The Perfect Recruitment Process (Part 2)

On this episode, we're diving into part two of our series on the perfect recruitment process; equipping you with the knowledge to enhance your recruitment practices and ensure a positive experience for all candidates.

Anne and Jen discuss the importance of creating seamless employee experiences, covering onboarding, aftercare and offboarding processes.

From pre-start jitters to exit interviews, our experts share insights on building strong employee relationships, fostering a positive company culture and handling challenging situations with grace, ensuring employee satisfaction from day one to the end.

If you would like to be our next guest speaker, host or ask us a question, please email us at hello@theonegroup.co.uk

Hosted by Leanne Davidson-Town and Producer Bex.

Transcript

Producer Bex: [00:00:00] You are now tuned in to this week's episode on TOGCast. It is our mission to bring you guest speakers sharing their latest and greatest tips, skills, stories and know hows within their market. Let's get going.

Leanne: Hello everyone and welcome to part two of the Perfect Recruitment Journey Theories. The first part CVs, interview and offers and today we're joined by Anne Williams and Jen Richardson to talk about Onboarding, aftercare and then offboarding if that happens. So ladies, onboarding then. You've done all of the pre work, you've got the start date, the candidate is raring to go.

Leanne: What are your advice for this stage? 

Jen: Really nice to get people in for a coffee before they start, if you can, just to meet a few of the team. Just makes it a little bit less daunting when you start, doesn't it? If there's time to, to get something like, like that arranged. It's a soft 

Anne: [00:01:00] entry. It makes people feel like when they come in, they're not like, Oh God, new people.

Anne: Scary. 

Leanne: Yeah. And then they know where it is, where to park and where to go, the desk, where it might be. Yeah. And 

Anne: these small things like saying hi to somebody because they haven't met them for the first time makes a huge difference. Yeah. But just keep in touch with people, just because they're starting a job doesn't mean saying you don't need to be in touch with them.

Anne: I had one situation where somebody wasn't in touch for three months. Well, um, they were fine about it, but I thought, well, that's a long time to not be in touch with somebody. It's quite a crucial hire for you. 

Leanne: So they noticed it was three months and they didn't have any contact? No. Hmm. 

Jen: Yeah. There's a lot of three month notice periods now.

Jen: Hmm. And that's a real danger time. Um, where people can be immediately available. Immediately available sometimes, yeah, but often lured elsewhere. You get no offers. They take a long time to come off sometimes. 

Anne: So stay in contact. But also just show people that you're really enthusiastic about joining, just [00:02:00] because you've gone through the offer process and the interview, everything was great.

Anne: It's very, when you're not at work for a few weeks, it's surprising how quickly you get out of the habit of the day to day. Imagine that as an interviewee, you've had two or three stage interviews. Everything's amazing. Everybody loves everybody. And then two to three months, nothing. It's like, you've gone back to start even probably before the interview process.

Anne: And it's intimidating, but this person is now joining a nameless, faceless business who they interacted with two and a half, three months ago. You need to remember that that person is making a huge decision. And as Jen said, counter offers can happen at any stage. It's not just in the first couple of weeks of resigning.

Anne: Make them feel like they are part of the business before they actually set foot on the premises. 

Leanne: Yeah. 

Anne: And I have had some companies that have invited them to [00:03:00] days out and things, a really good way of doing it because they're not under pressure to perform. But they can actually just sit and watch the vibe and see how people interact.

Anne: And a couple of drinks does help because it takes away people's inhibitions. Not too many drinks, but that's going to be really awkward, but keep in touch for sure. Invite them to little bits of training. If you're doing finance, you know, Excel and training or new systems training, because a company will probably pay that person who say, I've got to take a day out.

Anne: But I've had people take days off from their current role. Eleni I've got at the moment, she's been held to three months. So she took a week off and did a few days handover with the departing incumbent. So she's still, she already knows some of the people, but she's got another month or so before she starts, but she's part of the environment.

Anne: She's been out for lunch with the CFO, met with the rest of the big team in another sort of coffee [00:04:00] situation. I mean that is perfect 

Leanne: process but he does help. Yeah, that's fan science as well, keep them engaged. And then when they start, I know you guys check in with the candidate on their first day as well to see how it's going or at the end of the first day.

