In most sectors, Managers would agree that it is their responsibility to recruit and retain a successful team. The best managers understand that the better your team, the higher the chance of KPI’s being met which will ultimately reflect well on them personally.
There are many successful Maintenance/Engineering Managers that have never worked a day in their life as an engineer, but are very good at recruiting the right people and getting them to perform at their best.
Insights into what the companies that secure the best teams do very well.
1) Analyse your business/engineering operation – discover your USP as an employer.
Understanding what your unique proposition is to new employees is the first step in recruiting. There are thousands of engineering companies looking to hire the same people, understanding why people want to work for you and more importantly why they stay long term is very important when looking to stand out.
30 min exercise – Ask your current team to give you all the reasons why they enjoy working at your company and how it weighs up against other businesses they have worked for. 25 is usually a good place to begin as it gets rid of all of the generic ‘good pay, lots of overtime, good shifts’ and forces them to really think about the true answers.
2) Interviewing
A good interview starts in the preparation, ask your recruiter to brief you on the candidates motivators, what they are looking to achieve from this next move and how active or passive they are in looking for a new role. Use this information and tailor your interview to their situation and expectations.
Once you have decided that you are interested in hiring them, it is your turn to get them interested in joining. Don’t be fooled by thinking it comes down purely to packages, of those 25 reasons only 1-5 reasons will be based on earnings/hours. Which means the other 20 are nothing to do with the offer itself.
Getting the most out of a factory tour
Walking round the factory is a great way to showcase your business/operation. People notice the way you are with staff on these so to generate the most interest celebrate the successes your team has had. Show the interviewee that you appreciate your people and use specific examples “This was a project that Simon completed, he is one of our best electricians and did this from start to finish himself in 4 weeks”. “Jason is one of our apprentices, he is doing a fantastic job and really earned his place in the team”. “Mo has just been promoted to Team Leader, he’s been here over 5 years”. “Steve puts in the most hours in the business, I can always rely on him to work overtime he’s a real team player”.
Make 10/15 mins of the interview an informal conversation with one of your team. By now you know both people’s personalities and backgrounds so introduce them to people that have been through similar situations to them or that you think they will get on with. People like friends at work, that introduction might be the difference between them joining you and a competitor.
4) Making a job offer
Put thought into preparing a fair offer for the person you want to give the role to. Discuss it with the recruiter or HR person to see if anything needs improving and formulate the offer letter prior to giving it them verbally. It will send a good impression following up with the letter, nothing looks more unstructured than waiting weeks for employment contracts.
Once the offer has been verbally agreed, call the candidate personally and congratulate them on the role. Explain why you wanted to offer it to them and how you think your team will most benefit from having their skills. Discuss the next steps to ensure a smooth on boarding process.
5) Handling Counter Offers
It is inevitable that if you are recruiting good people, a high majority will be counter offered by their current employers. You should expect this and handle it with appreciation for their now confused situation, act with confidence (after all they did decide to join you) and without pressure so that a natural decision can be made.
Counter offer tips
Keep communication between you and the candidate, the decision here is joining you or continuing with their current manager who unfortunately has the upper hand in this negotiation because they have a relationship already, fully understand the skillset/loss to their business so can offer more and it is also the ‘safer’ option for people to decide on.
Meet them again, this time more informally for a coffee/beer outside of hours. Develop a relationship and empathise with their situation, making life decisions is hard and the more you show understanding for their circumstance the higher the chance of them choosing to join you.
On that meeting you want to be asking them how much time they need and whether there is anything more that you can give them which will give more clarity on the the option of joining you. Do they need more information on the role/package/progression/training which will help them make the right decision?
If there is anything else you can offer them that might improve your chances, do so now face to face. That extra £2k will show your commitment to them and might be the difference on them joining or not.
Do it right the first time and you wont have to keep restarting the process, the extra effort recruiting properly will save you time in the long run and fill the gaps in your team faster.
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