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People: you can't live with them, but you can't run a business without them! Good staff literally transform weak organisations into strong, healthy and vibrant operations.
But it can often feel as though these saints of the workplace are like pixie dust: legendary, but impossible to locate. Research conducted by the Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD) reveals that nearly three quarters of employers surveyed have had difficulties in filling a vacancy over the last year.
Get the recruitment process right, and you virtually eliminate the risk of hiring the wrong person for the job. Get the process wrong, and you won't even attract applications from suitable candidates, much less be able to spot them during the selection process. And you will have wasted big money in process time and advertising.
Recruitment is not just carried out to meet immediate vacancies but should be seen as part of an overall organisational strategy for resourcing personnel. Once you fill one vacancy, you should be left with a list of candidates who you would consider for the same or other vacancies in the future. This makes the process much easier the next time round.
But it's not just about filling vacancies. The process exposes your company to a wide section of the public. These people could be current or potential clients, customers or suppliers. What's more, people talk. If a job applicant has had an unfavourable experience with your company, you can be sure that they will tell others about it. Hence it's vital that the recruitment process creates a positive impression of the company.
The first step is to draw up a job profile that you will use in the vacancy advertisement. The can be wrought with employment law, so we've drawn up some guidelines to help you.
Next you need to place the ad somewhere. There are different routes you can take depending on the type of position and the money you want to spend. We look at the four most popular in the rest of this section.
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