Leanne: The client as well, are we saying to them that they should check in with, with, with the candidate too? If, if the hiring manager's not necessarily, you know, involved in the day to day of the, the candidate's job. Yeah, 

Anne: you don't 

Leanne: want to 

Anne: overdo it though because he can appear a bit too So long. Um, I remember when I started here, I had a catch up after my first week and I don't think people would be embarrassed by the fact that TOG at the time had no real onboarding.

Anne: But it was nice just to have a sit down with my then director and he was just like, So how's it been? And he was one of the most relaxed people you'll ever like to meet. But he managed to get the truth out of you rather than the, Yes, it's been great. Thank you very much. Yeah. Because I always think the first couple of weeks in a new job are [00:05:00] probably the 

Jen: worst.

Jen: Yeah, I remember my first week or fortnight here and um, mark Hens asked me, how's this going? And do you like this? Do you like that? How you getting with this? And if you could change anything, what could you change? Well, which I thought was a really, I won't tell you what I've said. Um, of course, uh, you get rid of that Ad Williams.

Jen: I knew that was coming. I knew it. Something like that. Um, but it was really nice that he checked in, not just to say, is everything right? But to actually say, can we do anything a little bit 

Leanne: differently for you? And of course, if they're recruited by you, you guys always check in with the candidates anyway.

Leanne: So if there is any feedback that you feel could be passed on to the client without, you know, breaking the trust of the candidate, then you'd always do that as well. 

Jen: Yeah, it is a bit of a fine line sometimes if there are a few teething errors. But really, we're just here to advise people, you know, I'm not getting on so well with this person.

Jen: You know, is [00:06:00] it an issue, maybe you just need to have a quiet word or why don't you go for a coffee with them, just, just be a bit of an ally for them. Yeah, we like to keep in touch with the client as much as we keep in touch with the candidates just to make sure everybody's settling in. Yeah. 

Leanne: Okay.

Leanne: Anything else on onboarding? 

Anne: No, just, just keeping in touch, but not too much. Yeah, exactly. There is no harm, farce, or rule, is there? No. Cause some companies as well, and some candidates, they're just not interested. And I have this adage that actually does seem to work quite well. When you don't hear from people, that's usually when there's nothing wrong.

Anne: Yeah, that's true. It's when you do get a phone call or a text and you're like, Oh, this isn't good. Oh, can we fix it? You don't run away from it. Yeah, because not every job is going to be the perfect job for everyone. 

Leanne: And like you say at the start, there might just be a few teeth issues anyway that they'll overcome.

Leanne: So then after care, so [00:07:00] they've been in the job for a while, um, you know, you can't just hire and that's it. So what do you think? I like 

Anne: to do, go out for lunch with the hiring manager and The person who's been recruited, but also if we're not involved, it's just nice to see things take shape. And I think aftercare is, it's a very personal thing.

Anne: Again, like I said before, not everybody wants to be checked in on regularly, but other people do. 

Producer Bex: And 

Anne: it's finding out what works for the candidate and the client individually. And if they're doing it on an internal basis, I think Talent teams could probably take quite a lot from what recruiters do in that aftercare and just general giving somebody a bit of a virtual hug Because I think talent We all know talent are doing the roles that we would do And if you're recruiting for a large business [00:08:00] They might have as many placements as we would as external recruiters but having that personal touch and that point of contact where they can, the candidate can speak to them or us and the client can speak to them or us is very important.

Anne: And that isn't always manifested in the first couple of weeks. Most people realize that the first couple of weeks are a bit tumultuous anyway. 

Leanne: Yeah. 

Jen: Fancy a flight tomorrow actually. And, uh, I've got a, I've got a couple of temps working in their lab at the moment. And, um, The lab manager actually said to me, Jen, when you come in, I'll make sure, uh, he's around, uh, so you can come and say hi, which is a great opportunity just to say hello.

Jen: Give him one of our fancy, the one group, lab books, which we, you know, it's a nice way of checking in, getting on, having your lab book. And, but I just thought it was really nice that he said, I'll make sure he's [00:09:00] around so you can have a catch up with him and just make sure everything's going, going swindly.

Jen: Yeah. It's 

Anne: keeping the lines of communication open. There is no, there's no formula for it, but also being able to pick up on unspoken cues because people can say, yeah, it's great. And you don't from that. It's not, 

Leanne: but 

Anne: unless you want to delve and actually want to find out a bit more about it, then the chances are that person is going to vote with their feet.

