Recruitment Drive - Hiring The Right Employees Is Crucial To Any Successful Business

Recruitment Drive: Hiring The Right Employees Is Crucial To Any Successful Business
by Chris Mumford

Hotel staff are a precious commodity, and the process of hiring new staff should be handled with care. Managers can increase their chances of hiring the best people by exploring all of the options available to them, explains HVS Executive Search's Chris Mumford.

Hiring talented employees is one of the most crucial elements of a manager's job. Making the right hire can add significant value to an organization, especially if the company manages to retain that employee over the long term. However, the cost of hiring the wrong person, whether it is a general manager or a waiter, can be very high.

The importance of hiring the right candidate is obvious. But how does a company find this magic candidate? There are several recruitment options open to an organization when hiring new employees. Knowing which method is appropriate in a particular situation can significantly increase the chances of making an effective hire.

Sourcing candidates
The first step for a company looking to hire management from outside the organization is finding potential candidates. The hiring manager will spread the word among their immediate network of colleagues and acquaintances that they are looking to hire someone for a certain position. Because of the nature of the industry, most hotel executives develop extensive networks of former and existing colleagues, often stretching across national borders. These networks can be a useful resource when trying to find a suitable candidate for a job opening. However, such an approach can be limited in scope and will typically only bring in people who are actively looking for a new job.

The other popular 'in-house' method of recruiting is advertising, whether in print or electronic media. Print advertising is not only expensive but also highly labour-intensive, from the process of writing and placing the advertisement to interview, assessment and final selection. The main disadvantage is that qualified candidates may not even see the advertisement and a large number of unqualified candidates will have to be evaluated in order to find the qualified ones. In relying on advertising, a company will generally be reliant on active job seekers - in other words, candidates who are looking to make a job change and have applied for the position. Can a company be sure that it is making the most effective hire when it is dependent on candidates approaching it rather than vice-versa?

The same dangers apply to online recruitment. However, it is also possible to be more proactive with sourcing candidates on the internet. The majority of hotels and hotel companies either have an application procedure on their own website or use third-party job websites. Most of these sites, such as monster.com, hotjobs.com , hospitalitycareernet.com, allow you to post jobs and search a resume database. Posting jobs online is likely to yield very similar results to advertising in a newspaper or trade magazine, but the resume database facility gives employers a lot more control, allowing them to seek out passive candidates. Once again though, employers will only see those people who have taken the trouble to register their career details on the website. This can be a very time-consuming process, but if done right, one that can produce far better results than the 'post and pray' approach of simply listing a vacancy on a job-posting site.

This approach gives the hiring company full control of the recruitment process. However, this involves a significant commitment in terms of time, and once the cost of advertising has been added to the number of man-hours, there is not much to choose between this and outsourcing the whole process to a recrutiment firm.

Firm decision
So how does a company looking for outside help go about choosing a recruitment firm? There are essentially two options: a contingency recruitment firm or a retained executive search firm.

A contingency search firm only gets paid when the client company hires one of its candidates; there is no guarantee that it will be paid for a search. If, for example, a company instructs a contingency firm to search for candidates, but then decides to promote an employee internally to the position, the recruitment company receives no fee.

The upshot is that contingency recruiters cannot devote too much time to any one search and therefore have to work on a large number of job opportunities at any given time. They tend to specialize in niche markets and focus on developing a database of candidates qualified in that area. In this way, when briefed by a company to find candidates, the recruiter has a readymade pool of talent to choose from. This saves time, plus the recruiter has usually known the candidates for a while, knows a lot about them and is able to make an accurate assessment in terms of their culture fit.

Contingency recruitment firms rarely work on an exclusive basis, and it is not unusual for two or three separate recruiters to work on the same search assignment. Due to the results-driven fee structure, the assignment often becomes a race, with success dependent on which firm introduces the selected candidate first. As a result, contingency recruiters often present highly marketable candidates to as many clients as possible in the hope of scoring a 'hit'.

Companies need to be aware that the supply of candidates will be dependent on the scope and quality of the recruiter's database. A contingency recruitment firm will be able to produce qualified candidates, but not necessarily the most qualified candidates in the marketplace. Contingency firms are typically used for junior and middle-management positions; for positions where there are likely to be large numbers of qualified people: when there are multiple openings for the same job function; and when the hiring company wishes to be closely involved in the screening and assessment process.

Retained executive search firms are better suited to filling senior positions, where it is paramount that the employer hires not just any qualified candidate but the most qualified candidate available. An organization pays a retained executive search firm to carry out a thorough search of the marketplace for suitable candidates. Such firms typically work on an exclusive basis and will only present candidates who have been thoroughly assessed.

A retained search firm will spend time with the client company to gain a full understanding of the business, its needs, the personalities involved and the corporate culture. In this way, the search firm gains a thorough understanding of the job in question, as well as being able to represent the client company to prospective candidates in an accurate and objective manner. By establishing a close collaborative relationship with the client company, the search firm can sometimes broaden its role. This might mean providing useful feedback on the company garnered from the market-place or advising on competitive compensation practices.

A retained executive search firm will have a highly intensive recruiting process. An employer can expect:

• An accurate assessment of the search firm's ability to perform the search and of how the search will be carried out.
• Shared knowledge of the market and feedback on the client company's reputation in the marketplace.
• Strict confidentiality.
• A report detailing the position to be filled.
• Original research targeting employers of potential candidates.
• Screening and assessment of potentially qualified candidates, creating a shortlist of recommendations for the employer.
• Mediation between client and candidates and scheduling of interviews.
• Thorough reference and background checks.
• Help with drafting the employment offer and contract negotiation.
• Ongoing follow-up with the client and the successful candidate.

An executive search firm is also bound to carry out a free replacement search if, during a given time period (usually one year), the hired candidate does not work out. The firm will also adhere to an 'off-limits' policy, whereby it will pledge not to hire any employee from the client company for a certain period of time (usually two years) and to never approach the placed candidate for another job.

Recruitment is not an exact science, but it is possible to minimize your chances of getting it wrong and of making an expensive mistake. Different scenarios demand different solutions, and all of the options mentioned above are viable in certain situations. By developing a better understanding of the recruitment methods available, as well as how and when to use them, hotel managers can improve their success rate in this crucial area.