Hiring staff takes a lot of time and energy, as well as putting pressure on budgets. It can also be a long process and this can lead to fatigue as well as frustration. 

 This emotional state can lead to a point where the decision made is subjective – based on emotion – rather than objective; in other words, all the aims and objectives that you started the recruitment process with are thrown by the wayside. What this ultimately can mean is that you do not get the person you need and want.

It is a huge investment of time for the candidate too - from the moment they start searching online job vacancy sites to the time spent writing letters, completing application forms and turning up for interviews, etc. Getting it wrong can hurt you both.

There can be one key element missing from the staff-hiring process – the art and skill of communication. Do you create an interviewing and hiring process that really communicates with people, or are you too busy trying to get through a busy schedule?

Listening

Communication is about people listening rather than someone trying to make themselves heard above everything else you have planned in the busy hiring process.

When people communicate, they are often saying much more than just the words that fall from their mouth; they can be saying a whole lot more. And this is where verbal and non-verbal communication come into play…

Non-verbal – what to look for…

The initial meeting – this is essentially the first impression that someone makes and it is essential that you listen to your gut reaction. As an interviewee, you want to give the impression of being confident, professional and in control. A firm handshake, a smiling face and eyes and being comfortable could give you the advantage over and above other candidates.

Physical care and clothing – although there is a saying, ‘never judge a book by its cover’, there are times when our outward appearance gives off important signals. Looking smart is important, as is making sure your clothing is appropriate for the job in question.

Confidence – our body language betrays so much about how we feel about something, thus it is important that you stride into the interview brimming with confidence! Don’t go too far, or it could be misconstrued as ‘cockiness’ but be sure to walk tall, make eye contact and look alert.

Personal space – not everyone has a natural sense of personal space. Standing too close to other people can make them feel uncomfortable. In this sense, standing within the one-metre circle around someone you don’t know is encroaching too much on their space. But watch your distance too; anything over three metres can make you appear remote or aloof.

Balance – everything is a balancing act, especially when it comes to your body language. In terms of communication at an interview, you need to be aware of what your body language could be saying about you. Slouching and looking bored are two dead giveaways that you are not really all that bothered. But don’t try too hard and go over the top either.

Verbal communication – what you are saying and how you are saying it

The hiring process is about a company or business finding the right person to not only fill the vacancy, but to fit into their current team too. You want and need to choose wisely; non-verbal communication and the body language that in many cases betrays inner emotions are only one half of the equation; the other half is the verbal communication that the interviewing panel will engage in with the candidates. But what are you looking for?

The voice – you are not judging the quality of voice (this isn’t The X Factor!) but rather listening to how the person is speaking. Again, our voice can betray a lot about our inner emotion, some of which can be important in some sectors and industries. A variation in the voice often makes the speaker more interesting, as well as clearer in how they express themselves. Lots of ‘ums’ and ‘ahhs’ may suggest that the person is disorganised in thought and not confident.

Positivity – just as body language can ooze positivity, so too will the verbal communication from prospective candidates. Pinpointing solutions, not just problems is a really important quality to listen out for.

Balance – just as in non-verbal communication, you are looking for a candidate that can balance their responses; not just gushing and ‘interview speak’, but honesty and integrity too.

Questions – always give candidates the chance to ask questions. Some interviewers offer ‘hooks’ at various points throughout the day in order to see if candidates pick up on them and ask questions. In many cases, candidates may not have questions and this is good too, but always give them the opportunity to ask.

The end – the ending of an interview can be just as important as the beginning. Look for how the candidate finishes the interview; do they thank you and shake hands? Or is it more of a ‘thank goodness that is over’?

Communication is important when hiring staff; what is a candidate really telling you?

‘Hitting the ground running’ may not always be the best approach…

Probation is an important time for both you as a company and for the new employee. It is a time in which new employees not only ‘settle in’ but really find their feet too. Different companies have different expectations of this probationary period, along with the length of probation – some businesses opt for three months, some for six months and some go for even longer periods.

However, it should be a positive period of time between the company and the employee. But as studies have shown, many new starters, having found their dream job online, for example, are having their probation period extended or employment terminated, with poor performance often being cited as the main reason.

Why is this happening and what are the best ways of getting new starters through the probationary period?

There are, of course, some employees who simply don’t make the grade and come up to scratch. However, there are many more excellent employees being ‘let go’ because the probationary arrangements are poor and actually let the new starter down rather than support them in their new job.

Tip 1: Motivate, not manage 

Invariably, a probationary period will involve tracking the new employee and this in itself can actually be a disaster waiting to happen. An administrative nightmare, full of paperwork and tick boxes, it is a process that actually demotivates rather motivates people. This comes from the fact that many businesses see the probationary period as a window of opportunity for ‘getting rid’ of people who they determine as not being suitable. BUT what this really indicates is a poor interviewing process. Probation is not about a get-out clause.

