How you bring in new members can have a big impact on your team’s future success. Filling a vacancy with someone who is sub-standard or disruptive will impede productivity, impact  morale and make the team less appealing for others to join. Recruiting the right person increases the team’s breadth of perspectives and abilities, and makes being a member of the group more rewarding.
 
The starting point of the recruitment process is to write a job description. This example illustrates the types of information you’d normally want to include.

The job description provides candidates with an overview of what the role entails and allows them to determine whether they qualify. It’s best to describe the job accurately, rather than trying to dress it up. This discourages unsuitable applicants and avoids promising something the job cannot deliver. The job description will also guide you (or HR) on where to advertise the role and help shape the selection process to identify the best applicants.
 
ADVERTISING THE POSITION
You should advertise the job in a way that reaches a diverse cross-section of relevant candidates. Avoid letting your own perspective affect where you chose to advertise. HR professionals can advise you on best practices, and there are plenty of articles online offering useful guidance on how to avoid unconscious bias.
 
SELECTION PROCESS
The right process depends on timing and budget, as well as the job requirements. The process should be guided by whichever elements of the job description are vital for success in the role. Selection methods should account for the following considerations:
 
- Aptitude tests are ideal for rejecting applicants who fall below a pre-defined minimum threshold in areas such as numeracy, literacy or technical understanding. Such tests, administered online, are commonly used as part of the initial screening process.
- Interviews are widely used and offer an effective way to identify strong candidates. They’re ideal for understanding how someone approaches a challenge, their ability to think on their feet, and whether what they’ve written in their application holds up under scrutiny. One of the most effective interview questions is: 'Please give me an example of when you X.’
- Although time consuming and expensive, group exercises are a good way to assess a candidate’s team working and collaborative problem-solving capabilities. So, it makes sense to include them in the process if these abilities are crucial to the role. If the full selection process is conducted remotely, team working skills can be observed by talking to candidates as a group, using a video platform.
- Before confirming a job offer, it is good practise to contact at least two professional references the candidate has provided, to confirm their experience and credentials and ask about their suitability for the role.