Key steps

• Be clear about the job and the person you are looking for. See staffing needs
• Advertise as widely as possible - word of mouth through your team, advertisements outside your own office and those of other organisations as a minimum. Try to establish your organisation's reputation for open recruitment from the start. Case study
• Make sure that you receive all applications - can anyone interfere in the process?
• Short list candidates - this is an important task, consider carefully who will do this and the influence it gives them.
• Interview - best to have at least two people seeing all short-listed candidates, try to use a standard format for all the interviews and write up notes after seeing each candidate. Key question is "Could you imagine employing this person for this post?"
• Use some simple written and numeric tests.
• Interviewing is very tiring - more than four interviews in one day is ambitious.
• Take up references - written references provided by candidates will always be good but almost worthless. Formal references are not enough. They often omit anything critical, either because of fear of legal action or because the employer just wants the person off their hands. Case study Case study
• Telephone previous employers and anyone else who might know and has worked with the candidate and whom you trust - silences, hesitations and avoiding questions tell you a lot.
• Sign a written contract - if there is no written contract, there is still a verbal or implied contract which is open to much wider interpretation. You need to understand and respect the employment laws and practises of the country you are working in. You may need to consult a lawyer. Case study
• If you have to prepare contracts before contacting a lawyer keep it simple, attach a job description, and clearly state:
  • name of employee
  • position
  • to whom they report
  • start and finish date of contract and any probation period
  • normal working hours
  • remuneration
  • periods of notice from either side during probation period and beyond, and in the case of misconduct.