Probation should be about engaging with the employee on a regular basis; this should be more of a mentoring process, with paperwork and recording procedures only coming into play if there are genuine and serious concerns about the future performance of an employee.

Tip 2: Conversation 

A daily conversation is not difficult but conversations between a new employee and their mentor or line manager are not always a daily occurrence. During a probationary period, as well as at other times, making sure that managers connect with employees and have a daily conversation is important. Without this conversation, a line manger cannot be expected to make a fair and reasonable appraisal of a new starter’s probationary performance.

Regular informal chats are never to be underestimated.

Tip 3: Culture informs performance 

There is one factor that has a major impact and influence on how new starters see the company, as well as modelling their performance to match that of the company – and that is the behaviour of the immediate line manager, responsible for supervising the new employee.

In fact, this is such a major influence that in a recent study, the behaviour of the manager and the workplace climate were shown to shape the behaviour of the new starter by 70%. And it seems that it all comes back down to engaging the probationer on a regular basis.

This engagement is about working out what motivates the employee and what impacts positively and negatively on the person and their performance.

Different things motivate different people at different stages in their career, and this again is another variable that impacts on how people see and perform in your organisation. Just assuming that every new starter, regardless of their position, is motivated by the same thing is a sure-fire way to disaster; probationary managers also need to change their performance accordingly.

Is your probationary period failing your new starters and business?

A two- to three-month probationary period can be an excellent time for people to get to know your culture and organisation as well as their colleagues. However, if you are finding that at the end of it you are saying goodbye to more people than you are bringing in to the organisation on a permanent basis, it may be that the probationary period is not an organised time that is working as effectively as it should.

There could be one other issue, however, that is stopping the success of the probationary period in its tracks, and that is the recruitment process in the first place. It may be that in order to salvage the probationary period you need to take a step further back in the process and look at what objectives you are basing the recruitment process on.

How long should a probation period be?

This depends very much on how long you feel a new employee needs to become acquainted with the organisation and understand the basics of the job. But does your wider recruitment process need fixing?

 Norman Tebbit’s advice in the 1980s to ‘get on your bike’ and look for work is often misquoted. It is a phrase often used when discussing the state of the nation’s employment. But as the full quote shows, he was talking about his father who ‘got on his bike to look for work. And carried on looking until he found it’. 

Although glorified and lambasted at the same time, it seems that today, in the 21^st century, this advice may still be pertinent. Finding work is difficult in some places but in other cities, depending on the type of work you are looking for, it can be an easier prospect. If you are able to move or be mobile and/or flexible when looking for work, agencies and job listing websites can be a great place to start your quest for a new position.

What do the statistics say?

After studying various jobs and applications per position, a survey has created a list of the top 10 cities for finding work and a list of 10 cities where competition for each job advertised is fiercest. It makes for interesting reading.

The top spot for the most difficult place to secure employment goes to Hull. It is just one of the cities based in the north of the country where getting a job is more difficult than elsewhere. An average of 51 people apply for each vacancy.

Sunderland comes in second with 42 people, on average, applying for each vacancy. The Wirral follows on 38 people per advertised post, followed by Wolverhampton and Bradford in the middle of the top 10 cities with the most people applying per vacancy, with 17 and 16 applicants, respectively.

Of those top 10 worst cities for securing a job, Liverpool completes the list with an estimated 8 people applying per post, a similar number to Glasgow.

What do these figures mean? They mean that for each post advertised there will be more people seeking that position than in other areas of the country. This could be that more people are transient in that area – in other words, more people are seeking work because they want a change in position – or it could be that the unemployment rate is higher and there are fewer jobs up for grabs.

The best places to find a job

On the flip side, there are cities across the UK where there are far fewer people chasing each position; in some cases, some vacancies remain unfilled even after an extensive recruitment drive. But again, the results may surprise you…

The top city for finding a job, where the least number of people are chasing each vacancy, is Aberdeen.

The city furthest north in the top 10 of best and worst places to find a job, Aberdeen has 0.40 people chasing each vacancy advertised. However, considering that this would represent less than a whole person, what exactly does this figure mean?

Essentially, it means that there are more jobs than people seeking them and in Aberdeen, as with many other cities, some of these vacancies remain empty. This brings mixed fortunes to the city, with an incredibly low unemployment rate of 2% but also a lower than average monthly rent on a city-based property. With average salaries £12,000 higher than the rest of the UK, it seems a win-win situation. However, with every winner there has to be a loser and not all Aberdeen residents enjoy the fruits of its success.

The remaining nine cities in the top 10 best places to find a job are all in the South of England, which some people may find a surprise. After all, there is a lot written about astronomical rents on the tiniest of spaces in London and the South East and yet it seems to be the place where the fewest number of people chase each and every job.

