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, 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. 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. (See Using a consultant.)

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.
• Go to the labour market section of the National Statistics 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 or disability. See Discrimination.