Are you looking for the right person for the right place? Make sure you avoid the pitfalls in the recruitment process with the right strategy.

“A successful recruitment can be described as a successful match between needs and expectations. When a professional selection has been made, the candidate has made an active choice and the position feels right for him or her,” says Anna Blomquist, HR consultant at Vitavia.

Essentials and optionals

Start out by performing a “requirement analysis” and a “position description”. What are you looking for? What does you organization look like today? How do you want your organization to operate in the future? What is your business plan and what is your budget?
A requirement profile should thoroughly and in full detail describe what you require from the position. Just remember to separate “essential needs” and “optional requirements”, i.e. the requirements you cannot waive compared to those you would like to see.

Use the right channels

Today there are a lot of procedures and channels for finding job applicants; from Facebook and LinkedIn to the traditional job advertisements in the newspaper. The most important thing is that your ad reaches the candidates that you are interested in. If you are seeking a laboratory technician for example, try to find out which magazines and newspapers laboratory technicians read and which websites they go to when searching for job opportunities.

Don’t always trust your gut feeling

During the selection and the interviews evaluate competence and form an opinion of the personality and the behavior of the applicants. A common mistake is being charmed by someone you like, get along with very well and who often resembles yourself. This might not always be the best choice, even though it feels like it on first impressions. Remember to evaluate other aspects in your selection. Perhaps it is better for the team to have a coworker that contributes new characteristics and input, for example. There could be a lot to gain by being more creative in your selection and recognizing diversity when it comes to personality, age, gender, nationality etc.

Stay updated

The life science sector, like most other sectors today, is rapidly changing and as an employer it is important to stay updated and adjust to the demands and needs of new generations. For example, people today tend to seek variation and development to a higher extent and status and security, which used to be highest up on the list, to a lesser extent.

Another trend today is that employers tend to outsource the recruitment process to external partners. In Sweden, the number of employees in the staffing industry has doubled during the last ten years. There are of course both advantages and disadvantages with this. The staffing companies are very good at matching competence with requirements but this might also exclude good candidates and never give them the chance to make an impression on the employer.
“Evaluate the motive of the candidate. It is critical for a successful recruitment to find the right level and the right potential. Otherwise the candidate will give up, or he or she will not deliver,” says Anna Blomquist.