ATTRACT.

SELECT.
RETAIN.
www.recruitloop.com.au
Paul Slezak
R
e
c
r
u
i
t
m
e
n
t

s
e
c
r
e
t
s

E
X
P
O
S
E
D
!
Two decades of hands on recruitment experience
packed into one book. A MUST READ for anyone
running a business and looking to build their team.
www.recruitloop.com.au
ATTRACT.
SELECT.
RETAIN.
Recruitment secrets
EXPOSED!
ATTRACT.
SELECT.
RETAIN.
Recruitment secrets EXPOSED!
Copyright RecruitLoop 2011
First published November 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the author.
www.recruitloop.com.au

Table of Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Part 1 Talent Attraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Chapter 1 Job descriptions: You cant not write one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 2 Performance profles: Defning success from the get go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 3 Writing a job ad: How to improve your response rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Part 2 Candidate Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 4 Screening candidates: keeping out the tyre kickers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 5 The interview: the essential dos and donts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 6 Benchmarking: determining who makes the fnal cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 7 References: conducting your own background checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 8 The job ofer: youre almost at the fnish line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Part 3 Staf Retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 9 Induction: your new team members frst impressions on the job . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 10 Performance appraisals: nobody wants any nasty surprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5
Foreword
When youre running a SME, its not always easy to keep on top of it all. You do everything
possible not to drop the ball but inevitably the area in the business that is often the frst
to feel the cracks is stafng. When youre juggling budgets, existing clients, new business,
IT issues, sales and marketing, PR, accounts, and people, its unfortunately inevitable that
corners might be cut and crucial steps overlooked when it comes to hiring. Then to make
matters worse, you may not be able to invest enough time inducting your new hires and
ensuring theyre doing OK.
One of the most overused phrases in business today is that our people are our greatest asset.
However when it comes to SMEs in particular, stafng is often the frst area to sufer.
Candidate attraction and selection and staf retention are critical to the success of any
business and SMEs are no diferent.
Its often hard just to get your head around the entire recruitment, selection and retention
process let alone having enough time to see it all through. After all when youve got all the
other balls in the air, who really has time to write a job description, performance profle or
capabilities statement for every role in the business? Not everyone is an expert copy writer,
so how are you to know if the advertisement you plan to post on to a job board will even
attract the right candidate? Should you do it yourself, or should you engage the services
of a recruitment agency? Do you have time to do it alone? But then again do you have
the budget to use a traditional recruiter? What do you look for in a recruiter? What do you
look for in a CV? How do you sort through the pile of CVs when you are inundated with
applications to fnd the diamond in the rough?
And to think that all these questions need to be answered before any interviewing even takes
place.
Of course you are an expert in what you do in your business. But when it comes to
recruitment, all of a sudden you are expected to become an expert recruiter a specialist
in personality assessment, organisational psychology, and behavioural analysis. How can
you really identify the ideal candidate? What should you really be looking for during an
interview? How can you really distinguish between the candidates skills and competencies?

6
Your pulse rate and blood pressure are probably increasing just thinking about it.
Then of course just because you interview a high calibre applicant, conduct some great
references and make your superstar candidate an ofer, believe it or not it doesnt mean they
will even accept the role.
Scary stuf.
Assuming you do successfully make an ofer, how can you prepare to bring them on board?
Will you have time to personally induct them and show them the love? How can you ensure
they feel welcome and wanted? But more importantly how can you ensure they stay
beyond the probationary period? Just remember if they leave your business within the frst
twelve months, it can actually cost you up to three times their salary!
Do you have an induction program? Do you have a performance review process in place?
What about a staf recognition program?
More confronting questions.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel
The good news is that this EBook is flled with 10 essential tips for any SME undergoing a
growth phase. It will help you work through the attraction, selection and retention processes
methodically and ensure you have a team of high quality, satisfed staf.
Thats right tips that will help you create performance profles, write more powerful
recruitment ads, create a more streamlined screening and interviewing process, not to
mention helping you ensure a better rate of staf retention.
We hope you enjoy the read but just remember RecruitLoop is always here to help you at
every step of the way.
Part 1
Talent
Attraction

