Getting the right person with the right skill, enthusiasm, expertise and confidence for the post within your business is as rare as winning the Lotto. Or is it?

What can be done to better recruit the right staff members within your business? There are a number of key strategies that can be followed to help eliminate the errors of recruitment that will help get closer to the right person.

The number one error we see in small business is what I call ‘Sympathy employment’. This happens when we are requested or even forced into employing someone from our own family, church or friend circle just because of their relationship with you. This request often comes from your mother or someone else you find it hard to say No to. You employ this person and from day one they become a slacker and high maintenance. These people are hard to train, discipline or get rid of. If you have in the past or are planning to employ someone like this: DO NOT.

Another issue we see in small businesses is that staff are either recruited far too early for the post or too late. Both these result in a huge trough of productivity for the new staff member who is either board or over-worked. Staff should be employed at the right time, just as the workload is increasing allowing just enough time for Induction, training and orientation into the business. Timing is everything

Developing a solid business case and job description for new posts is key. Too often we think we know what we need and then once we are stuck with a staff member, we try to bend our business around their skills and needs. This compromise will always begin to derail your business and your long term strategies.

Getting professional help is a must for more skilled posts. I know that recruitment agencies are expensive and they don’t seem to ‘earn’ their money, but their experience and insight into the process of recruitment will be invaluable in the long term. Get help from the right people.

Do not recruit off GumTree or CraigList or any other free web based advertising platform. You will get all the people you do not want or need. We put up an advert for an admin post earlier this year and got over 300 applications. Most of them with spelling errors and completely inadequate skill sets.

Then once you have employed someone you need to put them on an induction programme: more on this in the next post.