Anne: You're not going to vote with their, I've got a few issues, but I don't want to go. Yeah. 

Leanne: Yeah. So what do you guys do then if you placed a candidate, they've got the whole recruitment process done, they're in the role and they're having some issues or maybe the client's having some issues and maybe one of them wants to, to leave and they're still in their probation period, maybe they've only got a week's notice.

Leanne: Do you, will you step in and help? Will you let both parties know the situation? Like what, 

Jen: what, have you had that happen? You've got to, if a candidate has [00:10:00] spoken to you in. You know, they don't want you to say anything, then you can't, you've got to be very, very careful how you go about that. I mean, of course, you could encourage, um, that client to check in on, on, on them.

Jen: But sometimes there are cases when you're really not able to say anything, which does make it difficult. And of course, vice versa as well. Um, so usually it's a case of, well, have you spoken to HR about this and just trying to. Initiate a, a conversation. We're doing them right, and you are there to, to kind of be the bit of a, not go-between, but to help out both, both parties and be the middle person a 

Anne: little bit, so to speak.

Anne: But I always go to great and I to say to my candidates and clients, because you work for a larger business, you are likely to be recruiting for them on multiple roles, whether it's in different disciplines or in the same team. And I say to both them, what we talk about is between [00:11:00] us things, I'd rather a candidate or a client, were as open as possible so I can actually get to the root of the frustrations.

Anne: 'cause sometimes they're really small things, 'cause often the small things that create the issues that can be overcome, other times they're not in, they're not surmountable and sometimes it is just, it's not right. And you, you have to call it quits. Um, sometimes people have an adult conversation, they say.

Anne: It's not working. And both of you are like, yeah, it's a real shame, but leaning on good terms. In other situations, if a candidate comes to us and they've done their best to have the conversation, um, they don't want us to speak for them, which I completely get actually, because otherwise it's kind of like a parent.

Anne: And, um, then if they want us to represent them, we want to get them the right role, because as much as we want every job to be perfect, as I said, if It wouldn't be in business. And people like ground jobs. And sometimes you've got change of personnel that the person that was [00:12:00] recruited by a person, that person's no longer with the business.

Leanne: Mm hmm. 

Anne: So I think it's like a three month period. And that can change the dynamic hugely from day dot because it unsettles somebody. And that's nobody's fault. Who knows why they've recruited somebody. But if they choose to not stay there. We wouldn't be doing our job properly if we weren't representing them as a candidate.

Anne: Just the same as if a client said this isn't working out, we would represent the client. But we would never cross over and never disclose anything to anyone. And it's, it's purely professional because I would never want what I said to my director to go back to somebody if I said I'm not really happy about such and such.

Anne: And this I said. I want you to tell them. We're 

Producer Bex: duty 

Anne: bound. GDPR is a massive thing. But it's something I'd take very seriously. Because we have to play both sides. 

Jen: Yeah. I think, on the whole, we do aftercare brilliantly here. [00:13:00] And, I think this is probably where we do differ from Other similar agencies who it's much more transactional great.

Jen: We found you the job. Have a great time Yeah, and it doesn't stop there with us Sometimes it feels like it's the beginning of the journey and you're still you're still looking after um that client and that candidate throughout Sometimes, you know the next few months. However, lol It goes on for a long time and we're constantly there and I think That's why we get so many clients coming back to us because there's a lot of trust there.

Jen: A lot of trust. Just 

Anne: because somebody hasn't worked out doesn't mean so the client won't come back and give us another opportunity to work with them or a different role. Because it's the integrity that we show throughout the process that will maintain that relationship. If everything's perfect, it's not real.

Jen: It's not, and some things are completely out of our control, sometimes [00:14:00] an amazing offer comes out of nowhere or their partner decides that they want to relocate and go and live in Australia and all of a sudden you've decided to up sticks after six weeks and go and start this new life. We can't do anything about that.

Jen: It's completely out of our hands. 

Leanne: Okay, so you have got the situation now where you've got somebody leaving the company or the off boarding process. What are your tips and advice and what would you do as the one group in that situation? 

Jen: Um, there's a number of things that you can do. You need people to, I mean, the people that work for your company are your clients.

Jen: Biggest and best marketing tools because whilst they're working for you and more importantly after they've left you, they're the people that either say nice things about you or not nice things about you. Hopefully the former. Um, but we want to make sure that people leave, [00:15:00] um, in a good way and that they, they, you know, there's not going to be any kind of, um, dramatic exits.

