When Recruiting Gets Easier, Selection Gets Tougher

With the economy on the skids and unemployment figures on the rise it’s clear that a lot of companies are shedding staff to protect their businesses. But if you are hiring then right now is one of the best times in recent years to do it.

A report by HR technology and research company Kaonix, reveals that the number of applicants per job across all sectors has nearly doubled. Which is great news as a recruiter because it potentially gives you more choice and hence chance of landing a superstar for your practice.

However there is a downside, because as the number of applicants rise, so too does the difficulty in choosing the right person. For example, if you are the manager of a small practice, the admin (phone calls, replies, letters and feedback) alone might well swamp you and lead you to make a poor decision.

So it’s important to take a logical approach to the problem (And it doesn’t hurt to let technology do as much of the work as possible. Here’s a little checklist that might make your life easier:

1. Ensure that you have a prewritten and saved standard acknowledgment that you can copy and paste into an email.  I recommend always include a thank you (as courtesy), a note of the job they applied for, a date when they can expect to hear back from you if they have been successfully shortlisted. And I’d always make sure to say that if they have not heard back from you by this date then their application has not been successful.  This saves time going back and writing a second email to someone who is not going to add any value to your business in the near future.

2. Rather than send out a letter, or have to tell all the candidates where the practice is for interview, why not get a page up on your website that has interview day instructions including location (it’s so easy to embed a Google map) and giving them an idea of what’s in store for the day.  You can then send a link to the page in an email when you give them the good news that they’ve made the short list - quick and easy.

2. Take time to read the CVs. Personally I don’t bin CVs for layout reasons (I’ve met too many excellent vets who can’t write a CV to save their life to fall into that trap). But the devil is in the detail, so as tiring as it can seem, make sure you scrutinise the CVs properly. Giving a poor candidate an interview because you got sloppy/tired when reading the CVs is a huge waste of time. A recent example is a nurse who applied for a small animal position, her CV was very well presented, but if we hadn’t read to the end, we wouldn’t have seen that her real desire in life was to be in the fashion industry.  Conversely, if you find a ‘show stopper’ early on in a CV then why waste time reading more?

3. If in doubt, call the applicant for a brief chat to clarify any doubts you have. Are they warm, enthusiastic, polite when you call? Did they answer your question satisfactorily? If not then for me it’s decision made. Move on.

4. Aim for a shortlist of three or four solid candidates. Anymore and you’ll be wasting a lot of time on interviews. If you have a shortlist of ten then you either haven’t defined the role well enough or you’re being soft! Remember you only have room for one and you don’t have all year to work it out.

5. Prepare, prepare, prepare. You don’t want to have to go back to the drawing board on this one and waste even more time. Make sure you do the following:
•    Call to confirm the day before the interview to avoid frustrating no shows
•    Make sure your reception team know that the interviews are happening; nothing makes you look less organised than no one knowing a candidate is arriving.
•    Ensure you have a quiet, neat workspace set aside for the interview and CVs printed out before hand.
•    If you are going to be doing competency testing (we’ll cover this another day) then make sure you have all your materials ready (including a vet to ask clinical questions if this is part of your process).
•    If you are nervous then type out your questions before hand and have a running order written down so you don’t forget to ask important questions.
•    Anticipate the questions they might ask, like salary, hours and holidays. This saves you having to chase around for the information later.

6. Take notes and debrief – crucial that this is done on the same day as the interview itself. If you are interviewing with one or more colleagues then compare your notes while it is still fresh in your mind.

7. Ready to make an offer? If you are then go for it. If not and you need more information then remember the shoe is on your foot for now. Don’t be afraid to ask someone to come in for a trial day.

Dave’s Tuppence-worth

Getting the right bums on the right seats in your vet practice is one of the most important tasks of a manger. Current market conditions mean that things are very much in the favour of the practice, but be careful not to be rushed into a bad decision because you were swamped with job applicants. If you need help, then ask for help, it should be just as important to the business owner that you succeed. 

If it isn’t, I’m happy to tell them about the 40k per year difference in turnover it can make if you hire the right person. Or the destructive effects of the wrong person entering the practice.

Till next time, happy managing.