Recruiting remotely from the workplace
While unemployment rates are on the rise in the current COVID environment, some businesses are flourishing and there are others who are experience natural attrition. Recruitment still needs to happen and engaging new employees is a task some managers often find difficult as it is not a normal daily activity. it is important that businesses have some strong processes in place to ensure they select the best candidate for the role.
Before embarking on a recruitment process, it is wise to carefully assess the business needs of a new role. Perhaps a vacancy in or an expansion of a business area does not necessarily mean creating a new job. An assessment may result in changes to work processes without the need to bring someone new into the business (including determining will the role be permanent, casual, fixed term or even performed by a contractor).
Where a decision is made to create a new role, that role’s accountabilities and responsibilities need to be determined as well as how the employee will be employed and utilised. An effective way to this is to prepare a job description indicating the key aspects of the role, the core accountabilities and responsibilities and the skills required to carry out the role. Reviewing a job description also provides opportunity to examine and potentially improve your business’ structure. The creation of a job description most often leads to the next stage of recruitment and selection. It enables you to focus on the skills and competencies required of your candidates.
Once the business is clear on the role, it will need to seek out candidates that match the role as stated in the job description. This may involve advertising via an online platform such as seek.com or company websites. Alternatively, it could be through company or industry networks or via a recruitment specialist.
The next stage of this process is selection and is largely about reviewing applicants, considering their applications and interviewing the most suitable candidates. The interviewing process may include candidates being phone screened first, sitting panel interviews, one on one interview, participating in set assessments to evaluate their skills and personal characteristics as they relate to the role. From that group of candidates, the pool is narrowed to candidates who will be interviewed by the manager and possibly other people in the business.
It is always good to have a clear list of criteria that you are looking for, for each stage of the interview process. Here are some examples you could use:
Must Haves – a list of the top 4-10 criteria the applicant must have.
Point System – adding points to your top criteria (this is good to use once you have interviewed your first round of candidates)
Ranking – Rank the order of candidates meeting the criteria
In today’s age, it is very likely the interview will be done remotely via online conferencing tools such as ‘Zoom’, ‘Skype’ or ‘Microsoft Teams’. Whilst this may seem impersonal, there are lots of advantages to this process. One of the greatest advantages is that an interviewer will be able to focus more intently on body language in addition to verbal responses. As the country is shifting to more online meetings, the employer can get an insight on how the applicant will be able to communicate to clients or peers in our new virtual world.
It is important to be mindful of privacy during online interviews. All participants should be introduced and noted, and if any recordings are being taken, it is imperative to get written approval from the candidate that they are comfortable with this to occur. It is also important that questions asked throughout the interview are not discriminatory. Although it varies slightly from state to state, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person for reasons such as their sex, age, marital status, race, status as a parent, disability/impairment, sexuality or physical features
Once interviews have been conducted and a preferred candidate is selected, the employer may choose to include applicable pre-employment screening, such as background and reference checking and potentially medical tests, working rights check and if applicable, relevant licensing information. If no suitable candidate is found or the selected candidate declines the job offer, the recruiting process may start again.
If the preferred candidate commences their employment remotely, the business should have strategies in place to ensure engagement with the business and that the employee clearly understands the performance and behaviour expectations of their role.
In next months Tips and Trips we will drill down on setting candidate criteria for interviewing and selecting the right candidate for your role.
Needing advice and help?
If you would like recruitment advice, please contact our team of advisors at AB Phillips, Monday to Friday between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm AEST by phone on 1300 208 828 or email advice@abphillips.com.au.
Please note that the above information is provided as comment and should not be relied on as a substitute for detailed professional advice from AB Phillips or professional legal or financial advice on any particular matter. Where you would like additional information and support about the content in this document please contact AB Phillips.