Management | Your People
The right stuff
What to look for when hiring an employee By Megan Dunn
Hiring employees is one of the most important processes a business will undertake during their operations. Your employees are your most valuable asset, the recipe for any thriving company that assist in creating an inclusive positive team culture. It is absolutely crucial to have the right people standing in your corner, however often times the process is under planned and rushed leading to some damaging consequences. Independent research carried out by Robert Half from Talent solutions found that the real cost of a hiring mistake is high for both company and existing employees. Hiring the wrong person for the job can significantly impact an organisation. The top three consequences of a bad hire according to New Zealand employers are increased stress on colleagues (46 percent), increased workloads for existing team members ( 43 percent) and increased stress on managers (37 percent). Other cited negative consequences include lost productivity (32 percent), higher recruitment costs (29 percent) and low staff morale (27 percent). The general rule is if you get the process right, there is a much higher chance of attracting and hiring the right talent for your company. However, no method is entirely full proof as realistically how well do you know the ins and outs of someone’s character and mentality from a few meetings and a couple of sheets of paper? The greatest hiring advice that very often gets swept under the rug and easily dismissed is to trust your gut. You’re innate instincts about people hold a lot more truth than many give credit for-if your sensing something isn’t quite right, listen to this as it’s a red flag. 8 | www.canterburytoday.co.nz
Employment NZ has released some key ideas to help you attract the perfect fit for your role. How you attract the best applicants depends on the job, your budget, for say advertising or recruitment agencies, and how much time you have. Options include: • An existing employee, is there someone ready for a promotion or a new role? First advertise the role internally and find out • Engaging a recruitment agency – this can be costly, but will reduce the amount of time you spend on the process. Agencies can help you clarify your needs, pay levels, experience needed and market availability • Using Work and Income’s service (free), matching qualified people to jobs • Targeted advertising in industry journals, magazines and websites • Contacting a relevant Industry Training Organisation (ITO)
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4. Self-management You get to work on time every day
Being totally honest and transparent about the work culture at your organisation means you are going to attract likeminded individuals who are likely to mesh and understand the operations exceedingly well.
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• Developing a relationship with local education providers.eg providing work experience opportunities for students
applications per job showing employees were more cautious about moving jobs during the pandemic.
• Developing relationships with local community groups
Releasing its December data, job website Seek said job ads were up 32 percent nationally year-on-year (and compared to 2019).
• Advertising or searching online websites, industry websites and social media
The emphasis on finding the right talent is as important as ever in these unforeseen circumstances.
5. Willingness to learn You want to learn new things to improve your skills 6. Thinking skills (problem solving and decision making) You try and solve problems or can see where something won’t work 7. Resilience You get an angry customer but you keep calm, keep working and laugh about it later. Work culture is ‘a collection of attitudes, beliefs and behaviours’ that make up the regular atmosphere in a work environment. Healthy workplace cultures align employee behaviours and company policies with the overall goals of the company, while also considering the well-being of individuals. Being totally honest and transparent about the work culture at your organisation means you are going to attract likeminded individuals who are likely to mesh and understand the operations exceedingly well. It also means that the person you hire is more likely to stay within the company for a longer period of time.
Let them know of the common rituals and • Contacting potential applicants directly, general feeling of the place for greater success making sure you don’t encourage an Careers New Zealand has released the most for both employer and employee. employee to break their legal obligations, e.g. relevant skills employers look for amongst their Finally, it is crucial to evaluate not only what a notice period, restraint-of-trade. applicants, these include: potential employee can offer you, but also in 1. Positive attitude return, what you can offer them. The labour shortage we saw in 2021 is continuing into 2022, with recruiters finding it Being calm and cheerful when things In a labour shortage people have their pick more and more difficult to find the right talent go wrong and have the ability to weigh up and compare for their roles. multiple organisations, so access how your 2. Communication role and organisation can benefit them and The demand for talent remains extremely high You can listen and say information clearly what it has to offer. and that isn’t expected to change, Seek country when you speak or write manager Rob Clark told Newshub in January. Finding the right fit is crucial and will mean 3. Teamwork both the business and employee will grow The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the job market significantly with, the low number of You help out when it gets busy at work successfully together. CT