Jen: And sometimes people do, um, you know, people do leave on bad terms sometimes and you can't really do a lot about that. But I think the exit interview is always a, an important part of the process and get that right and find out if there are any internal problems that might have left and might have led to somebody deciding to, to leave.

Jen: Any cultural issues, things like that, if it's a salary issue. If it's more, um, down to benefits and things like that, about getting it right in the 

Leanne: future. Yeah, so basically it's four circles, isn't it? So you're back with a candidate that's looking for a new job, so you then say if it's financial, have you spoken to them about having maybe a conversation about salary before you then go off and look for 

Anne: their 

Leanne: new 

Anne: role?

Anne: Yeah, I think with [00:16:00] exit interviews as well, the key thing that I find, and I hear about them happening, they happen everywhere now, they happen everywhere now. It's all well and good doing an exit interview, but you've got to use the information, you know, and it's always going to be slightly skewed, especially if somebody has perhaps been, had their contract terminated because they couldn't do the job they're employed to do.

Anne: It could be a raft of reasons, but there is a grain of truth in everything. And even when you take the emotion out of it, if you look at exit interviews and actually put them into practice or just think, right, okay, this is a prevalent feature in the feedback we're getting. You've got to use it. You can't reinvent the wheel and you can't suddenly increase salaries by 20%.

Anne: But it's, as Jen said, the difference between a good leader and a bad leader. And somebody could leave and say, it wasn't for me, but do you know what? They're a great bunch of people and the business is a brilliant company to work for, or they can say it was an awful job. The [00:17:00] company are horrible. The people aren't supportive.

Anne: And. I felt like I was trying to push water uphill that on a public forum, which everybody is so quick to leave a bad review these days, yeah, good reviews are very rare because it's, we take it for granted. Um, so when you websites that there are to leave feedback about working environments, as much as it is about, uh, Going to Waitrose and not having a good pain au chocolat.

Producer Bex: I 

Anne: don't know why I use that. I'm very hungry. Um, I think you need to bear that in mind. But you can't change things straight away. But actually show that you're investing in the information. Because otherwise why do an exit interview? Yeah. 

Jen: Yeah. Pointless. I think they're also very helpful. I mean hopefully these companies have got an EVP in place.

Jen: Um, But also the [00:18:00] exit interview might help maybe tweak that MVP for new people coming into the business. Maybe a few little subtle changes that need to happen to make it an enjoyable experience. Work is a huge part of people's lives. It's where we spend most of our time. Anne and I are mates outside work as well.

Jen: We go on holidays and things like that together. You make friends in your work. We make friends. But you know, we, we all have a, have a great time hopefully at work. So it's so important to get things like culture, um, right. Um, otherwise people are just, uh, they're going to be out the door in five minutes.

Leanne: Yeah. 

Jen: And 

Anne: there's nothing wrong with putting your hands up and say we messed up, but we're fixing it. We're not perfect. We're never going to be perfect. But I think it is, um, a company and a, an environment's ability to say we're will make you so much [00:19:00] more Attractive to future employees And the thing is you can leave a business and now you won't know if their exit interview information has been acted upon But the odds are that person's left a business with friends who's still working there Yeah, and the knock on effect of losing somebody from one business Is not just mitigate when they walk out the door because you've left two or three people who were still close and perhaps feeling a bit bruised or battered so To show that you're actually working with things Don't become a puppet and just say, yeah, yeah, yeah, to everything.

Anne: Because we all know that operating a business or whatever scale, because we've all worked in different sorts of companies, it's not just a, um, a piece of cake, but small changes can make all the difference. Little corrections, course corrections underneath there. 

Leanne: Yeah. 

Anne: Called. 

Leanne: Wow, okay. So for part two then we've talked about onboarding after and offboarding.

Leanne: Is there anything that you ladies would like to say before we wrap up on our two [00:20:00] part series? 

Anne: Don't use, uh, direct methods to recruit, use us.

Leanne: Thank you very much for coming in today and please catch, um, the first part on our YouTube channel. Bye.

Producer Bex: That's a wrap for this week's episode. If you want to be our next guest speaker on TOGCast, then get in touch with The ONE Group. And don't forget to subscribe. We would hate for you to miss the next one.