Brighton Chamber: Top tips for successful recruitment

Here are his top tips to help businesses make better decisions in the recruitment process.

- Review your skill requirement. If the issues are that too few people have the right skills or that too many companies are chasing them, then it might be worth taking a step back to assess whether you can accommodate people who are less skilled. If it takes six months for someone to develop the skills you need, and you’re waiting one year to find the right individual, then you will be better off training and developing people yourself. They will also be more loyal to you in the mid to long term, so you might reduce your staff turnover.

- Be smart about where you advertise your vacancies. Where does your target talent pool go looking for jobs? As a starting point, ask your staff, the answer might be right in front of you. Also, don’t be scared, be creative and adventurous, get your name out in the market. Keep track of all your ‘reaching out’ costs, and the success of applications through the different routes. You can then determine the best return on investment so that the next time you hire for the same role, you can hit the ground running.

- Sell your organisation. You advertise and sell your product or services to customers. Treat potential candidates like customers! Don’t assume that because you advertise a vacancy, people will apply. You need to make the vacancy more engaging and different from the competition. Try adding testimonials, images, videos, interviews with employees, maybe even a VR video of the office!

Skillsnap is a member of Brighton Chamber. For more information, visit: www.businessinbrighton.org.uk