Points to consider before starting the recruitment process…

Talk with your Campbell Birch Account Manager and explore the variety of services that could have a positive impact on your success.

Check your salary and benefits offering against an accurate and up to date survey.

If your salary offering is below the median line and you need to improve your offering to be more competitive, prepare your case now. You have to be ready to make an offer that will be accepted promptly and which will not draw you into distracting negotiations. Think what options you can offer an attractive candidate to make your opportunity more appealing: working from a home base, flexible hours, 9-day fortnight…

Skills profile the remit and where possible translate this in to a specific, not generic position description. Think about key measurables: focus on the tasks you want the employee to achieve in the first six months, and those for the first year of employment. Decide early on how flexible you could be to bend the role to someone who is right for the business but who does not exactly fit your original profile.

Selling the opportunity competitively . Check your company web site and ask for adaptation if you feel it has no focus page for recruiting; prepare a briefing pack for your internal interviewers and for us; and you will need to plan how you intend to brief short-listed candidates.

Plan who will be involved in interviewing. Think about the techniques you want to adopt; prepare some open questions that you can use repetitively and so gain comparative information; prepare a professional skills test; ensure you have proposed interviewing dates marked off in the diaries of all concerned.

Be ready and organised to move swiftly once you have found the right person. Nothing impresses a prospective employee more than a prompt offer in writing, in a warm, personal, welcoming, friendly, encouraging tone.