Recruitment Tips - What You Should Know
The job market for small businesses in Nigeria is largely unpublished. The unpublished job market is also known as the hidden jobs market. In such markets, job openings are filled without being advertised. Some small business owners still indulge in what is called "Recruitment at factory Gate". This type of recruitment is actually meant for filling casual vacancies of unskilled workers by placing an advert board in front of the factory, but reputable Schools, Hospitals, and Supermarkets are still using this to fill vacancies of Teachers, Nurses, Managers, Sales Assistants e.t.c. in their organizations. Apart from being demeaning, such a strategy is a clear path to bad recruitment.
Employers need to start evaluating the cost of bad recruitment which apart from the direct cost of recruitment, includes loss of revenue from sales if an ineffective salesman is employed, cost of time spent training the unproductive worker, high staff turnover and negative impact on the morale of employees in general. I have seen many small businesses folding up due to bad recruitment practices.
Business owners often complain that it is difficult to get good employees in Nigeria but from my experience, most of them do not have a proper recruitment process. Some even unknowingly hurt their business in their attempt to hire new staff. A friend once told me that when he was about to relocate to Ibadan from Lagos with his family, someone had recommended a secondary school for his children. He promptly visited the school which had very good physical structures but he was discouraged from entering the premises by the notice on a weather-beaten blackboard by the gate, indicating that the school had vacancies for English Language, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics Teachers!!! He concluded that the school must have a problem with teachers. A school advertising vacancies at its gate for core subject Teachers cannot expect growth.
Some business owners engage in laughable recruitment processes, which usually result in high staff turnover and its attendant costs. Such processes involve placing of vacancy board in front of the business premise, and after receiving a couple of applications, the business owner arranges an unplanned interview where gut instinct is relied upon and only technical skills are measured. The 'best candidate' is then offered employment. I have been informed that as part of the recruitment process some may even ask prospective employees to swear an oath administered in a traditional way to affirm that the company fund will never be stolen by the employee.
The best way to reduce high staff turnover however is to ensure that skilled applicants who fit into the company's culture are engaged, while ensuring that the remuneration packages are always competitive. It will be quite helpful for the growth of small businesses if their owners thoroughly understand the recruitment process and also ensure that skilled recruiters are engaged to drive the recruitment process.
At TruPurpose Job Shop, we deliver a fresh and innovative service to Jobseekers and Employers/Recruiters across the South-West of Nigeria. We work hard to unearth hidden and unadvertised jobs for Jobseekers and deploy tailor-made and cost-effective recruitment solutions to employers. Our role is to work with employers and jobseekers to facilitate a successful match.
For more information, please call 08033234172 or send an email to tokunbo@trupurpose.com.ng