Self Help Guide Hiring the Right People

SELF HELP GUIDE –HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

The purpose of this guide is to assist you to successfully attract, recruit and retainpeople who possess the right skills, attitude, enthusiasm and cultural fit for your company.

Following this systematic and purposeful hiring process will produce better results

1)Execute a recruitment strategy

A well thought out recruitment strategy helps you create a pool of qualified candidates. There are three key components to developing your strategy;

Develop a recruiting profile for the job.

A recruiting profile includes essential competencies and required education, training and experience—or a combination thereof—needed to perform the job properly (see - Recruiting Profile Template). To better define these parameters, talk to current and past employees in the position. You will gain insight into the necessary attributes for the job, glean what type of person will fit with the rest of the team and identify any skill gaps that may be present. Establish your requirements by differentiating between what specific knowledge and skills the candidate should have at hiring and what can be learned on the job. This ensures you don’t exclude candidates who may not have the necessary skills today but could quickly acquire them once in the position. A comprehensive recruiting profile is important, but don’t treat it as a wish list, especially in a tight labour market.

Define your recruitment methods.open-closer

The next step is to decide where and how to let potential candidates know about the job (usually by advertising). Based on your organizational needs and the job type, there are a number of options you can consider.

Indirect Advertising

If the position requires someone with experience, especially in a competitive labour market, it is likely that the potential candidate is already employed and may not be actively searching for a job. Advertise where this person might be looking for other things, such as specific genre publications or radio stations.

There are a number of efficient and inexpensive recruitment methods:

Employee referrals

Let your employees know that you are recruiting and what type of person you are seeking. Consider a modest reward for a successful referral.

• Current Employees

There may be a current employee who can fill the vacant position with minimal training or coaching. An internal promotion policy is an efficient way to fill vacancies and also a smart move to retain valued employees. People are more likely to remain with an organization if they see their hard work recognized, and have opportunities for growth and promotion.

All Merit member companies have a valuable recruitment tool at their fingertips: construction jobstores.com A free, user friendly,construction employment website where employers can post an unlimited number of jobs; search/post for field positions, project managers, superintendent, safety officers, etc. Call a Merit office to get your login password.

Billboards

Use your vehicles and premises as a billboard – attractive and prominent ads on your premise doors and company vehicles not only attract candidates, it’s also an indirect advertisement for your business. Remember to make sure that office staff and others are prepared to receive enquiries resulting from these billboards in a welcoming and professional manner.

Educational Institutes

Check out job boards at local colleges and maintain good relationships with instructors at institutions, as these can go a long way toward referrals of good candidates.

Government Agencies

Local Human Resource Skills and Development Canada (HRSDC) offices are good places to post your job opening. Check .alberta.ca under the career and employment tab for access to job fairs/programs.

• Drop-ins

Qualified prospective employees sometimes drop by and submit their résumésor complete application forms on the spot. Regardless of whether you have an immediate opening or not, you can collect résumés and applications and keep them on file. These unsolicited applicants have already shown initiative and ambition; when you next have a job opening, you can immediately sift through your list of applicants and possibly avoid a lengthy, costly recruitment campaign.

• Classified Ads

Classified ads in community, provincial and national newspapers are also powerful recruitment methods, and specialized journals exist solely for job postings and career information. Classifieds can be relatively inexpensive, particularly in local papers.

Targeting Alternative Demographic Groups

While the current economic downturn has eased the pressure on labour, workforce demographics tell us that the shortages will return. This will create greater reliance on alternative demographic groups—Aboriginal peoples, recent immigrants, retired and younger workers—to meet workforce requirements. With this comes different recruitment challenges and approaches.

Consider advertising in:

• local, ethnic and community press
• ethnic community and grocery store bulletin boards
• employment placement services
• associations and organizations that serve ethnic communities
• the language of your target group

Take advantage of programs such as:

• Federal Foreign Worker Program
• provincial/territorial immigrant nominee programs

(Conduct a web search using the above keywords to find more information on these programs.)

• Partner with immigrant-serving agencies and various associations and groups

Remember to keep an open mind if an applicant’s training and certification does not match your job description exactly, or is from a country other than Canada. Encourage candidates trained abroad to explain their work experience and education, and to seek transfer of their credentials or complete any required Canadian training and certification. Use available occupational standards to adjust your assessment of applicants’ actual competencies. Utilize government agencies such as the Industry Training Authority to help you determine the Canadian equivalencies of non-Canadian credentials.