8
Chapter 1
Job descriptions:
You cant not write one.
I cant believe how many clients over the years briefed me on a new position and when I
asked them for a job description said something along the lines of you know what were
looking for or Ill shoot you an email with a few bullet points later.
To be honest quite often I didnt know exactly what they were looking for. And I should point
out that a few bullet points does not a job description maketh!
What also became apparent was that more often than not, they didnt know exactly what
they were looking for either.
Its not uncommon for an employer to know that they defnitely need to bring somebody
new into the business, but to not have carefully thought out exactly what it is that the new
team member would be doing.
This is a dangerous way to start.
There is no question that every candidate expects to see a job
description if they are even going to consider a career move.
If a recruiter cant provide one, thats another issue. But if you
are planning to recruit yourself, what sort of impression are you
creating if you cant even provide a potential new employee
with a description of the job you are hoping they will do for you?
The all too common Were hoping to create the job around the
best candidate depending on their previous experience doesnt
really cut it either.
There is no question
that every candidate
expects to see a job
description if they are
even going to consider a
career move.
9
Talent Attraction Job Descriptions
Think about the following key points carefully:
The actual position title must accurately refect what they will be doing in the role. Dont
make it too vague or creative. You will just confuse people or perhaps even put them of.
Internally you might decide to call your receptionist the Director of First Impressions, but on a
job description it should just say Receptionist.
You need to defne the reporting lines and working relationships. Specifcally who they will
be reporting to, and who they will be working closely with.
Most important is the list of duties in the role and what percentage of time you expect
them to dedicate to certain tasks. This will certainly help candidates better prepare to meet
your expectations.
Sometimes its hard to separate the necessary skills required in the role from the core
competencies required in the successful candidate. To make it easier here, think of the skills
as something that a candidate may have learnt such as a particular software package. The
competencies are more natural traits or attributes like highly organised, team player,
confdent negotiator, someone who can multi-task or even someone who is hungry to
win defnitely a good trait for any sales person.
If you dont want to commit to a fxed salary, then at least
come up with a salary range but do some research to
ensure that the range is within market rate. Its also a good
idea to include any benefts that you ofer your staf.
A job description should be no more than one A4 page that
includes a brief company overview (including location),
the points outlined above, and also a brief explanation as
to whats on ofer even something like a young, fun and
creative team.
No employer wants to hear a team member say, sorry
but thats not in my job description. Every manager wants
staf happy to go beyond the call of duty. However the
call of duty still needs to be documented in some way.
Besides, how do you expect to write your ad or even assess
applications or interview candidates without at least a basic
framework outlining what you are looking for?

D
o
n
t m
a
k
e
th
e
jo
b

t
tle
to
o
v
a
g
u
e

D
e
f
n
e
re
p
o
rt
n
g

lin
e
s a
n
d
w
o
rk
in
g

re
la
t
o
n
sh
ip
s

R
e
m
e
m
b
e
r to

se
p
a
ra
te
sk
ills fro
m

c
o
m
p
e
te
n
c
ie
s

10
Chapter 2
Performance profles:
Defning success from
the get go
Heres a question for you. When you are looking to bring somebody new into your business,
what do you think is more important: the candidates ability to get the job or the candidates
ability to do (and ideally excel) in the role?
There is no doubt that these are both important factors
to consider. Having a well-written job description will
certainly help you assess someones ability to actually
get the job. You can easily match experience from a
candidates CV with key points outlined in the job
specifcation. However in order to determine whether
a candidate will excel in the job (something which you
will really only be able to ascertain during a face-to-face
interview), you actually need to defne your expectations
of success in the role from the outset.
In the same way that an Olympic coach would defne
the performance of an elite athlete in terms of wins, record race times or prize money, as an
employer looking to hire somebody new, even before they come on board you should be
able to defne their performance in terms of the successes you hope they will achieve. And
successes can apply to every single role in the business.
For example, will you be able to measure someones performance by positive customer
feedback? Will you measure the success of a marketer by an increase in product awareness
or new campaigns? And as for the new IT support consultant? They can be measured by the
Even before they come
on board, you should be able
to defne the performance of
a new employee in terms of
the successes you hope they
will achieve.
11
Talent Attraction Performance Profles
speed with which problems are resolved or better yet prevented.
You need to ask yourself what you expect from them (in terms of their performance) at say
the three, six, nine and 12-month mark. What new tasks will they be taking on? How many
new products will they be responsible for? How many new customers will they have brought
in? What revenue targets might they need to reach?
These are all measurable so you need to defne your success expectations alongside the job
description. These success measures will help you screen and interview candidates, they will
defnitely help you in the reference checking stage, but they will also help you benchmark
your new employees success on the job (which can then help you better prepare for their
performance reviews).
So if you are looking to employ someone who will help improve customer satisfaction, how
will you measure this? Exactly how much new business are you expecting your next sales
manager to bring in and in what timeframe? How many clients will your new account
manager be handling? If you plan to employ a web designer, when specifcally do you need
your new website to go live? Or exactly how many outstanding invoices will the new credit
controller be expected to collect?
Whilst you might not think you can be compared to an
Olympic coach, or whilst you might not think your new
accounts payable ofcer can be likened to an elite athlete,
you are running a business and your staf (both existing
and new) are helping you reach your goals. No doubt you
have expectations of your own (and your organisations)
successes. So you also need to know what you want
out of any new team members well before the actual
recruitment process even starts.

