Best Practices For Hiring Staff

One of the most serious HRM challenge for international SMEs operating in China is the recruitment of staff. Small enterprises deal with a high turnover of talented (young) professionals who are often drawn to the renowned multinationals with a strong brand.

During my work in China as general manager and HR consultant, I’ve often been asked by entrepreneurs and directors of small international companies what they can do with the limited resources they have to be appealing for talented (young) professionals in such a manner that both the employee and the company will benefit from each other and build loyalty. Since small entreprises are often limited in their budgets and do not have the appeals of a renowned brand name to offer to young professionals, there are ample of other advantages that they can offer to attract talented (young) professionals.

Position Profile
Starting the recruitment process should always begin with an in-depth analysis of the job role by writing a position profile. By analyzing and profiling the role, the recruiting manager forms a crystal-clear idea of the kind of person she/he need to find. One can also say that the recruiting manager should have an image of the perfect candidate in mind during the recruitment process. However, the recruiting manager should also be fully aware of the fact that the perfect candidate does not exist, and the challenge is to find and hire the person that comes closest to this perfect candidate. Having all the cognitive, functional and social competences clearly defined and delineated in the position profile, the recruiting manager can use this as a guideline during the shortlisting of CVs, the interviews and the final selection.

Organizational structure
Next to listing all the competences of the perfect candidate, it is of huge importance that the role itself and its position within the company are clearly defined and outlined. Where does this role fit within the organizational structure of the company? What are the key performance indicators and what professional development plans can be designed for someone performing this role? What are the main work processes of this position and/or which part of which process does she/he fulfill in the chain of business operations? Answers to these questions give the employee and employer an open and transparent image of the job role and its significance within the company. It allows an employee and employer to know exactly where this role stands and what directions are open to go into in the future with the company. All this information can be gathered in the position profile for every key role in the organization. Over time, the position profile can be used as a starting point for developing tailored professional development plans for key employees.

Interviewing skills
It is a serious challenge for recruiting managers to find the candidates that come closest to their picture of the perfect candidate for a vacant position. The first step is to know what kind of person you are looking for. The second step is how to find out how close a candidate comes to the perfect candidate. It requires sophisticated interviewing skills to get an accurate image of the person sitting across from you. Asking the right questions, using different type of questions, listening to more than just the answers given are just a few of the techniques an interviewer should apply to find out in a short amount of time if this candidate might be the one. The recruiting managers in a small company with no dedicated human resources department are often not educated or trained to conduct job interviews. For them, it is highly recommended to attend interviewing skills training as this will ultimately make these managers more efficient and effective in the recruitment process, saving themselves and the company time, effort and money.