The following extract from the AB Human Rights Code more specifically lays out your obligations:

Advertising the job.

Write a clear, concise job posting aimed at attracting attention and generate response. The outcome of the recruitment process depends on the quality of your candidate pool—you’ve got to appeal to the right people (see – sample job advert and advertisement checklist).

The job description should use plain language—simple, short words and sentences that avoid acronyms and unclear jargon—to get the message across as simply as possible.

Make the job advertisement as specific as possible. Be as detailed as you can so that candidates can better assess whether or not they match your criteria. Add any details about why this position is unique or different. If possible, indicate either the annual salary or hourly rate and the required hours of work. Make sure to state clear instructions on how to apply.

Job descriptions and advertisements should describe the requirements and key duties of the position rather than qualifications, preferences or requirements that relate to ground protected under the Alberta Human Rights Act. Selection based on the following grounds is prohibited: race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical disability, mental disability, ate, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income, family status or sexual orientation.

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2)Screen Candidatesopen-closer

Once you have developed your pool of candidates, use the following steps to screen applicants:

• Review the job description and your list of required competencies (see – job recruiting profiletemplate).
• Review qualifications of all applicants as indicated in their résumés or application forms.
• Determine if applicants meet your basic requirements by comparing each applicant’s skills to the job description and your list of required competencies. Those who do not meet your expectations can be removed from your candidate list.
• Choose who you will interview. Depending on how many applications you receive, you may choose to interview them all or only those who exceed your requirements.
• Invite selected applicants to an interview.
• Notify unsuccessful applicants, unless you have indicated in your job advertisement they will not be contacted.

Some organizations use telephone interviews and written tests to screen applicants. Questions for telephone screening interviews should be prepared in advance, with the same questions asked of all candidates to maintain consistency.

Appropriate Screening

Remember, screening of potential candidates must be done in a non-discriminatory manner. In Canada, all employers must be committed to provide fair opportunities in the workplace. Federal and provincial governments have passed human rights laws that address employment discrimination. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms also guarantees equality and reinforces human rights legislation.

Employers need to be aware that:

• The result of employment practices—not their intent—determines whether discrimination has occurred. Policies implemented without intent to cause discrimination might have a resulting discriminatory effect, which violates the law.
• Identical treatment does not ensure equality; individual needs must be considered. Equal employment practices can include installing a wheelchair ramp to ease access for physically disabled employees and allowing varied work hours for religious minorities to observe religious tenets.
• Any employment practice or policy that has an adverse impact on members of a designated group constitutes unlawful discrimination. Unless it can be proven that the practice or policy reflects a requirement essential to job performance, it is considered discrimination.

The Alberta Human Rights Code more specifically lays out your obligations.

Bona fide occupational requirement

• An employer can refuse to hire a person if the job has bona fide occupational requirements that cannot be modified to accommodate a person’s disability. For example, the job may require a person to regularly climb ladders. If someone’s disability prevents them from climbing ladders, the employer may have a right to refuse to hire that person. However, the employer must be able to prove the requirement is reasonably necessary and cannot be modified without undue hardship to the employer.

Duty to Accommodate

• The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that an employer has a legal duty to take reasonable steps, in policies or conditions of work, to accommodate and employee’s individual needs. This duty applies to all grounds of discrimination covered under the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act (race, religious belief, age, mental and physical disability, colour, gender, marital status, family status, source of income, ancestry, place of origin or sexual orientation. For example, a person may be unable to work on a particular day because it conflicts with his or her religious beliefs. In such cases, the employer must try to resolve the conflict in a way that is agreeable to both parties. However, this legal duty does not apply if the only way to resolve the problem will cause the employer undue hardship.

The Supreme Court of Canada says that undue hardship must be “substantial in nature”. For example, a physically disabled employee, as part of his or her job duties, may be required to carry boxes up a flight of stairs. If the business has no elevator, it may be deemed an undue hardship to expect the employer to install an elevator to accommodate the employee. However, it may be possible to have another employee do the task. In exchange, the disabled person could assume one or more of that employee’s regular tasks. Accommodation that is reasonable in one case may not be reasonable in another. If you are unsure consult an HR specialist or lawyer.

(Go to and click on“INFORMATION SHEETS” Duty to Accommodate and Bona fide occupational requirements)

3). Interview and Check references

After screening is complete, develop a short-list of candidates who meet all the requirements and invite them for an interview. There are many types and formats of interviews. Research has shown that structured, behaviour-based interviews yield the most representative and reliable results (see – interview guide template) ( Go to and click on “INFORMATION SHEETS” Pre-employment inquires and recommended guide for pre-employment inquiries.)

