Recruitment

1. Planning Ahead

1.1 Recruit to meet your business needs.

• Use your business plan to anticipate future requirements. For example, if you plan to break into new markets at any point, you may need to recruit sales people with relevant skills and experience.
• Identify seasonal fluctuations in your business and work out how to cover them.
• Decide on an ideal balance of full-time employees and other types of employee.
• Decide when to recruit. For example, by analysing likely levels of staff turnover.

1.2 Recruit to tackle problem areas.

For example, poor performance may be due to employee shortages.

• Identify employees who are not performing well. Work out if existing employees could be retrained or if additional employees are needed.
• Consider using a qualified consultant for an objective assessment of recruitment problems, such as high employee turnover.

1.3 Benchmark salaries in your industry.

• Read the news and job sections of appropriate trade publications.
• Talk to your local Business Link or Jobcentre Plus about local rates.
• Check the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website for information on average earnings.

1.4 Set up good recruitment procedures and brief everyone involved in the process.

• Make sure your recruitment procedures do not discriminate illegally on the basis of gender, race, religion, belief, age, disability, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.