Job description

This will form the basis of your advertisement. Enquirers should be provided with details of the post in the form of a job description which should provide the following information about the post:

job title

salary

location

purpose of the job

main duties and responsibilities

specific duties

position within the organization’s structure

working environment

training opportunities

conditions of employment.

The job description needs to be supplemented by a job specification, which focuses on the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required to be able to perform the job effectively.

Advertising

Advertising should aim to ensure that any vacancy is brought to the attention of as many potential candidates as possible. Usually, an advertisement in the appropriate local newspapers or specialist journals will be indicated. Other options include approaching office recruitment agencies, contacting local educational establishments or professional bodies, and trawling personal contacts. If the post is part time, local advertising in the narrowest sense will be particularly important.

Base your advertisement on the job description. Any advertisement should contain all of the following:

job title

details of the job

necessary qualifications

essential characteristics of the person sought (e.g. skills, experience, abilities)

nature of the organization’s business

location

salary details and other significant or attractive aspects of the job (holidays, pension etc)

how prospective candidates should apply

closing date for applications.

Application forms and cVs

Small organisations are unlikely to have sufficient staff turnover to justify a tailor-made application form, so most applicants will be required to submit a curriculum vitae (CV), together with a covering letter. If there is a large number of applicants for a post, applicants must be short-listed on the basis of their written applications. The owner/manager can ascertain quite a lot from a written application. The presentation in terms of tidiness, layout and logical order may be a very good indicator of the caliber of potential office staff However, content should be more important than presentation. The application should give basic information about the applicant, such as age, home address, travel distance to work, education, qualifications and previous experience. The motivated applicant should have taken the trouble to sell himself, and to explain both why he is interested in a particular post and how his previous experience equips him for the post. The written application can also provide an opportunity to monitor spelling and quality of business English. When drafting a short list, there are two basic questions that need to be asked:

Has this candidate the skills to do the job?

Will this candidate fit into the working environment and work effectively with other staff?

All applications should be acknowledged, whether or not they result in an interview.

References

Applicants should be asked to supply references, and references should be taken up. References are not guarantees, but it is useful to have someone else's opinion of the candidate, and they may help you to avoid a really disastrous appointment. References may be taken up at different points in the application process. All references may be collected for all applications prior to short listing; alternatively, references may only be requested for short-listed candidates or may only be taken up when a conditional appointment has been made. Applicants should be told what will be done about their references. Some may request that referees should not be contacted unless a job offer has been made, subject to a satisfactory reference.

Referees should be sent job details and asked to comment on the applicant's suitability for the post, as well as answer more specific questions on the candidate's abilities, personality, integrity and health record.

Some applicants may present testimonials, but these should be treated with skepticism as it is difficult to check whether they are authentic. Testimonials testify to the character, integrity and professional competence of an individual, and are often supplied when someone leaves a post. If you are considering a testimonial, a telephone call may provide a check.