Here's my process for working with clients on a new vacancy, and why it matters:

- Check if I can help them
- Check if they will allow me to help them in the way I help best

If the answer is no on either of these points, then I'm not the right supplier. Read no further!

If the answer is yes to both, this is what we need do to together before I work on finding you the right people:

- gain full insight into your business, team, context, challenges, goals, vision, values, operational mindset and the skills, behaviours and attitudes that are effective in enhancing your team. I don't call it "culture" typically as I prefer to establish the building blocks that define a culture than make any assumptions. With this, we find clear reasons to include the right people and fair reasons to discount those who won't be suitable
- audit how you describe your vacancy to ensure it is accurate, representative and realistically achievable. 5-year-old job descriptions, company jargon that has no meaning to the outside world, generic job families that lack specificity, requirements by committee, etc, all lead to "problem vacancies" that with the right work aren't problems after all
- where's there's a disconnect, I'll help you overcome it. This might be through writing or re-writing a job description, or writing ancillary documentation that gives relevant dimension and fills in the blanks. Getting it right from first principles ensures we set off in the right direction
- from this, we will define realistically what good looks like in a candidate and how this is reflected by your salary and package. One defines the other
- establish what you need to do to get them on board - compensation, interview process, offer/preboarding/onboarding/induction are all key factors in both attracting the right people and not losing them
- confirm this back in writing with a final document confirmed by the right stakeholders - so we are all pointing in the same direction with no disagreement or ambiguity
- agree approach and market channels, as a result of the steps above. Sometimes multichannel is appropriate, sometimes headhunting only - it depends on the vacancy's needs

At that point, I'll start recruiting.

Don't worry this gets more and more streamlined the longer we work together, which is why I'm not just interested in filling your first vacancy, but the second, fourth (and tenth).

If it all seems a bit long-winded, when you just want 5 CV's by Friday, that's because for you it is. We'll have established that all the way at the top of the process and you won't have wasted time on an approach that isn't right for you.

But if you have a problem or critical vacancy, and you need a measured, rigorous, iterative and effective approach from a strategic recruitment partner who has filled 100% of retained projects in the past couple of years...

drop me a line - greg.wyatt@bwrecruitment.co.uk.