Interviews

Interviews should be planned in advance with formulated questions and an agenda for the meeting. If you have more than one interviewer, clarify roles beforehand. The interview should be systematic with your goals and expectations stated explicitly at the outset of the interview.

Behaviour-based interview techniques reveal critical information about candidates’ past performance and accomplishments. It is based on the premise that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour.

The interviewer’s primary task is to learn about candidates’ past experiences and accomplishments that relate to the job. The interviewer seeks job-related information through various questions that encourage candidates to demonstrate required competencies. In this context, competency is defined as observable abilities, skills, knowledge and other attributes defined in appropriate behaviours needed for successful job performance.

Behaviour-based questions seek to discover candidates’ past performance and decisions in various scenarios. Begin your questions with:

• Tell me about a time when…
• Describe a situation where…
• When were you most pleased with your ability to…
• Demonstrate your knowledge of… by telling me about a time when…
• Can you give me an example of a time when…
• What has been your experience with…
• Detail the steps you took in order to…

For example:

“Can you give me an example of a time when you had to deal with a particularly difficult co -worker?”

Some candidates may be reluctant to give detailed accounts of their personal accomplishments because they value modesty and group affiliation. Instead, they may frequently use “we” instead of “I”, focusing on collective rather than individual achievements. Occasionally candidates may even mask their personal lack of experience in a given area by talking about the collective accomplishments.

It’s much easier to understand a person’s actions when you are aware of the situational circumstances. Behavioural questions probe the following components so that the interviewer can fully understand a candidate’s past behaviour:

• circumstances of the situation or task
• action the candidate took to complete the task or address the situation
• results of the candidate’s action

A behavioural example is created when a candidate’s response includes all three components. When solid behavioural examples are presented, interviewers can make informed judgments about whether a candidate has displayed the level and quality of behaviour required in the job.

Even with excellent, open-ended questions, candidates often give answers that may be abstract, off-target, overly detailed or incomplete. Should this occur, probe with specific questions to extract the information you need. Keep in mind, rapport and comfort are basic components of a good interview; be sure your questions are phrased conversationally.

Probing is often necessary so always seek specifics. Probe to establish that an answer refers to a real event for example:

• Who was involved?
• When did it happen?
• Where were you?
• How many … were there?
• Clarify what happened.

Probe to discover a candidate’s role and contribution.

• What was the outcome?
• How did the customer react?
• How did you react to the situation?
• Could you explain why you took the steps you did?

Probe to gain enough information to assess a candidate’s competency level.

• Scan the competency definition while you listen.
• If the skill has still not been addressed, reword the question and ask again.

After the interview, assess candidates immediately. Allow yourself at least 20 minutes to decipher your notes, contemplate and rate each candidate on the different competencies required.

• Read the competency definitions.
• Read all your notes—evidence may be scattered throughout that will help you assess a particular competency.
• Re-read the competency definition.
• Rate the candidate’s competency using the rating scale provided in the “Interview Guide Template.”

Consider these factors to when evaluating the Information:

• Significance - consider how and to what degree behavioural examples relate to the target job.
• Timing - the more recent a behaviour, the better it predicts behaviour. Recent examples of a competency should be given more weight in your overall assessment of a particular competency.
• Relevance - examples of behaviours in situations similar or identical to the target job should be given particular and careful consideration.
• Consistency - assign more weight to information that is consistent across behavioural examples or references. Avoid assigning undue weight to non-critical, unique or isolated incidents.

The following steps will help you conduct a professional and orderly interview (see “interview guide template”):

• previousPrepare for the interview

Review résumé and/or application, paying particular attention to relevant jobs and experience as well as education and training. Highlight areas to review in the interview. Review competencies required for the target position and select relevant interview questions.

• Start the interview

Greet the candidate, giving your name and position as well as the names and positions of other interviewers present.

Explain the purpose and goals of the interview:

• to help the organization make a fair decision on the most qualified candidate for the job
• to help the candidate understand the organization and position

Describe the interview process:

• a brief review of past jobs, experience and education
• questions to explore candidate's specific experiences and accomplishments that relate to the job
• time for candidate's questions about the position

Inform the candidate that you will be taking notes throughout the interview.

• Establish rapport

Try not to reveal approval or disapproval, agreement or disagreement through your words, gestures or facial expressions.