D
e
f
n
e
su
cce
ss
e
xp
e
cta
t
o
n
s
a
lo
n
g
sid
e
th
e
jo
b

d
e
scrip
t
o
n

D
o
n
t b
a
se
y
o
u
r
d
e
cisio
n
o
n

so
m
e
o
n
e
s a
b
ility
to

g
e
t th
e
jo
b

T
h
in
k
a
b
o
u
t w
h
e
th
e
r
th
e
y
w
ill e
xce
l in
th
e

ro
le
in
q
u
e
st
o
n

12
Chapter 3
Writing a job ad: How to
improve your response rate.
Theres nothing worse than writing an ad for a position you are hoping to fll, posting it
online or even running it in a local paper and then either not receiving any responses at all,
or perhaps worse still, being inundated with applications from people who are completely
not suitable for the role.
Improving the quality (as opposed to quantity) of your response starts by having a well-
written advertisement (often the frst impression a candidate has of your organisation) that is
really going to target the appropriate audience.
Exactly who is your target audience? Where are they now? What steps are they taking to look
for a new opportunity? Your ad needs to speak directly to them.
Your advertisement is like a funnel where initially you are casting
the net out wide to a broad audience, but then as the readers
make their way through your carefully crafted advertisement,
they are either self-ejecting from the process or they are mentally
ticking all the boxes because they can actually picture themselves
in the role. In the end you really only want a handful of suitable
candidates to apply.
The job title (headline) has to be very clear and should in no way
deceive or mislead the reader. If you are looking to fll an Ofce
Assistant or Accounts Clerk role, you probably shouldnt have
the heading Job of a Lifetime. Sometimes its best just to keep it
simple. Ofce Manager 3 days/week. Ideal for a working Mum.
On average four
times as many people
will read your short
description than actually
click through to the job ad
itself.
13
Writing a job ad
You should also try to incorporate three bullet points containing the punchiest (eye
catching) benefts or incentives associated with the job. Salary (if its within or above market
rate) is always a good one. Similarly whether there is on site parking available, the ability to
work from home, or proximity to public transport will also grab the readers attention. You
might even include something along the lines of modern ofce with stunning harbour views.
Next you need to describe the company but not in too much detail. You dont want the
reader to get excited about the company and then not have any connection to the actual
role. Remember its a job ad. Above all you want someone who wants to do the job in
question. The fact that its for your company is an added bonus.
The information you include in the actual description of the job and the profle of the
ideal candidate should come very easily to you assuming you have written a proper
job description and prepared a performance profle for the role. Select the key skills, core
competencies and most relevant performance or success measures and include them. This is
where you will eliminate those applicants who are not suitable for the role.
You also need to clearly articulate whether there are any essential qualifcations, desirable
skills, or any other nice to haves in terms of previous experience required in the role.
When you are writing your advertisement, avoid phrases like the successful candidate or
the ideal applicant since this will make even the most suitable candidate question whether
theyre right for the role. Rather say something along the lines of In this exciting role you will
be working with or Coming from a strong sales background, you will be expected to. Talk
to the reader. Use the word you.
Given that you probably have enough on your plate and
dont want to have to send personal rejection emails to
those who dont make the grade, heres some suggested
wording that you can always include at the end of the ad
as a bit of a disclaimer: Only applicants meeting the strict
criteria outlined above will be contacted as part of the short-
listing process.
And fnally, when it comes to online recruitment ads in
particular, you should be aware that on average four times
as many people read the short description than actually
click through to the job ad itself. So put some efort into
what you write even if you only have 140 characters in
which to say it. After all you dont just want people reading
the snapshot. You actually want people to read your entire
advertisement and of course you then want the best
candidates to press Apply Now.

H
ig
h
lig
h
t th
e

b
e
n
e
f
ts o
r in
ce
n
t
v
e
s a
sso
cia
te
d
w
ith
th
e

jo
b

D
e
scrib
e
y
o
u
r
o
rg
a
n
isa
t
o
n

b
u
t n
o
t in
to
o
m
u
ch
d
e
ta
il

Ta
lk
d
ire
ctly
to
th
e

re
a
d
e
r
u
se
th
e
w
o
rd
y
o
u

Part 2
Candidate
Selection

16
Chapter 4
Screening candidates: keeping
out the tyre kickers.
Heres a typical scenario: You are desperate to fll an urgent role in your business. Youve
received a few applications to the advertisement you posted. Youve had a quick glance at
the CVs and you ask your ofce manager to book in four candidates to see you. Three of the
interviews are a total waste of your time (the candidates are completely wrong for the job or
wouldnt suit your culture at all). One of them is perfect but in order to fnd the one you still
wasted at least three hours of your valuable time.
Sound familiar?
The problem is that you probably realised they were a waste of your time in the frst 10
minutes of the interview. But you still went ahead with the interview anyway.
The good news is that there is a way to prevent these time wasting interviews simply by
having a more thorough applicant screening process in place.
Its all well and good to have a close read through
someones covering letter or to fick through a CV but
this is still only helping you formulate your opinion
based on a candidates ability to get the job. You can see
qualifcations, past experience (roles, employers etc) and
other general information such as software profciency
from their CV. But you really still dont know anything at all
about them as people. You cant assess someones ability
to actually do the job in question (and ideally do it well)
from looking at three or four typed A4 pages.
You probably realised
the candidate was a waste of
time in the frst 10 minutes
of the interview but you
still went ahead with the
interview anyway.
17
Screening candidates
You need to pick up the phone and speak to (thats right actually have a conversation
with) the applicants. Not every single one just those that you feel inclined to bring in for
interview.
But its not just a matter of asking them where they live, what salary they are on, and when
they might be able to start (most of which is probably included either in the covering letter
or CV itself anyway). You need to ask them a few more in-depth questions. Here are a few
questions that have really helped me flter out candidates in the past:
What specifcally was it about my advertisement that attracted your attention?
What are you ideally looking for in your next role?
What has been your greatest career related achievement to date?
What type of work environment have you enjoyed working in the most?
Not only will the actual answers to these questions tell you a lot about the candidates goals
and motivations. You will also get a good feel for their communication skills and also whether
they have even thought about your specifc role, or whether your position just happened
to be one of 25 jobs that they applied for overnight because the job title matched an
automated keyword search.
By asking these questions not only will you get a far better feel for whether they would be
right for your business, but they will also get a good feel for whether your job is right for
them potentially saving everyone a lot of wasted energy and frustration.
Its far more efcient to spend 10-15 minutes on the phone
with three applicants who you then decide not to bring
in for interview than to bring in all three, spend at least 45
minutes with each of them, realise theyre tyre kickers, and
fnd yourself extremely frustrated and right back where
you started having wasted half a day away from your core
responsibilities.
Think of the fy screen door on your balcony at home. The
fresh air and sunlight can still come in, but the mozzies are
kept away. The phone screen has the same objective. It will
help you let the good candidates in for interview, while
keeping out those that will do nothing more than waste
your time.

