How successful one of your new recruits will be, is as much about how well they fit into the style and culture of your business as it is about how well qualified they are to do the job. In other words it is about getting the ?right fit? and hiring the ?right person.?

But what does this actually mean? And how do you make sure you?ve got the ?right fit?? when you recruit?

What does it mean?

1. They share the same values, ethos and work ethic of your existing team

2 There is a close match between the aspirations of the individual and what your business can provide

3. At a personal level, they get along well with you and their new colleagues

How do you achieve it?

Getting the ?right fit? is not really a perfect science and so there is no definite way to do it ? it will depend on your business, your culture and the type of people you are hiring.

But are some tips that will help:

1. Create a Person Specification (not just a job specification)

- When hiring, don?t just focus on defining the skills and experiences you are looking for (e.g. 2 years in sales, 18 months in customer service) Think also about the person that would best fit your business - i.e. their personality, their values, their character traits.

2. Consider what has worked (and not worked in) in the past

- Look at the people who currently work for you and have ?fitted in? well. What is it about them that helps them fit in so well?

- What type of people have not fitted in so well in the past and what was it about their personalities, working style and experience. Now build these factors into what you are looking for and create a rounded picture of the person as well as the skills that you need.

3. The Interview Process

- In addition to focussing on identifying the key skills and experiences you are after, look at whether an individual has the key personality traits, character and values you have defined in points 1 and 2 above.

- This may require you to adopt a much more open style of questioning that allows them to talk through some of their career and life decisions, rather than just specific questions about their experience. Assess these against your requirements which you defined in points 1 and 2

- Involve more than one person in the interview process so as to get a different opinion. Do more than one interview before making a decision ? you?ll get a clearer picture of the person and begin to see their true self.

4. Selection & Decision-making

- Don?t necessarily aim to take the highest flyer or ?the best person?, but focus on choosing the one who?s going to fit best into your team.

- Take the opinions of everyone who met the candidate before arriving at a final decision. If there are question marks about someone, then act on these by either not taking them on, or arranging another interview to clear your doubts one way or the other.

5. Temp-To-Perm

- To minimise the risk of hiring the wrong person, a temp-to-perm contract will give both sides the opportunity to make sure that they have made the right choice before committing to a permanent contract. But this is not always possible, so instead you may consider asking a potential hire to come and spend half a day with your team informally before making a final decision. Once again, this allows both sides to get to know each other better before making a permanent commitment.

6. Psychometric Testing

- This will give you a profile of a person very quickly, but should always be used in conjunction with a rigorous interview process. For example, most large firms use psychometrics when hiring senior management. But these tests can only give you a certain amount of information, and should give you cues for more probing questions at interview, to see how someone really operates in the working environment.

Hiring the right person today will esnure that you save yourseld a lot of time and money well into the future. The ket recruiting the right person every time is to really focus on the person and they core attributes. It is these values, attitudes and behaviours that will help you not only get the edge over your competitors ? but also save you a firtune in recruitment and training costs caused by high staff turnover.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sital Ruparelia, "The Recruitment & Retention Specialist? works with small businesses that struggle with recruitment and retention issues and helps them implement strategies proven to Find and Keep the Right People consistently.

Sital writes a FREE newsletter twice a month with insider tips on how to Find And Keep The Right People. To sign up now, visit http://www.authenticresourcing.com.

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