People Dynamics Newsletter - People Matters
Issue 3, February 2005 | Back to Newsletters Index
Welcome to our first issue for 2005. In this issue, we look at recruiting, and who is responsible for what in the workplace.
Getting the right people
How important is it to recruit the right people? Ask anyone who has hired the wrong person, only to find how difficult it is to manage him or her later down the track, particularly if they want to let them go.
Recruiting the right person is not just about getting someone with the skills to do the job. It’s also about recruiting for the right attitude, or cultural fit for your business. Hire for attitude, train for skills. When you need to recruit:
- Look at the competencies on the JOD®. This will help you clearly define exactly what skills, qualifications and experience you need the person to have. Think about your culture and values as well.
- Use the appropriate advertising medium for your target audience.
- Objectively match the skills of the candidate using a comparison tool such as our Recruitment Skills Matrix.
- Interviewing techniques such as behavioural selection – i.e. ‘tell me a time when you showed this or had this situation and what did you do’ are useful. Be careful your questions do not discriminate on any grounds.
- Psychometric profiling, such as McQuaig, is a very useful tool that can give you another measure of the potential success of a candidate in a role.
If you would like assistance with any of the above, please contact us. We are providers of the McQuaig profiling system.
“I thought that was their responsibility?”
Many of our clients tell us their people aren’t sure who is responsible for what, often leading to double handling, confusion and frustration. Informal changes to job roles as the company has grown or got busier are often the causes. To maximise your use of resources it is important job roles and responsibilities are clearly defined.
With everyone back to work, this is a great time to be looking at where the company is heading and making sure your people are helping you get there. Use the JODs® to help you define your SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound) goals for staff. They allow people to keep on track, stay focussed and motivated, so they meet not only company goals, but individual ones as well.
Make sure you keep to your regular JOD® reviews and that people are in agreement. Tied in with the appraisal process, this will allow vital communication and understanding to be maintained.
AWAs
A reminder that some Common Rule Awards became effective 1 Jan 05. These will bind many Victorian workers to an award, even if they were previously not respondents. Many have been passed, including some that affect a majority of businesses such as the Clerical and Administrative Award (1999) Victoria.
As many companies already pay over the award, we expect a number will move to an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) to help “absorb” some of the additional requirements the award imposes such as leave loading. We are helping some clients draft AWAs. For further information, please contact us.