P
ick
u
p
th
e
p
h
o
n
e

a
n
d
sp
e
a
k
to
th
e

a
p
p
lica
n
ts th
a
t y
o
u

th
in
k
a
re
in
te
rv
ie
w

w
o
rth
y

Yo
u
n
e
e
d
to
a
sk

th
e
m
a
fe
w
in
-d
e
p
th

q
u
e
st
o
n
s e
v
e
n
d
u
rin
g
a
te
le
p
h
o
n
e
scre
e
n

K
e
e
p
o
u
t th
e

ca
n
d
id
a
te
s th
a
t w
ill
w
a
ste
y
o
u
r t
m
e

18
Chapter 5
The interview: the essential dos
and donts.
Any guide designed for candidates reinforces the fact that a job interview is really their one
chance to make a lasting frst impression. Its just as important for any employer to appreciate
that the interview is their opportunity to create a lasting frst impression too.
The war for talent is ferce. So if you are lucky enough to have identifed that diamond in the
rough, and you have them sitting right there in front of you, then you need to ensure you
make the most of the situation and not waste either partys time.
Over the years I have been on the receiving end of some pretty strange interview
questions
What modern pop song can you relate to most, and why?
If you were stuck on an island, what three possessions would you want to have with you?
Inefective. Pointless. Futile.
Whilst the answers to these questions may be interesting, in
no way do they help you accurately assess a candidates past
behaviour, core competencies or ability to in fact do the job in
question. Gone are the days of just asking about strengths and
weaknesses. And hypothetical questions are a thing of the past.
The only way to determine how a candidate will perform in a
role, is to ask questions around how they performed a similar
task in the past.
Before you meet with any candidate, you need to go back
to your job description and performance profle and decide
which skills, competencies and key success measures are
most important and then create a series of competency- or
behavioural-based questions around these.
The only way to
determine how a candidate
will perform in a role, is to
ask questions around how
they performed a similar
task in the past.
19
The interview
Here are a few common core competencies and questions that you could ask to determine a
candidates suitability:
Strong communicator: When have you ever had to sell an idea to a co-worker? How did you
do it?
Decision making: Can you give me an example of a time when you had to be quick in coming
to a decision. What obstacles did you face? What did you do?
Time management / planning: Please describe a situation that required you to do a number
of things at the same time. How did you handle it? What was the result?
Hopefully you are seeing a pattern here. The questions you ask must prompt the candidate
to talk about their past experiences. And in order to assess the quality of their responses, just
think about the word STAR.
S situation
T task
A action
R result
The best responses to behavioural- or competency-based interview questions will reveal the
specifc situation that the candidate had found themselves in, the task they were faced with, the
action or steps they took to solve the problem and then the outcome whether good or bad.
Dont let your emotions take over. Dont hire in your own image. And dont make a decision
based on non-job related criteria such as where a candidate lives, where they went to school,
what theyre wearing etc.
Spend at least half an hour taking your candidate through
the set of specifc competency related questions. Once you
are satisfed with the responses you can then ask certain
questions around salary expectations, availability, and of
course whether they have any questions prepared for you.
A decent interview should take you approximately one
hour. But during that time, please remember that you
have two ears and one mouth. This means that you
should listen twice as much as you talk. Dont oversell
your organisation or the role. Make sure you make the
candidate feel comfortable but dont just spend an hour
chatting. You want to make the right hire. So make sure
run a professional and efective interview.
Oh and just in case youre interested the modern
pop song that I relate to most is Bohemian Rhapsody.
Why? Because it questions whether this is the real life, or
if its just fantasy!

