Interview and recruit employees

The first step in any recruitment process is to review your current staff structure.

If you’re replacing an employee, this review can help you decide if the role still meets your business needs or if you should change it before you hire.

If you have a workforce plan, use it to guide this review. If you don’t have one, this is a good time to create one.

As part of this review, you should:

• list all the tasks your business does
• identify which roles look after which tasks
• identify any gaps or overlaps in your current staff structure.

A position description is also sometimes called a job description. It gives you a clear understanding of the type of person you’re looking for, as well as their roles and responsibilities.

If you’re replacing an employee, review the previous position description. Based on your analysis of the staff structure, you may need to update the position description to reflect the new role.

A good position description includes:

• the job title
• who the new employee reports to
• who reports to the new employee
• which section or department the position sits in
• a summary of the job
• a summary of the business
• the employment type (full-time, part-time, casual)
• the key responsibilities of the role
• essential and desirable selection criteria the applicant needs to respond to
• any skills, knowledge, experience or education required for the role
• desirable personal attributes to fit the business’s culture

You should create your position descriptions from scratch. Other businesses may have roles with the same title, but the person they want may be completely different from your requirements.

Your job advertisement is your potential new employee’s first impression of your business. They may need to impress you, but if you want to attract the best applicants, you also need to impress them.

Key elements to include in your advertisement include:

• wage details
• benefits of the job
• the location
• start date of the job
• closing date for applications
• details of a contact person
• instructions on how to apply.

The job you advertise must comply with current legislation. Ensure you offer, at least, the minimum pay and conditions and meet anti-discrimination and equal opportunity requirements.

To distribute your advertisement, consider:

• job websites
• the Workforce Australia website
• your business website and mailing list
• sending it directly to your networks
• social media
• business or industry newsletters
• trade journals
• newspapers
• university job boards.

Each application you receive will be different, and you need to assess each one.

One way to achieve this is to create a matrix rating system. For example, you could:

1. place each candidate’s name across the top of a page
2. list your requirements for the role down the side
3. assess each candidate on a scale of 1 to 5 for each role requirement
4. add up the scores for each candidate

With your candidates’ scores, you’ll be able to quickly identify which candidates you should interview.

Make sure the candidates you choose to interview:

• have the right qualifications
• align with your organisation and its culture
• have goals that match your requirements
• are able to work in Australia

Once you identify your shortlist of candidates, let the unsuccessful applicants know the outcome of their application.

Invite the shortlisted candidates to an interview with you.

When you contact candidates, make sure you tell them:

• when and where the interview will take place
• how long the interview will take
• who they should ask for when they arrive
• what they should bring
• who will be on the selection panel
• what the interview involves

When you interview candidates, try to create a relaxed environment. Your candidates will be nervous.

Prepare questions to ask the candidates. The best questions are open ended. These enable the candidate to talk about their previous experience.

Make notes during the interview, and review your notes and the job applications after all the interviews are complete. Sometimes the best candidate may not be the best at being interviewed.

Now that you’ve selected the best candidate, it’s time to let them know.

Often you will still want to check their references, but you can provide the candidate a conditional offer of employment. If you don’t find any issues through your referee checks, it’s time to send a written offer of employment.

You can make a verbal or written offer, but a written offer and employment contract with the employment terms and conditions can help to:

• manage your employee’s expectations
• protect your business

Once you secure your ideal employee, email or phone any unsuccessful candidates to let them know the outcome.