A company is only as good as its employees and when it comes time to bring in new talent, the experts agree, the process must be done right. At a contract manufacturer the human resource department is designed to help you and your company in its task of finding new talent in the workplace. In order to make sure that your company hires the best professionals in the marketplace, both manufacturers and the human resources department must work together. Knowing the role of the HR department can help the process of bringing in new talent run smoother and faster.

“Human resources exists to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. The unique knowledge, skills and abilities of a company’s human capital relates to an employer’s competitive advantage and advances the organization forward. The idea is that there is a correlation between the functions of human resources and the company’s performance. Therefore, the human resources operation must be in concert with the overall business strategy,” explains Christina Stovall, director of the human resources services center at Euless, Texas-based outsourcing firm Odyssey OneSource.

HR and Management

When it comes to the hiring process, there are two factions at work: human resources and management. “In a well-oiled company, they should work hand-in-hand with everything coordinated by human resources to make sure the process runs smoothly,” says Schroeder.

Ideally, human resources will design the entire process from job description and identifying the final candidates to making an offer and integrating the employee into the company, states Wienick.

“As an internal function of an organization, human resource management entails the decisions, policies, practices and actions for the entire employee lifecycle. In practice, it can be everything from workforce planning, integrating candidates, and managing performance to properly exiting employees,” says Stovall.

Who Decides

Before a company can begin the search for a good candidate, whether it is looking for a chief executive or a line manager, the first step is clearly defining what the position entails. “This depends on the size of the company and the position it is looking to fill,” says Beth Schroeder, general counsel at the Los Angeles-based law firm Silver & Freedman. “Usually it takes a handful of people to define the role they are looking to fill. They must look at what has worked in the past and see how it can be applied to the current position.” That is where human resources comes in, accessing the current situation and creating the definition for both the role they are looking to fill and who needs to be present in order to achieve goal.

Another key factor is whether or not the company has decided to conduct the hiring process in-house or through an outside firm. “There are a variety of ways a company can fill a position,” says Schroeder, “if [it] decides to conduct the process in-house, then it will most likely use its own human resources department. If it decides to hire from outside, the company can talk to a recruiter or even a trade association to help with the process. Many do not realize that trade associations are great when looking for new hires.” The human resources department would take the helm of this side of the project, coordinating with the outside company to make sure each step of the hiring process is taken care of in accordance with a company’s guidelines.

The Interview

While the experts admit that every company approaches the hiring process in a different fashion, there are a few steps which are universal, such as sitting down for an interview. The interview can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on how rigorous a process the HR staff has planned. After going before a panel of interviewers consisting of HR representatives, managers and employees that will most likely be working with the interviewee in the future, the potential candidates can be evaluated a number of ways, including psychologically and, in some cases, physically if the job demands heavy labor.

“You want to make sure that the person you are interviewing will know how to react in certain situations on the job,” explains Wienick. Often times the tests are written and contain questions meant to gauge how a candidate would respond both as a leader and a general employee. Like a square peg in a round hole, even if an employee interviews well they may not have the right skills for the task at hand.

Not all companies agree with the use of psychological testing in determining the right employee. “You can never test without running it by a lawyer first,” says Schroeder. Some questions may not be appropriate for the position and others may be unethical, she explains.

“A good interview and a good background check can usually tell you more about a person than a psychological test,” states Schroeder. A Google search can give you insight into a potential candidate as well. “People lie on resumes all the time, make sure to be thorough.” Googling a job applicant can show you information about their past that they might not want to tell you during the interview, like showing up in the police blotter or being a part of a job not listed on their resume.

The Hiring Process

The process of bringing on a new employee can take anywhere from a few days to six months depending on the position, says Mitch Wienick, president and chief executive officer of the Wayne, Pa.-based career coaching firm Kelleher Associates. “Companies have become more calculating and scrupulous in the hiring process over the past decade. Since hiring someone usually takes multiple people and multiple candidates, you have to coordinate around everyone’s schedules, allowing them time to work and, in some cases, travel during the whole process.”

The Talent Pool

Experts agree that the talent pool is still plentiful with people looking for their ideal job. “There has been a lot of movement in the industry, far more than five years ago,” says Schroeder. “During the recession many people lost their jobs and some of those that are employed are not in the job they would like, many are looking for that ideal job again.”

The recession has left a lot of great talent on the market, agrees Wienick. “Not everyone has fully recovered from the recession but now that the marketplace is beginning to recover you will see a lot of movement this year,” explains Schroeder.

Sealing the Deal

Once the final candidates have been chosen if a third party service has been used they will leave it up to the HR to close the deal. This involves making an offer and negotiating salary. Much of this is done exclusively by the HR staff, although management can help the process along by speaking with the candidate directly, say the experts. Often times, a candidate will speak with his or her future boss to ease in the transition from interviewee to employee.

Top Employee Interview Questions

Although much of the talent management process involves planning both before and after a new employee is hired the interview itself is fundamental. Below you will find some common questions that can be used during the interview of a manufacturer or anyone else with technical expertise:

1. Describe a critical system or program for which you acted as the primary developer and tell me how that system, program, or process is being used?

2. Describe for me a situation where you were required to gather a large amount of data, to analyze it objectively and to make a decision or a recommendation based on the results.

3. Describe a time when you had to build a collaborative relationship either within your department or outside in order to achieve a particular goal. What steps did you take to ensure this was a success?



Source: http://www.blueskyinterviews.co.uk