H
y
p
o
th
e
t
ca
l
q
u
e
st
o
n
s a
re
a

th
in
g
o
f th
e
p
a
st

T
h
e
q
u
e
st
o
n
s y
o
u

a
sk
m
u
st p
ro
m
p
t
th
e
ca
n
d
id
a
te
to

ta
lk
a
b
o
u
t th
e
ir p
a
st
e
xp
e
rie
n
ce
s

D
o
n
t m
a
ke
a
d
e
cisio
n
b
a
se
d
o
n
n
o
n
-jo
b

re
la
te
d
crite
ria


20
Chapter 6
Benchmarking: determining
who makes the fnal cut.
This particular section will really only apply to those fortunate enough to have received a
large number of high quality applications and after having interviewed the cream of the crop
still cant quite decide who to hire.
Its true that there is a shortage of good candidates out there at the moment, but even so,
if you advertise for a receptionist, ofce manager or marketing assistant, your inbox will
still overfow with a plethora of fairly decent applications. For more specifc roles such as a
business development manager, SEO specialist or PHP developer, you may only receive a
handful of quality applications.
The fltering of these applications starts with the screening process outlined above. The actual
assessing then occurs during the interview process. But often its during the benchmarking (or
short listing) process where if you are not careful you can in fact make some pretty serious
hiring errors.
If you are lucky enough to have selected more than one
candidate to invite in for interview, you must ensure
that you have some structure around your interviewing
process. There is no point asking the frst candidate a
series of behavioural- or competency-based questions and
then asking the other candidate(s) an entirely diferent
set of questions. Each candidate being interviewed for
the same position must be asked exactly the same set of
questions. And then, like a teacher marking a set of essays,
you then need to decide what in your opinion constitutes
a very good response, a mediocre response and a
Its during the
benchmarking process
where if you are not careful
you can make some pretty
serious hiring errors.
21
Benchmarking
mediocre or insufcient response. Once again having a well-defned performance profle will
certainly help you here.
Without wanting to seem overly neurotic, you might even want to create a spreadsheet
with the candidates names down one side and the key selection criteria, competencies and
essential skills along the top. Then you can actually rank each response based on an even
scoring process. You will also need to establish a rating scale. One easy way to do this is
based on the S.T.A.R technique outlined above where you can rate each of the candidates
responses out of a possible four points. For example if the candidate describes the task they
were faced with and then what they did to try to solve the problem, they would score 2 out
of 4. If they then talked about the actual outcome, this would be 3 out of 4. If they had also
explained specifcally where they were at the time (the situation) then this would equate to a
4 out of 4. Its fairly straightforward.
Think of an organisation that may be required to hire a large group of people who will do
exactly the same task. For example an airline hiring a new team of fight attendants; a bank
putting on a new shift in their call centre; or a new hotel opening up that will need an
entire team of front desk staf. The dedicated recruitment team will interview dozens (if not
hundreds) of candidates for these roles and each candidate will be asked exactly the same set
of questions.
You will more than likely be looking for just one new
team member at a time. Assuming you are not an
airline, bank or hotel chain, even though you might not
be looking to hire a group of people, you still need to
ensure you have a fair assessment and benchmarking
process in place so that ultimately you end up hiring
the candidate who literally ticks all the boxes.

E
a
ch
ca
n
d
id
a
te
b
e
in
g

in
te
rv
ie
w
e
d
fo
r th
e

sa
m
e
p
o
sit
o
n
m
u
st
b
e
a
ske
d
e
xa
ctly
th
e

sa
m
e
se
t o
f q
u
e
st
o
n
s.

Yo
u
w
ill a
lso
n
e
e
d
to

e
sta
b
lish
a
ra
t
n
g
sca
le

E
n
su
re
y
o
u
h
a
v
e
a

fa
ir a
sse
ssm
e
n
t a
n
d

b
e
n
ch
m
a
rk
in
g
p
ro
ce
ss

22
Chapter 7
References: conducting your
own background checks.
Its frightening to think how many small business owners in particular will bring someone on
board without carrying out any reference checks only to be let down or perhaps even badly
burnt after only 3 - 6 months of the new employee being in the job.
This might be a good time to remind you that the cost of a poor hire (someone who leaves
because they feel the job isnt for them or who you need to let go because theyre just not up
to scratch) can be as high as three times their salary.
A very costly exercise indeed.
There are candidates out there who look great on paper but who perform poorly during
interview. But there are also candidates who perform very well during interview but once
they are on the job its a diferent story altogether. CVs can be embellished, and its even
possible to become a master interviewee with a bit of coaching or plenty of practice.
The good news is that there is a way for you to ensure that the person you initially discovered
on paper and the person you then thought performed strongly at interview is actually who
they say they are, and more importantly will perform as well as (if not better than) you hope
they will on the job.
Before you bring anybody new into your team you should really
carry out two verbal reference checks. After all, dont you think
its worth another 15 - 20 minutes of your time to speak to
someone that has actually managed the person you want to
hire? Its the perfect way for you to understand how they really
perform on the job (the good and perhaps even the not so
good) before you fnd out perhaps the hard way.
The cost of a poor
hire can be as high as three
times that persons salary
23
References
But when you are speaking to a candidates former supervisor, please dont just ask them
questions like was she a good staf member?, how many sick days did she have? or on a
scale of 1 - 5 how would you describe his integrity?. Youre really not going to learn that
much.
You need to think back to the core skills (the job description) as well as the core
competencies and key success measures (the performance profle) that you had created
for the job. Then if during your interview you asked the candidate questions around
communication, decision making and time management, you should then ask the referee
(ideally the candidates former boss) exactly the same questions.
When did Nick ever have to sell an idea to a co-worker? How did he do it?
Can you give me an example of a time when Ken had to be quick in coming to a decision. What
obstacles did he face? What did he do?
Please describe a situation that required Narelle to do a number of things at the same time. How
did she handle it? What was the result?
Once again hopefully you are seeing a pattern here. The questions you ask should prompt
the candidates former supervisor to talk about the candidates actual past experiences
and behaviour. The responses to these questions will certainly tell you more than whether
someone was punctual, had a good attendance record or was profcient in Excel.
One question you might also want to consider asking at
the very end of the conversation is something along the
lines of So would you ever re-employ Phillip? This should
be the only hypothetical question in the entire discussion
(in fact it should really be the only hypothetical question
in the entire recruitment process), but the answer to this
question can speak volumes.
After all, there is a huge diference between Um
yeah I guess so, Yes yes I would, and Id have him
back tomorrow.

