Recruiting and selecting staff

Getting the right person, in the right place, at the right time, is crucial.  Mistakes can be expensive and damaging to the reputation and activities of individuals and the organisation.

‘Our policies and practices aim to attract and select a diverse workforce with the skills and capabilities to fulfil our requirements’.  Principle 5 the People In Aid Code of Good Practice.

Take legal advice

Consult a local lawyer or access http://natlex.ilo.org before starting to recruit to ensure procedures and contracts are compliant with all applicable laws; or ask HR managers, or other organisations with experience in the area.

Define the requirement

Clarify what needs to be done. Consider the options of redistributing tasks, training up current staff, short term contracts versus longer term; specialist versus generalist; local versus international.

Job description

Prepare an outline of broad responsibilities involved in the job, and expected outcomes from short-term contracts.

Person specification

What skills, knowledge, experience or competencies*, qualifications and personal qualities are essential to do the job? Avoid setting criteria which will discriminate against different backgrounds, religions, gender.  

Consider how you will assess these.  

Advertising

Avoid discriminating against some applicants by the choice of wording and where you place adverts. Give clear instructions and timing.

Consider best options to encourage right people to apply while discouraging too many inappropriate applications, e.g. previous applicants, emails, notices, newspapers, local radio, word of mouth.

Approaching someone you know has advantages, but can lead to the problem of unhealthy competition between agencies. Avoid poaching staff from local agencies or government.

Setting up HR forums for agencies can pool resources more effectively.

Applications

A standard application form will help short-listing. 

CVs are simpler and faster BUT:

• information is not standardised
• cultural differences can lead to misinterpretation

Short-listing

Assess applications on the basis of the person specification – watch for bias and discrimination.

Interviews

Create a good impression of your organisation. Consider the points in Cross cultural interviews.

• Welcome the candidate and put them at ease as they will tell you more if relaxed.
•  Ask open questions to find out about their experience, skills, knowledge, and attitude. Ask similar questions to all candidates to ensure fairness and allow for comparison.
• Avoid potentially discriminatory questions e.g. only asking female candidates who looks after your children.
• Describe the organisation and the job.
• On closing, agree the next steps.

Use open questions (tell me about...how do you…why did you....talk me through...).

Be aware of your own bias affecting how you rate a candidate – positively or negatively. Have at least two interviewers to get contrasting views and witness interview discussions.

Tests, checks and references

Ask candidates to:

• show you evidence of qualifications, examples of previous work.
• do a presentation, a case study, or tests.

References from previous employers can be a useful check though do ask for the candidate’s permission.  If it is an internal candidate, check performance reviews

Making a job offer

Prepare and send the necessary documentation (in the appropriate language) in accordance with local laws. 

Induction

Planned induction ensures new staff members settle in and are productive quickly.  Do ensure all members of the team are informed of the new team member.

* Competencies

Focus on individual achievements which can be related to work performance. Even if a candidate may not have previous experience, they may have all the necessary technical and personal traits, or experience in another setting.