Recruiting staff – long term relationship or costly divorce?

Yaxley Hall - Tracey's Ball 21 May 2010

Those of you who are now following me on Twitter will know that on Friday evening I went to the Ball!   It was a particularly poignant experience for two reasons.  Firstly, it was in the same beautiful country house, Yaxley Hall, near Eye, in Suffolk, where Gordon and I got married – a fairytale winter wedding on 7 December 2008. It was an amazing venue, resplendent with Christmas trees, candles, and open fires, with all our family, friends and clients around us.   Secondly, because this time we were invited there to celebrate the life of Tracey Soar, a much loved local businesswoman, also known to the equestrian world, and Yaxley Hall.  She had planned the Ball as a charity fundraising event but had sadly suddenly died, at 45 years old, a few months ago.

It was during my conversations with guests around the table that I got my inspiration for this week’s Sunday Blog.  In our Company, our mission is to help individuals and organisations achieve by releasing their potential to become the best they can be.  Our friends know this and discussion often turns to requests for informal advice on many aspects of the complex world of employing ..… or being employed.

Yaxley Hall

Friday’s conversation round the dinner table was no exception.  One friend was seeking advice on how to excel at the third and final interview for a high profile role within the world of show jumping.  Another wanted to know whether she had right of redress for an interview with an existing employer, who she felt had unfairly treated and rejected her.

Recruitment and Selection of staff is probably the area of my work that I am most passionate about.  After all, it is the starting point isn’t it? Keeping with the theme of weddings for a moment – let’s use an analogy.  It’s just like getting married – make the right decision and it will turn out to  be a long, strong, synergistic and rewarding relationship!  Get it wrong, and it could prove to be fraught with tensions, misunderstandings, a mismatch of expectations, lack of trust, and highly likely to end in a break-up, potentially with a very expensive ‘divorce’! 

Our Wedding

 I know, having experienced both from my marital relationships!

Returning to the world of employing, and being employed, I guess I should be eternally grateful for the fact that organisations so often get it wrong.  Why?  Because so much of the work I have been asked to do with clients over the last 20 years has stemmed from poor processes, lack of awareness, lack of skill and inappropriate and often unfair decision-making at the recruitment/selection stage.  Get it right at the start, and then the need for the more reactive element of work that people like me get involved with minimises or disappears entirely.  That leaves us to concentrate on helping you with the developmental and transformational aspects of people and organisation development.

So, how aware are you of the cardinal sins people commit when interviewing?

How confident are you that your people possess the demanding and difficult skills crucial to effective selection? 

Has your organisation suffered as a result of inappropriate appointments?

Has it cost you time?

Has it cost you money?

Has it led to poor performance or poor customer service?

Have you even lost good staff because of wrong decisions?   

If so you may enjoy reading our guide.  To read about the cardinal sins we have unearthed, and to check if your organisation is following ‘best practice’ sign up for your free copy of:

‘How to recruit the best person for the job – a checklist for organisations who really want to do it right‘.    

You can get your copy by emailing us at: enquiries@trainingtoachieveuk.com or go to the Contact Us page on our website: www.t2achieve.com and send us a message.

Sunday morning blog – 23 May 2010 Blog Number 3

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