B
e
fo
re
y
o
u
m
a
ke
a

h
ire
, y
o
u
sh
o
u
ld
re
a
lly
ca
rry
o
u
t tw
o
v
e
rb
a
l
re
fe
re
n
ce
ch
e
ck
s

T
h
e
q
u
e
st
o
n
s y
o
u
a
sk
sh
o
u
ld
p
ro
m
p
t th
e

re
fe
re
e
to
ta
lk
a
b
o
u
t
th
e
ca
n
d
id
a
te
s a
ctu
a
l p
a
st e
xp
e
rie
n
ce
s

24
Chapter 8
The job ofer: youre almost at
the fnish line.
Weve all heard the phrase Its not over until the fat lady sings. And this couldnt be truer
of the hiring process. Just because you think you have identifed the perfect candidate, it
doesnt necessarily mean that the candidate thinks they have found the perfect job.
You may have interviewed them a few times, you may have even brought them in to meet
the rest of the team, and the reference checks might have been glowing. This still doesnt
mean your star candidate is going to accept your ofer. So many things can go wrong at this
point, and as an employer you need to be aware of these and also be aware of what you can
do to prevent your recruitment process from going pear shaped at such a critical stage.
The candidate may have another ofer in the wings, their
current boss might decide to throw more money at them
when the try to resign, he or she might just get cold feet,
perhaps a husband, wife, partner, child, or good friend will
try to infuence them against the decision, or maybe at the
last minute the candidate will decide that things really arent
too bad at their current place of work.
In order to prevent such last minute unexpected surprises,
you need to be on your game right from the very frst
interview.
So here are a few additional questions you must get into
the habit of asking your candidates during your interview
once you have gone through the competency- and
behavioural-based questions.
Just because you
think you have identifed
the perfect candidate, it
doesnt necessarily mean
that the candidate thinks
they have found the
perfect job.
25
The job ofer
Where are you up to in your job search?
What other interviews have you been to either through recruiters or directly?
Who else is really involved in your decision making process?
What will your boss say when you hand in your resignation?
What will you do if they ofer you more money to stay?
What are you really looking for in your next job?
Whilst this chapter is indeed about the ofer, in order to ensure that you have an ofer that
your candidate cant (or wont) refuse, you need to know the answer to these questions right
from the start. If a candidate turns your ofer down and says they have accepted another job,
their husband isnt comfortable with them working so far from home, or they have accepted
a counter ofer from their current employer, unfortunately its your fault for not having raised
these questions at the outset.
By the time you get the stage where you are ready to put together an employment contract,
you should have no doubt at all in your mind that the candidate will not sign on the dotted
line.
Every time you speak to your candidate throughout the
hiring process you should be asking them something
along the lines of So has anything changed since we last
spoke? If you dont ask, they wont tell you about other
jobs theyve applied for, other interviews theyve been
to, a promotion theyre really hoping to get internally,
or perhaps even the fact theyve just found out they
are pregnant! And if you dont ask you might just be
let down at the last minute.
When you are ready to go ahead with an ofer, its
always a good idea to make a verbal ofer frst. Call
the candidate, sound excited for them, let them
know how keen you are to have them come on
board. Talk through the role and core responsibilities
again, be clear on the salary you would like to ofer
them and when youd like them to start. You will
certainly get a good feel for what theyre thinking.
Then if for some reason your candidate does turn
it down, you havent wasted any time putting
together a formal employment contract. But if they
do verbally accept, there is nothing wrong with
telling the candidate they will receive an ofcial
letter of ofer within 24 hours.

