Recruiting the Right Fit - HR Support Ireland

Oftentimes Employers are faced with what can feel like a never ending cycle of unsuccessful interviews, with candidate after candidate not quite ticking the boxes, meeting your expectations, and wasting your time.

If this seems familiar, maybe it's time to ask yourself if your recruitment strategy needs a little tweaking?

To start, consider the Profile Requirements set out in your Job Advertisement. For example, if you are seeking a candidate with a certain trade qualification or degree, specific industry experience, or other specific criteria, have you very clearly stated that this is essential? Alternatively, are you unnecessarily minimising your chance of a great candidate by requiring a qualification or industry knowledge that is, on reflection, more of a "nice to have" than "needs to have" criteria? Ask yourself whether the current incumbent of the role held this knowledge or qualification when appointed, or did they acquire this in the course of employment? If this was acquired, can the right candidate do the same?

Next, consider the Job Role and Responsibilities. If you are seeking someone who has experience in all areas of the position, it's likely you will never find the right candidate unless that candidate has already worked for you in that specific role before.

Consider what are the top priority responsibilities that you need the person to have had experience in carrying out - and specifically how many years experience. These non-negotiables should be set out in your job advertisement. Prioritise the other responsibilities in order of "ideally would hold", to "nice to have", and finally "not essential". These are those that you can train on the job, and that are not required in order to hit the ground running. Remember, if you are requiring a certain number of years experience, reflect fully on this. Ruling out a candidate on the basis that they have worked their way up the ladder quickly and do not hold the very specific required experience may be excluding a terrific candidate unnecessarily.

Finally, consider your Values, Mission and Vision. Is it important to you that the right candidate shares your common values, appears passionate about your mission, and seems genuinely excited about sharing your vision for the business? How do you weigh this as a level of importance against, say, experience or knowledge? It is important to be mindful that many responsibilities can be trained, and knowledge can be gained, but the right attitude with a shared set of values can rarely be learned.

Remember there is no such thing as the "perfect candidate", but there can be "perfect strategy".

At HR Support Ireland, we can assist with all of your recruitment and selection needs. We won't waste your time with endless resumes that dont meet your expectations, and instead will work with you to find only the most suitable candidates that fit with what you are looking for.

Our recruitment and selection assistance can include designing your job advertisements and position descriptions, advertising your role, conducting interviews, reference checking, writing employment contracts, and creating induction programmes which best suit your business to ensure effective, quick and successful on-boarding of new staff.