Welcome

Well, February is rapidly heading to March. Hopefully business is picking up for you and the year is looking positive, especially as it seems (according to the experts) that ‘officially’ we are out of the recession.

This month when it comes to candidates and employees, consider the following questions, and then read up on the areas that strike a chord with you.

• When it comes to planning your staffing needs what is your approach, simply guess, stick with what you have done before, or is it something a little more strategic?
• How do you create jobs, do you go with what exists, do you evaluate your current and future needs or do you just get people on to seats and let them know what to do later?
• Do you know anyone who on the job may be fantastic, but they can’t make that next career step due to a poor CV and dire performance at interview?
• Finally, if things don’t work out, how can you help free up the future of employees so that they may find the perfect role …somewhere else? 

How many people, with what skills, performing what function?

Workforce planning, we have mentioned it before – it’s about determining your potential need for the future in terms of staffing requirements, comparing it with your existing requirements and trying to find a balance between the supply and demand of labour.

Workforce planning to identify your specific employee needs

Before even starting the recruitment process, ask yourself where a particular role fits into the big picture, the strategic plan of the business. If you can’t see an alignment, maybe job analysis will help you determine the key functions of a role and its place in your business.

Job analysis to determine job and people requirements

When you know what functions you need, design a job that works both for your business and your employees – ensure it helps you achieve your business goals and at the same time encourages job satisfaction for your employees.

Job design to ensure that positions within your organisation meet your strategic objectives and serve the needs of employees

Every employee should have a job description, use our job description and person specification templates to make sure that you include all the essential elements when creating these documents.

Job description and person specification creation

CV and interview workshops

Of course, when looking for ideal employees, we hope that candidate’s present perfect CVs and perform impressively at interview. Sometimes even the most suitable candidates don’t have those particular skills finely tuned. For those that need support in this area, we are running workshops covering everything from writing CVs and cover letters to interview preparation. To find out more, click on the link, click on ‘General Interest’ and read up on – Get a Job Interview, Job Interviews – Be the Best You Can, and Looking for a Job?

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Pod’s Poll

Your vote counts! Last month we asked, ‘Do you have a HR strategy for your business?’, a resounding 100% said no. Definitely room for improvement. This month we want to know ‘Do you have KPI’s in place for all of your employees to ensure that what they do is in line with strategic goals of your business?'

Vote now

Approachable Lawyer

Whilst on the subject of finding the right employees, there may be a time when you wish you knew how to fire a disengaged employee without getting the backlash.

Michael Smyth has written Employed But Not Engaged: The E-Book. It provides all the detail relating to recruiting, managing and dismissing employees contained in the paperback version of the book but with templates for warning and dismissal letters, redundancy proposals and employment agreements. Essential reading for every employer.

Prize

Winner of last month’s prize of the 15FQ+ personality profile was Pam Crouch of Smart – business solutions. Well done Pam!

This month the prize is ability assessment – GRTAdapt – to go in the draw to win, just email info@podconsulting.net.nz with the words ‘How smart am I?’ in the subject line. As well as undertaking the assessment you receive full verbal feedback.