Recruitment and selection

PEOPLE AND SKILLS: Hiring

Regardless of the size of an organisation or sector in which you trade, when it comes to hiring people there are many pitfalls awaiting the unsuspecting employer. That said, there are also many areas whereby the employer can prevent tripping up and falling into the legal abyss. Protecting the employer: Processes, Systems and Training

It has to be said that following good practice processes throughout the recruitment process should help avoid expensive litigation. As an employer you should retain evidence of your recruitment process and be able to show such evidence as having taken reasonable and practicable steps to prevent unlawful discrimination or harassment. If you cannot avoid litigation, you should be able to bring it to an early conclusion or successfully defend claims brought before an employment tribunal. Creating the Process

You should ensure you document the recruitment process so that although you may have electronic applications, you will also require a paper trail of the selection process and interviews in the event of a complaint or formal litigation. These documents should reflect your decision making throughout the recruitment process as, if your decision making is questioned at a later date, your records will demonstrate how you justified your decisions and the process you followed to reach these decisions. Relying on your memory or a couple of scribbled notes will not do your company justice.

While larger employers may have more systems and procedures in place, this doesn’t mean the smaller employer can’t have a good a process in place. Record Keeping and Document Retention This should include: 1. Appropriate recruitment and/or equal opportunities policies, which need to be followed throughout the recruitment process 2. Job description and Person

Specification 3. Identified selection criteria for the

position concerned 4. Results of any written tests including psychometric profiling results 5. Notes about the shortlisting process – including who was involved, any handwritten notes and score sheets where these were used 6. Interview questions and the notes written on all interview sheets by all interviewers 7. Any other interview notes which may include Minutes from a panel interview meeting, subsequent decisions with reasons recorded This information should be retained as long as possible, keeping in mind your obligations under the Data Protection Act (DPA) not to retain records of a personal nature any longer than necessary. Training - The Interview Process

As a further measure to ensure you have done everything reasonably practicable as an employer, you will need to demonstrate that staff involved in the recruitment and selection process have received training in recruitment and its process. This should also include interview technique. Do not assume because they have read your policies that they know how to conduct an interview. Interview techniques can include: 1. Roleplay exercises so they can recognise if/when they are making stereotypical assumptions about people. 2. Demonstrating how to apply a

scoring methodology objectively 3. Providing exercises based on sample person specifications and information solicited from sample application forms 4. Demonstrating how to avoid asking questions that are irrelevant to the role requirements. Training is not a one-off occurrence, it needs to be given on an ongoing basis to ensure that staff are reminded of their responsibilities and kept up to date.

Liz Jackson is the managing director of complete recruitment and HR solutions company, Fairways. She is also the former chair of CIPD Scotland, which represents over 10,000 HR professionals nationally.

Liz Jackson Managing director, Fairways