A
sk
w
h
e
re
th
e
y
a
re
u
p
to
in
th
e
ir jo
b
se
a
rch

in
th
e
f
rst in
te
rv
ie
w

A
sk
w
h
a
t o
th
e
r
in
te
rv
ie
w
s th
e
y
h
a
v
e

b
e
e
n
to
e
ith
e
r th
ro
u
g
h
re
cru
ite
rs o
r d
ire
ctly

A
sk
w
h
o
e
lse
is re
a
lly

in
v
o
lv
e
d
in
th
e
ir
d
e
cisio
n
m
a
k
in
g

p
ro
ce
ss fro
m
th
e

o
u
tse
t
Part 3
Staf
Retention

28
Chapter 9
Induction: your new team
members frst impressions on
the job.
Many years ago I remember walking into my frst day in a new job and most of the people
had no idea who I was. Even my manager hadnt thought about where I was going to sit,
there was no phone at the only spare desk in the ofce and I was there to do a sales job.
Less than three months later I was gone.
A few years later I walked into my frst day at another job and everyone in the ofce
welcomed me by name. My desk, computer, phone, stationery etc had all been set up and
my new business cards were already waiting for me. Oh and a team lunch had also been
arranged.
I stayed with that company for nearly seven years.
Everybody remembers his or her frst day at a new job. You
want your new team member to remember their frst day in
your organisation for all the right reasons. And having a well-
documented or well thought-out induction or orientation
program for anyone new coming into your business is
essential at least for the frst week or so.
Again without wanting to sound neurotic, you might want to
put an agenda together containing a list of the staf members
your new employee will be sitting with and the times they will
be spending together.
For example:
Everybody
remembers his or her frst
day at a new job. You want
your new team member to
remember their frst day in
your organisation for all
the right reasons.
29
Induction
Day 1: 8:45am 9:15am General ofce tour / orientation [Kate]
9:30am 12:30pm Database / systems training [Andrew]
12:30pm 1:30pm Team Lunch [@ Caf B2B]
1:30pm 2:30pm Sitting in accounts [Carmen]
2:30pm 3:30pm Sitting in sales [Marcus]
3:30pm 4:30pm OH&S overview and company induction [Chris]
4:30pm 5:30pm Read through policies and procedures [intranet]
5:30pm End of day 1
Having a clearly documented program will not only give you peace of mind that your
new employee is being looked after and made to feel welcome, but it also gives your new
employee an idea that some efort has been put into ensuring the transition into their new
job is smooth.
You will know how detailed the program needs to be depending on the size and nature of
your business. However you should consider having the program incorporate at least two or
three full days perhaps even the frst full week. This will allow your new team member to
meet with all the relevant parts of the business and to also get to know whos who in the zoo.
Naturally as their manager you would check in with them from time to time during their frst
few days to ensure theyre OK and to see if they have any questions at all.
Formal (job specifc) training is separate to any induction or orientation program. While every
new employee will be eager to prove themselves on the job, throwing someone in the deep end
(a case of sink or swim) is probably not the best way to induct somebody new into the business.
If you havent got the time or the budget to take all the team to
lunch, then at least consider having drinks in the ofce at the
end of their frst week just so the rest of the team can get to
know the new kid on the block. Its a great way to ensure that
Paul the new guy can meet Sofa the HR lady, Roberto from
I.T and Leonie from payroll in a more social setting.
For anyone recruiting a new person into their team, one
of the most important things you can do at least during
their frst week is to ensure you are around, visible and
available. Aside from the complete lack of preparation
and chaotic work environment, one of the reasons I
lasted less than three months in the scenario outlined
at the beginning of this chapter was that my boss (the
guy I was meant to work for (or with), learn from, and
be mentored by spent my frst week either in his ofce
(with the door closed), or out of the ofce at meetings.
I later discovered that fve other people had started in
my position during the previous year.
Go fgure.

