Prepare a job description.  Begin by doing some quality brainstorming—alone and with others from the team.  What are the goals for this position?  What are the major functions and tasks?  What kind of education, experience, and skills are required to be effective?  Use the answers to craft a description that is also a guide to success. 

Create an effective ad—and run it in the most appropriate print and online sites.  This can get expensive.  But be sure to keep the advertising campaign running until you’ve collected a significant number of resumes from qualified candidates.

Screen each resume carefully.  Depending on the job and your advertising strategy, you may be flooded with resumes, or in the case of a highly specialized position, you may be lucky to receive even a few.  Examine each, seeking patterns of increasing responsibility as well as achievement.  Identify the most promising candidates.

Decide on whether or not to narrow the candidate pool by pre-screening.  If you decide to use this strategy, set up and then conduct 15-or 20-minute telephone interviews. 

Set up a first round of personal interviews with the most impressive candidates.  There’s no hard and fast rule for the number of candidates to interview for a given job.  However, it’s important to create a pool that’s large enough to give you choices as the process moves forward.

Conduct a thorough interview.  Ask questions that give you insight into the candidate’s ability to handle the key responsibilities of the job—whether that involves responsibility for motivating people, juggling deadlines, satisfying customers, or managing budgets.  Be sure that your questions are in conformance with EEOC guidelines.  For further guidance in avoiding discriminatory questions, visit www.eeoc.gov/ or your local EEOC office.

Check references and conduct background checks.  Don’t take any shortcuts here.  Call each of the references supplied by the candidate, paying special attention to those in a position to evaluate his or her performance.  Be sure to perform the background checks recommended by your human resources or legal department.  

Narrow the field.  Bring the two or three best candidates in for a follow-up interview that may include other team members and managers.

Choose a finalist and extend an offer.  Act quickly once you identify the most qualified candidate.  Extend the offer and be prepared to negotiate details.  If your offer is not accepted, go back to the drawing board and select another finalist.

Inform other candidates of your decision.  This is a small but important courtesy.  If resumes were not acknowledged as they came in, try to find an efficient way to do this now. 

How an effective staffing strategy can control costs

Temporary workers.  They’ve become a permanent fact of life for most companies.  In fact, the American Staffing Association reports that 2.9 million temporary workers are part of the U.S. work force.

There are many reasons for this explosive growth, but perhaps the most compelling is the positive impact a smart staffing strategy can have on costs.  Here are just a few of the ways The Suburban Group’s staffing division—and other staffing firms—help client companies take advantage of those benefits:

Save time and money in the hiring process.  Because the staffing firm handles screening, interviewing, reference-checking, and other hiring tasks, you save precious time and resources in bringing temporary workers on board.

Manage payroll and benefits.  Because temporary and payrolled employees are paid through the staffing company, you can hand over the burden—and the expense—of processing and administering payroll and benefits programs. 

To find out more about The Suburban Group’s staffing services, call us at 508.366.8521 or e-mail us at info@suburbangroup.com.

What is the cost of a bad hire—or promotion?

Everyone agrees that there’s a big price tag associated with bad hiring and promotion decisions.  But what exactly are those costs? 

When it comes to hiring, there are, of course, the obvious costs:  the wasted time and resources spent on advertising, interviewing, and all the other parts of the hiring process—and the need to do it all over again to bring the right person on board.

According to a survey by Right Management, the major effects of bad hiring and promotion decisions--reductions in employee morale and productivity—have long-term implications.  The higher in the organization the bad hire or promotion occurs, the more detrimental it can be to the company.  It can alienate customers and erode their trust and loyalty, damage the company’s brand, and impede the organization’s ability to attract new customers, enter new markets, and take advantage of opportunities. 

The hiring manager can invest more time and develop more expertise in advertising, interviewing, screening, and other parts of the hiring process.  This, of course, can be a serious drain on the manager’s time and affect his or her ability to handle other responsibilities. 

The company can bring a full-time recruiter on board.  While this solution is seldom practical for smaller companies, it can be cost-effective for organizations of a certain size. 

The company can invest in personality profiles or behavioral assessments.  These tools can provide valuable information in the hands of a skilled interpreter and when integrated into the entire hiring and promotion process.

If a promotion does not seem to be working out, the company can enhance the probability of success through training and leadership development programs that help leaders at all levels acquire the skills and confidence they need to deliver a strong performance.