10 Things You Must Know About Recruiting on the Central Coast

Posted by Kristy-Lee Johnston, Footprint Recruiting Pty Ltd in Central Coast Business, Featured Articles on August 21st, 2009 | one response

Recruitment, when done successfully and combined with good HR Practices, equates to high staff retention, increased productivity, better team morale and an improvement in bottom line results. Understanding the unique Central Coast job market is critical to the success of your next recruitment project.

Pay Peanuts – Get Monkeys
Many employers on the Coast believe it is acceptable to offer below market salaries whilst expecting to attract, engage and retain top quality candidates. The notion that staff are worth less here than they are in Sydney is misconceived. Candidates spend the same amount of time and money gaining skills and experience on the Coast as they would anywhere else, so there is no logical reason to pay them less.
How Much Time Do You Have To Spare?
Recruiting staff will take between 17 and 70 hours to do yourself. Consider whether you have the time, and whether this is the best use of your time. If in doubt, engage a professional.
It’s What You Know, Not Who You Know
Many employers try to combat the ‘time’ factor by recruiting via word of mouth. Whilst this can be a great way to find staff, it is often a shortcut which leads to an unsuitable placement. Hiring candidates who know everything you need them to, rather than everyone in your team, is going to yield better bottom line results for your business.
Past Behaviour Predicts Future Behaviour
Do your background checks! Reference checks are not a waste of time, but to get the most out of them:
- Speak only to their previous manager
- Ask questions that are important to you; eg punctuality and reliability
- Ask specific, position relevant questions
- Complete at least two reference checks
- If something from a reference check doesn’t add up, investigate further!
What’s Motivating Them?
In an age where we are no longer legally allowed to ask many of the questions we may like answers to due to privacy and anti-discrimination legislation, understanding a candidates motivation is more important than ever. To get to the bottom of a candidates motivation towards the role:
- Ask the right questions at interview
- Complete Psychometric Assessments through an accredited provider
- Add appropriate questions to your reference checks
- Do second interviews
Advertising – Target the Candidates You Want!
Successful advertising means you can reduce your recruitment time and target the candidates you want. Making your advertisement clear, easy to read and informative will ensure that you not only have great candidates applying, but it will also help to ‘weed out’ unsuitable ones.
‘Fit’ – Does It Matter?
Finding the right ‘fit’ for your team and company culture is a critical part of successful recruiting. Ideally, when recruiting staff ‘team fit’ should have equal weighting in your decisions as the candidates skills, experience, qualifications and capability to perform the role.
Recruit Staff for a Positive Reflection on Your Business
Every day people come into contact with others and discuss their employment. With friends, at sporting and social events or in front of customers, when they are talking about their job, they are representing you. We all know in customer service terms that we tell people a bad experience much more willingly than a good one, so why would this scenario be any different? You never know; it could be your biggest potential customer they are talking to.
The Cost of a Failed Recruit
There have been a number of estimates made as to how much a failed recruit costs your business. At the lowest end it equates to 30% of the annual salary, at the other end of the scale, particularly for sales and customer facing roles the cost of a bad hire is estimated to cost closer to 200% of the salary. On a salary of $40 000 this could equate to anywhere between $12 000 and $80 000.

The message: Get it right the first time and save your business tens of thousands of dollars.
The Central Coast – A Unique Market
The Central Coast poses unique challenges in recruiting staff. We are only an hour from both Sydney and Newcastle, areas which are a commutable distance for employees seeking certain career challenges and incentives. This is a contributing factor to the undersupply of candidates in the skilled and qualified areas of the market, which makes it challenging to attract, engage and retain talent. On the flip side the Coast is a haven for those seeking a ‘sea or tree change’. These people bring with them skills and experience which would earn them top remuneration packages in Sydney, but because of their lifestyle change they are happy to consider less senior positions.

In conclusion, when recruiting staff on the Central Coast, know your market and do your research. Gain the

knowledge and skills to do it right yourself, or get an expert to help you –your business will be better for it!

About the Author

Kristy-Lee Johnston is the Director of Footprint Recruitment Pty Ltd, a Central Coast Recruitment and HR Services Agency which is run by locals, for locals. Footprint Recruitment specialises in the temporary and permanent recruitment of office support, accounting and finance and professional services staff whilst providing a range of generalist HR solutions.

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