Developing a World-Class Staffing Procedure
Article contributed by Andy LowThis is one of the most important areas of focus for a Chief Executive. If you don't get the right people in the right jobs, you won't accomplish your organisational goals and objectives. In a knowledge and experience based marketplace, ensuring your company has talented people who can think quickly and adapt to rapidly changing markets becomes more critical than ever.
Therefore, a staffing procedure that provides a process for those who recruit, screen, interview and hire new employees is needed. This takes much of the risk out of the hiring process and ensures that all key decisions are based on a standard set of objective criteria. This dramatically increases your odds of getting the right person in the job every time.
A good procedure is based on the following key areas: -
- What does your ideal hire look like - to fit the job description and desired personal traits
- Finding your candidates - use cost effective methods
- The interview & hiring process - the procedure.
The Chief Executive role in the hiring process.
Set and maintain the vision for the company and set up a procedure to hire the right people to achieve the vision. This is a strategic priority and is your responsibility.
This means hiring an HR person to manage this effectively. This person has a primary goal of managing the staffing strategy and executing it. The admin and payroll functions can be managed by someone else in the HR department.
The key tips to build a successful staffing procedure
Your staffing plan should be part of your strategic plan for the year or years ahead. If you are going for certain objectives in your plan, you need the right people to execute the plan at the right time.
- Use performance-based criteria.
Avoid decisions based on emotion, opinion and personal bias; this approach turns the hiring process into a lottery. However, a staffing procedure built on performance-based criteria eliminates personal bias. The criteria can be developed internally or from outside or a combination of both. Companies who hire well always use performance-based criteria. - Use a structured interview process.
Asking random questions with no structure allows the candidate to control the interview and leads to a hiring decision with no hard data and no basis for comparison - therefore a failed hire. So focus on past job performance, not personality, interviewing skills or any of the other areas that fudge the issue. Information will be found that allows you to compare candidates against the performance-based criteria rather than each other. - Develop a staffing plan.
An effective staffing procedure includes a strategic staffing plan that removes the 'knee jerk' element of the hiring process and the pressure to fill open positions, often with lower standard people. A staffing plan should cover several key areas:
- How many new employees will be needed during the coming year
- Why and when and in which positions will those employees will be needed
- How much it will cost
- What value they will bring to customers and the organisation
- Train your managers to use the procedure
All hiring managers must understand the process and use it in a consistent manner. Most people don't like to hire, as it is an uncomfortable process for many people. By developing an effective staffing procedure and training your managers on every step in the process, will ensure that they have the confidence to make the right hiring decisions
Staffing procedure Benefits
A properly designed procedure will:
- Significantly increase your odds of consistently hiring the right people
- Supports management development
- Helps improve standards in the organisation
- Reduces the cost of the hiring process
This change is not done overnight, but if you implement the system effectively over time you will gradually replace those who leave with people who have a better chance of contributing to the future success of your company.
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