Defining recruitment needs

Recruiting a new member of staff into a team is a significant investment. If all goes well, you take on a skilled and effective member of staff who is likely to be enthusiastic and keen to make a positive impact on your organisation. If it doesn’t go well, you may end up with a new member of staff who doesn’t have the skills to perform effectively and who becomes a drain on an already stretched staff team. Planning ahead provides you with the best opportunity to make recruitment a success.

Decide whether there is definitely a need for an extra person in a particular department and check whether it is within the budget.
Have the requirement approved by the director or trustees of the organisation. You may also want to talk to the staff team at this stage to build in any suggestions that they may have in relation to the duties of the new post.
Write or update the job description as appropriate. This will set out the position to be filled, the responsibilities involved, the location of the workplace and the salary and benefits. This is a good opportunity to review whether the role is fulfilling the needs of the department/business and to implement any changes as may be appropriate, before appointing to the role. Care should be taken however where there are similar or the same roles currently being undertaken by other existing staff.
Write a person specification. This will detail the abilities, qualifications and experience preferred or required. Ensure all requirements are objectively justifiable and measureable.
Decide whether the job could be job-share and the type of contract required; part-time, full-time, permanent, temporary or fixed-term.
Produce an application form and any associated useful documentation that may form part of the application pack.
Decide how you will discover which applicant is best for the job and how each part of the person specification will be ‘tested’. For some posts you may decide on a straightforward interview will provide you with the information. For other posts, certain aspects might only be tested by written exercise, in-tray, presentation etc.
Agree who will be involved in the recruitment process and ensure that diaries are free for short listing and interviews.