Guildford is not far behind Aberdeen, with 0.69 people chasing each vacancy, followed by Cambridge, Reading and Oxford in the middle of the top 10. London came 7^th, with around 2 people chasing each job vacancy and Maidstone is in 10^th position, but still with only 3 people chasing each job vacancy.

Different places, different jobs

Not all sectors are popular in all places, however, and this makes interesting reading too. The survey found that London was the top city for recruiting teachers and chefs, but was not so good with call centre jobs.

Engineering and computing are the two top-hiring sectors across the whole country. But the news isn’t all rosy.

It seems that salaries have taken a little bit of a nose dive. Since the summer of 2014, salaries in Wales have dropped by 9%, by 7% in the West Midlands and by 6% in East England. But those working in Nottingham, Preston and Stoke-on-Trent are not only enjoying buoyant wages, but a slight increase in their salary levels too.

Is it easier to get a job?

It seems that this survey is telling us that the UK economy is relatively buoyant, with many people enjoying good career prospects… but are you in the right place?

 Bad company culture can bring the emotional connection and ambience at a company to an all-time low. It can seem almost impossible to restore, with so many competing emotions and politics. There are many reasons why office politics turn bad but what are office politics, and can they be avoided? 

What are office politics?

Invariably, every company or business has a ‘feeling’ about it. Some places are welcoming, positive happy places to work, whilst others seem to carry an unfortunate reputation for having a working culture that is nasty, backbiting and unpleasant.

So, what are the factors that contribute to this unpleasantness?

When people are treated differently - not as a result of the work that they do, but from their perceived popularity – in other words, people getting away with being late/getting the best jobs, etc. over and above people who are seen as talented and so on…

People feeling insecure in their job or position

People being allocated work that they are not suited to in terms of their skills and abilities

Big projects where some leading people get the glory, but those doing the background work remain anonymous; this can lead to people feeling undervalued and not appreciated

Heavy emphasis placed on hierarchy and jobs titles…

These are just some of the more toxic elements that can combine to create an atmosphere that is competitive and unpleasant. Stress levels can increase and this bad company culture can also mean a high absenteeism rate, as well as high staff turnover as people go on to seek roles with other companies. 

Top 10 tips on avoiding this negative culture…

Underpinning all of this is a lack of trust, from management to worker and vice versa. It is time to make a change and if you feel that your business is sliding in this direction, stop it now with these hints and tips: 

Open allocation – in a nutshell, this is allowing people to work on what they want, as long as it benefits the company. This can seem like a massive step but some of the most successful companies do this! Give employees parameters within which they work, for example, if there is a financial or budget implication, they need to seek clarification from line management, etc. This way people work on things that interest them and it removes some of the politics of work allocation.

Profit sharing – many companies have introduced this as a way of helping to maintain profitability but have not applied the scheme in a uniform way. Finding out that your colleague who does the same job as you gets more in the profit-sharing scheme is going to do employee morale no favours at all. Reasonableness and fairness are two important factors, as are achievement, NOT position.

Tough decisions – toxic people will bring a toxic flavour to your company but sacking them will still need to be done in line with employment law. Make it known to everyone that bullying, nastiness and general maliciousness in the workplace is not acceptable.

Take continuing professional development seriously – many people sit in the same job day after day and are happy to do so. But when a company wishes to grow and thrive, then its people must also be growing and thriving in their skills and abilities. This takes commitment and investment in people. Asking Marjorie in accounts, who has been doing the books the same way for 10 years, to change overnight to another system will simply cause chaos…and Marjorie may feel slightly swamped and criticised.

Grow slowly, hire selectively and honestly – it can be tempting, when orders are flying in and you don’t have enough time, space or hours in the day to meet it all, to simply grab the first person who walks through the door for interview. It pays to have a plan and to stick to it. Take time and think over the whole process, but act swiftly. More haste, less speed, as the saying goes.

Money, money, money – when money is tight (and when isn’t it?!), some employees can feel that they take the brunt of cutbacks, etc. with reduced hours, less pay and so on. Management, when they take responsibility, are showing the way and will often be appreciated more.

Smaller projects – lumping many projects on one person can make them feel overloaded and under strain; smaller projects make for a more manageable workload but people also feel a sense of ownership when they work on something for longer. They become closer to it and are able to focus on a set of tighter outcomes.

Encourage friendships – some companies don’t like the idea of their employees ‘fraternising’, assuming that should things turn sour the company or business will have to handle the fallout. A company that works and plays together can have a great atmosphere so why not take a trip out together? Something as simple as a trip to the cinema can be a great way to start.

Avoid ‘managerial mystique’ – if you make a decision and decide something needs changing, then tell the employees why. Don’t just throw a major curve ball in their direction and assume they will just get on with it. Some people can see the darkest rumours in the most innocuous of decisions.

A good company culture does not just happen, it needs working on. Start now!