Practical help before you start recruiting

A successful recruitment process begins before the advert is written. We can help you work out what the organisation needs, how to describe it clearly and how to assess candidates fairly and effectively.

Shaping the role and writing the job description

When someone leaves, do not automatically reach for the same job description. Start by asking what the business needs now and what it may need going forward.

Purpose and outcomes

Why does the role exist? What should the person achieve in the first six to twelve months? If it is a new role, what value should it add? Clear outcomes make the responsibilities easier to define and give candidates a better understanding of what success looks like.

Job title

Use a title that is clear, recognisable and appropriate to the work. An inflated, unusual or vague title can attract the wrong people or prevent suitable candidates from finding the vacancy.

Reporting lines and working relationships

Explain who the person reports to, whether they manage anyone and which teams or stakeholders they will work with. Think honestly about the manager’s style and the level of independence, guidance and confidence the role requires.

Responsibilities

Describe the main responsibilities in order of importance. Focus on meaningful work and outcomes rather than including every small task. Use plain language and remove internal jargon and unexplained acronyms.

Essential and desirable criteria

Separate what is genuinely essential from what would be useful. Ask whether a qualification is truly required or whether someone could be qualified through experience. Unnecessary requirements can exclude people with the potential and transferable skills to do the job well.

Skills, behaviours and ways of working

Include the technical skills the role genuinely needs, such as particular systems or professional knowledge. Then consider the behaviours and ways of working that matter: perhaps curiosity, sound judgement, adaptability, attention to detail, resilience or the confidence to work independently.

Think about AI in practical terms. Will the person use it in the role? Do they need existing knowledge, or is curiosity and a willingness to learn enough? Avoid adding “AI experience” to a wish list unless you can explain what you need the person to do with it.

Avoid writing a wish list of attractive personality words. Think about how each quality would show up in a real work situation and how you will assess it fairly.

Working arrangements

Be clear about location, hours, flexibility, remote or hybrid arrangements and any travel. Consider what is genuinely required rather than automatically copying the previous arrangement. Employees have a legal right to request flexible working from their first day, although that does not mean every request must be accepted.

Timing and recruitment route

Work backwards from when support is needed, allowing for advertising, interviews, decisions, notice periods and any handover. Notice periods vary, so do not build the plan around one standard assumption. Consider whether temporary, fixed-term or contract support is needed while permanent recruitment takes place.

Job description, person specification and advert

These are connected but not identical. The job description explains the role and responsibilities. The person specification identifies the evidence genuinely needed. The advert should speak directly to the people you want to attract and make the opportunity clear and engaging.

Planning and conducting interviews

An interview should help both sides make a well-informed decision. It is not an interrogation or a memory test. The candidate is assessing the organisation at the same time as you are assessing them.

Before the interview

Agree what evidence you need and how it will be assessed.

Read the CV and application, noting points to explore rather than assumptions to make.

Prepare a core set of relevant questions for every candidate.

If using a panel, agree roles, timings, questions and scoring before the first interview.

Choose a private, accessible setting and ask whether reasonable adjustments are needed.

Tell candidates what to expect, including the format, attendees, timing and any task or presentation.

Also agree how candidates may use AI during applications, tasks or presentations, and communicate that clearly. Focus on whether they can explain, apply and stand behind the work rather than trying to catch them out.

During the interview

Welcome the candidate, introduce everyone and explain the format.

Give a clear, honest picture of the organisation, role, team and reason for recruiting.

Use open questions, listen carefully and probe for specific examples.

Allow thinking time and do not rush to fill every silence.

Ask broadly consistent questions so candidates can be compared fairly.

Allow plenty of time for the candidate’s questions.

After the interview

Record evidence and scores promptly, separating facts from impressions.

Discuss the evidence against the agreed criteria rather than choosing the person everyone simply liked most.

Explain the next step and keep to the timescale promised wherever possible.

Give constructive feedback and communicate with unsuccessful candidates respectfully.

Questions that produce useful evidence

Choose questions because they help you understand whether someone could succeed in this particular role. You do not need to ask every question below.

Interest and understanding

What interested you about this role?

Having heard more about the role today, which parts particularly appeal to you?

What do you understand about what we need this person to achieve?

What would you hope to learn or develop in this role?

AI and changing ways of working

How is AI affecting your current work, if at all?

Tell us about a tool or new way of working you have explored. What did you learn?

If you used AI to support your application or a task, how did you use it and how did you check the result?

Which parts of this role do you think will continue to depend most on human judgement or connection?

Experience, potential and transferable skills

Which parts of your experience are most relevant to this role?

Tell us about a time you used a transferable skill in a new or unfamiliar situation.

What do you think you could bring that may not be immediately obvious from your CV?

Tell us about something you learned quickly. How did you approach it?

Real situations and problem solving

Tell us about a difficult problem you solved. What did you do and what was the outcome?

Describe something that did not go as planned. What did you learn and what would you do differently?

Tell us about a time you had to make a decision without having every piece of information.

Give an example of when you had to adapt your approach.

Here is a situation you could face in this role. How would you begin to deal with it?

Working with others

Tell us about a working relationship that brought out your best. What made it work?

Describe a time you disagreed with a colleague or manager. How did you handle it?

What kind of support helps you do your best work?

How do you keep other people informed when priorities change?

Motivation and environment

What matters most to you in your next role?

What kind of work gives you the greatest sense of achievement?

What conditions help you stay motivated and do your best work?

What can make it more difficult for you to stay engaged, and how do you manage that?

What would a good relationship with your next manager look like?

Practical details

What notice period or other commitments would affect your potential start date?

Are the stated working arrangements and location workable for you?

What salary or overall package are you looking for?

Do you need any reasonable adjustments for the next stage of the process?

Avoid questions about free time, family plans, marital status, age, health or other protected characteristics. Questions about health or disability before an offer are restricted, apart from limited circumstances such as arranging reasonable adjustments or establishing whether an essential job requirement can be met with adjustments.

Recruitment review and insight

Sometimes the issue is bigger than one vacancy. We can review your internal recruitment landscape to understand what is working, where difficulties or inconsistencies exist and where the approach could be strengthened.

This may include research into the market for particular roles, candidate availability and expectations, or a wider look at attraction, selection, communication and decision-making. We can then provide practical recommendations on what to improve, what to do more of and what may no longer be adding value.

Where relevant, we can also consider how AI is currently being used in the process, where it may save time and where additional oversight, transparency or human judgement is needed.