GUIDE : GETTING RECRUITMENT RIGHT
Specialist events industry recruiter Robert Kenward casts his eyes over the employment landscape and shares advice on how to navigate the coming months
Recruitment There is no denying that this year is going to be tough , but there are green shoots appearing . We will start to see events coming back later this year as the vaccine rollout has a positive impact on employer and consumer confidence . This means that we , as an industry will have to start to scale up again and that means employing new staff .
Employing the right people is not an easy job , and if you think you ’ ll be able to simply pick up the phone and call the people you made redundant last year , you need to take a reality check . Your ex-employees won ’ t be waiting around for you to call , they will most likely have found other jobs or even totally new careers , or they simply may not feel enamoured about working for your company again .
When it comes to the art of recruiting , my advice would always be to use a professional recruiter , but I know that many of you either won ’ t be able to , or won ’ t want to do that . If you are going to do it yourself please put some thought into it , treat it like you would any other strategy that would improve your business and do it properly . And above all , treat people how you ’ d like to be treated .
Recruitment is not a ‘ side of desk ’ job , i . e . an extra task to do on the side of your core job . Give recruitment the focus it deserves , treat it as you would treat an event : make a plan , get a team together and give them specific roles and responsibilities . Involve everyone relevant and take their ideas and input . Make sure the person or people the new recruit will work with are involved in the process .
Put together a brief with timescales and milestones to hit . Decide on a budget because you ’ ll need to know costs even if you are doing it internally ; time is money , and you should dedicate a good number of hours to the process .
Bespoke job advert Write a bespoke job advert remembering that it isn ’ t the same as a job description . A job description is simply a list of tasks and responsibilities the job role entails ; it may include a list of the required skills and experience and it will be used internally at appraisals . A job advert is much more than that , it should speak directly to the person who you ’ d like to attract and describe them and their personality , how they like to work and the relationships they will have within www . conference-news . co . uk