H
a
v
in
g
a
w
e
ll-
d
o
cu
m
e
n
te
d

in
d
u
ct
o
n
p
ro
g
ra
m
fo
r a
n
y
o
n
e
n
e
w
co
m
in
g

in
to
y
o
u
r b
u
sin
e
ss is
e
sse
n
t
a
l

M
a
ke
su
re
y
o
u
a
re

a
ro
u
n
d
, v
isib
le
a
n
d

a
va
ila
b
le
fo
r a
n
y
n
e
w

te
a
m
m
e
m
b
e
r d
u
rin
g

th
e
ir f
rst w
e
e
k

30
Chapter 10
Performance appraisals:
nobody wants any nasty
surprises.
Employees crave feedback. Any decent employee wants to know how theyre tracking on a
fairly regular basis, not only to be praised for any successes but also to discuss any particular
areas of improvement.
Some large companies have a team of people dedicated purely to employee engagement.
They work full time on writing surveys, assessing employee satisfaction, co-ordinating 360
feedback, interpreting performance appraisals, and working closely with the management
team to ensure they are implementing the sought after changes.
In smaller organisations employee engagement and staf
satisfaction (key measures of staf retention) are often left
to fall by the wayside. Not only do regular one-to-one catch
ups often get left out of the calendar entirely, but what
should really be formal probationary reviews or annual
performance appraisals often become a quick impromptu
catch up over a sandwich at a nearby caf, a 15 minute chat
in a taxi on the way back from a client meeting, or worse still
a two-line email along the lines of Its great to have you on
board. Youre doing a terrifc job. Keep up the good work.
For the beneft of both the organisation and employee,
performance appraisals should be conducted on a
fairly regular basis defnitely towards the end of the
probationary period and then ideally every six months
A performance
appraisal is a two-way
street. No employee wants
to be told about something
they did wrong fve months
earlier, or to just to have a
so how are you going?
informal chat.
31
Performance appraisals
(and defnitely not just in a caf or taxi!). I remember once my boss did my annual review at
his home. We spent nearly four hours (in a setting well away from the ofce) reviewing the
previous six months and setting my objectives for the next six months.
Incidentally this was the same company I referred to earlier where I worked for nearly seven
years.
A performance appraisal is a two-way street. No employee wants to turn up and be suddenly
told about something they did wrong fve months earlier, or just to have a so how are you
going? informal chat. Similarly no manager wants to turn up to a review only to be told by
an employee out of the blue that, Im really not enjoying this job any
more. Preparation (from both parties) is key.
Reviews need to be booked into the calendar well in
advance. About two weeks prior to the scheduled
review time, the employee should be sent a pre-
appraisal questionnaire containing a series of several
questions including:
What do you consider to be your key accomplishments
in the last six months?
In relation to time management, what have you done
that has made a diference to your efectiveness in your
role?
What are your top four priorities for the next six
months?
What further training would you like?
Overall why are you a better employee now than you
were six months ago?
As a manager you really need to get this
questionnaire back with enough time to then
prepare for the review. You cant just get it back
on the morning of the appraisal. You then
need sufcient time to prepare your thoughts
and comments. It now shouldnt come as a
surprise that the topics you cover of in the
appraisal relate directly to the core skills (the job
description) as well as the core competencies
and key success measures (the performance
profle) that you had originally created for the
job.
A performance review should be in part
refective (looking back over the previous six
Em
ployees crave
feedback
For the beneft of
both the organisaton
and em
ployee,
perform
ance
appraisals should be
conducted on a fairly
regular basis
Perform
ance appraisal
is a tw
o-w
ay street
Perform
ance review
s
should be in part
refectve, but should
also be a chance
for targets, goals or
objectves to be set

32
months), but should also be a chance for targets, goals or objectives to be set for the next
half of the year. But if you expect these goals to be reached or objectives met, you also need
to appreciate that your staf member is expecting you to follow through on anything you
might commit to for example from a training or professional developmental perspective.
So dont just put the review documentation into their fle and lock it away for another six
months.
If you treat the performance review process seriously, then your staf will also take it
seriously. They will feel more looked after and appreciated, and you will have a more constant
fnger on the pulse of what people are feeling like in your business.
33
Conclusion
Its a pretty major realisation when you fnd yourself facing the task of recruiting somebody
new into your team. For anyone who feels totally overwhelmed or daunted by what can
often feel like an insurmountable challenge, you are not alone.
In putting this e-book together, our mission was simple. To help take the stress, confusion,
panic, angst, and fear out of the recuitment process and to make it as smooth, calm, and
believe it or not, even enjoyable as possible. In terms of a guide, we broke it down into three
main sections:
Talent attraction to help you create job descriptions performance profles and recruitment
advertisements to kick start the recruitment process;
Candidate selection to help prevent time wasting activities and ensure you ultimately bring
somebody into your team based on their ability to do the job, as opposed to just get the job;
and
Staf retention to ensure that your new team members have a positive recollection of their
introduction into your organisation.
How you choose to make the most of this guide moving forward is entirely up to you. You
may already have your job specs prepared and ads written, so you may only want to focus
on the screening and interviewing sections. You have have identifed a star candidate but
need help with references or performance reviews. Maybe you will come back and use all 10
chapters!
Or you might just want to come back to the list of handy hints at the end of each chapter, for
example when you are writing your job description, preparing for an interview, or having to
put together an induction program.
Weve covered everything you need to know to ensure you are armed and ready to tackle the
recruitment and selection process head on. By getting this far you should now know exactly
what to do, which means theres really only one thing left to do.
But if you are still feeling overwhelmed but dread the idea of being hit with an exorbitant
fee from a traditional recruitment agency, you can always get in touch with RecruitLoop and
well provide you with stress-free and fexible recruitment support, the opportunity to pay an
experienced recruiter only for the hours they put into your project, as well as the chance to
view candidates on line through high quality recorded video interviews.
Its what we call recruitment reinvented.
Happy hiring!
www.recruitloop.com.au
About the author
Paul Slezak has built market-leading businesses
in the highly competitive recruitment and
advertising sectors. His success stems from his
ability to infuence and motivate key decision
makers, executive management, clients,
colleagues and team members alike.
With nearly 20 years in the recruitment
industry and having worked for both an
international publicly listed group as well as
a global niche recruitment business, Paul has
been a hands-on recruiter, manager, trainer,
coach, mentor, and speaker across Australia,
Asia, Europe and North America.
Paul holds Bachelor of Economics from the
University of Sydney and a Masters of Arts from
Macquarie University. He is the co-author of 21
things to do to get a new job NOW!
OK so now the boring blurb is out of the
way heres the real deal.
Paul grew up in Sydney as a somewhat
overprotected frst-born child. When he didnt
quite get into Law, his parents suggested
he study Economics so he did. Then they
suggested that he study some more so he
did. Then like so many others who couldnt
fnd their dream, he fell into recruitment. But
then unlike so many others he has stayed in
recruitment for a long time. For nearly two
decades he has been an active ambassador
for the recruitment industry and now as the
Recruitment Guru at RecruitLoop, the chance
to now break away from the traditional
recruitment model and really shake things up
is very exciting.