When you are recruiting for a permanent position it is often difficult to sort through the resumes of many applicants and pick the best for an interview let alone a job. Often employers will use a recruiting agent to find suitable candidates but they will not interview and decide who gets the permanent position; that is still your job. Here are some essential tips for those who are recruiting for permanent positions; hopefully they will give you the knowledge to find the best applicants for the job.



Your first task when recruiting, either for temps or permanent members of staff is to write a great job advertisement. It is surprising how many people neglect this task but it is fundamentally important. If you write a poor advertisement it is likely that you receive applications from poor candidates. If you want to find the best candidates for the position it is vital that you spend time creating an advertisement that will attract the right sort of applications; this is especially true if recruiting for a permanent position. Once you have a great ad and have placed it on the relevant job boards the process of sorting the applicants begins.

Once you have received all of the CVs from your recruiting efforts it is important to review them in detail. Part of this is seeing how long the candidate may have spent in any particular job. If you want a permanent employee this is vitally important as a CV that is filled with many jobs over a short space of time could indicate that the candidate has a lack of application and dedication. This is not always the case; some people may have spent a few years temping or may have just been unlucky. If you have doubts with a candidate it is worth enquiring with them personally why they have so many jobs on their resume.

In addition to looking at the number of jobs on a CV, when recruiting it is important to recognise any gaps in employment. If the applicant has had a great deal of time out of work there could be a number of reasons behind this. Firstly the candidate may have taken time out to enter permanent and full time education to enhance their knowledge base. It could however indicate that the candidate has had a criminal background and spent time inside correctional facilities; while this may not influence your decision, some companies will not want ex-convicts working for them. It is important to ask the candidate why the gaps in the work history occur rather than speculating purely from the CV.

Most CVs have a good number of jobs included, but as an employer it is important in your recruiting process to look at the dates of the jobs listed. If they overlap it could be an indication that the candidate is being purposely untruthful about their work history; on the other hand it could just be a simple mistake. If you are unsure, once again it pays to ring the candidate to sort out any questions you may have over the dates of previous permanent employment.

While you are reviewing the resumes it is a great tip to always have the job description on hand. By doing this you have a constant source of reference making your recruiting process that more logical. When comparing the two it is important to look at the candidates past jobs and to see how the skills needed for them will match the position you are offering. For instance; if your business requires cold calling skills, finding previous jobs on a CV that include that type of work would be advisable. In the same way, by using the job description as a source of reference you will be able to find the most likely candidates logically.

The final tip is to sort the CVs into three piles while you are reading them. These piles should consist of bad candidates; those who are not suitable for the permanent position, good candidates; those who may be suitable and perfect candidates; those who seem perfect for the job. Once you have done this phone the perfect ones and enquire why they would like to work for you, use this as an opportunity to evaluate their persona and skills before you ask them to come in for a face to face interview. If there are not that many perfect candidates sorting the good candidates using the three pile method is advisable. By using these tips it should be possible for you to find the perfect candidate for the position you are trying to fill.