HR Definitions

Hiring people is the biggest challenge facing the modern organisation.

There have been increases in legislative requirements including:

• Equal Opportunity
• Harassment in the workplace
• Unfair dismissal
• Vilification
• Discrimination
• Privacy
• Workplace Safety
• Contracts of Employment

With these requirements, the cost of employing people is escalating and the risk of making a bad decision in the hiring process is sky-rocketing. The cost of getting out of that bad decision can be even greater.

In the next few years, organisations will need to dramatically change their hiring habits to minimise their risk, and give them the best chance of hiring a long term, valuable employee, first time.

Hiring becomes a process and has many components that need to be addressed.

Hiring now involves, among other things:

Selection:

• Defining the job in terms of skills, knowledge, behaviours, experience, values, and motives
• Agreeing the selection criteria in advance
• Writing advertisements that set the understanding level for applicants and attract high quality applicants
• Pre-screening of applicants AGAINST the selection criteria to reduce the recruitment cost and get to a short list quickly
• Conducting a rigorous examination of candidates looking at all aspects of the person's suitability for the job - this process must be able to stand up to scrutiny

Induction:

• Communicating the acceptance of the successful candidate in a manner that clearly sets the performance expectations and conditions of employment including any probation period
• Engaging the new employee in a structured induction process
• Apply stringent processes of development and performance assessment during the probation period
• Take the probation option to terminate if the new employee does not perform to required standards

Ongoing Management:

• Ensure that a structured process of employment performance management starts the day the probation finishes

The hiring process has to be applied to all new employees, and to the promotion, or re-assignment of existing employees.

There can be no exceptions.

The steps above give an outline of the major components of hiring best practice.

Recruitment
Recruitment Sifting
Selection/Selection Interviewing