear vision of the person that you want is a must. What are the skills and expertise needed? What’s essential? What’s ‘nice to have’? Perhaps the most important consideration is the soft skills; culture fit, passion, character and client-facing skills - think about it - why do you fit in? Deciding whether your potential recruit shares those traits and skills is your next obstacle.

Don’t know what you’re looking for? We help a lot of companies in this sector come up with the answer. In this, a very competitive market for skills, businesses must make themselves an attractive option for the right person. Try thinking about why someone would want to work with you. Put yourself in their shoes. Why do you come to work?
Like-minded people have very similar wants and needs!

Now think about how to ‘make your pitch’. Advertising directly can be a very successful method of attracting candidates, but there are pitfalls. It’s a sunk cost that has to be paid whether you hire the right person or not. You’re taking a gamble that the perfect candidate is an active jobseeker – did they really wake up that morning with the intent of searching for a new job? An advert may well put you in touch with lots of people…but are they right? Do you dig out the black book and ask around for help? This can be very effective in the short term, but it has a finite lifespan and can be time consuming.

Whether you engage the services of an external recruitment company, or whether you go it alone, getting an effective selection and vetting process is crucial. If you use an agency, ask them to describe their processes. Do they seek to truly understand what the right person is? Do they know what makes you tick? Do they meet candidates first? Do they thoroughly screen for skills? How far do they go to really increase the odds of you hiring the right person? If they don’t understand the market, then there is no way they will be able to network into the vital pool of inactive jobseekers and this is where the right person may well be hiding!

It’s probably fair to say you didn’t get into this industry to concentrate on recruitment! However it’s a well known fact that those that do a better job of this task have a distinct advantage. It can be done…especially when not doing so just isn’t an option.

Jenny Dunphy and Steve Maule head up Allegis Group’s Digital Media Division for the North West. Allegis Group has been delivering technical staff who develop and support applications used by the digital media industry for over 10 years. With more than 220 offices across the globe, Allegis Group is the world’s largest privately held staffing company. Allegis help you: recruit for permanent positions, hire temporary workers, manage your workforce and control costs with their industry expertise.

W: www.allegisgroup.co.uk
T: 0161 926 9666
E: jdunphy@allegisgroup.co.uk
E: smaule@allegisgroup.co.uk