Effective people management is an essential aspect of any growing and successful business as it involves the management of people and culture to achieve the desired organisational outcomes. Unfortunately however, many businesses lack the capacity to dedicate a number of staff to HR alone. Under such circumstances, many choose to contract a human resources consultant to manage the relevant aspects of their workplace, leaving owners, managers and team members with the ability to focus on running the business. The question then is – what does a human resources consultant do? There are a number of ways that a HR consultant may help with the recruitment and selection of new people, which can drastically improve the productivity and cohesion of a workplace.
Recruitment and induction
Recruiting new staff is somewhat of an time consuming task for many business managers and owners – the steps involved in hiring a new worker are extensive. Much of the inconvenience associated with recruitment can be alleviated through the hiring of a HR specialist. In particular, these specialists can effectively manage a number of the steps involved in this process, ensuring that the optimum candidates are selected. Several of these steps are listed below.
Initial stages
There are a number of stages that ought to be completed prior to commencing recruitment and a HR consultant will ensure that these are done proficiently. Most notably, a concise job description must be developed. Following this, the human resources consultant will ensure that a job advertisement is publicised through all relevant avenues. The applications in response to which will be received and reviewed by the consultant.
Interview stages
The interview stages of recruitment are arguably the most time demanding – particularly when considering the extensiveness of a manager’s other duties. HR specialists can be consulted during these stages to great effect. The assistance can range from the development of interview guides that are tailored for each applicant, to the coaching of managerial staff on their interviewing technique.
Another important feature of this stage is the assessment process. Most HR firms will offer their clients an assessment on the applicants – including their personality and their ability. This will then have a bearing on the shortlist of prospective applicants, which will also be completed by an effective HR consultant.
Post interview
The post interview stage requires just as much attention as the steps preceding it and hiring a good human resources firm will ensure that this stage is conducted to a high standard. Specifically, the post interview stage involves a number of background and eligibility checks; namely criminal and qualification checks. If these return successfully and in accordance with the requirements of the position, then the HR firm can draft a job offer for successful applicants following which they will negotiate employment contracts and manage the remaining administrative requirements of the successful and unsuccessful candidates.
Induction
The induction stage of employment would typically necessitate constant oversight from managers, owners or other employees, however with the assistance of a proficient HR consultant this needn’t be the case. The best of Australia’s human resources firms offer online induction courses and practical assistance with the integration of new employees into their position and the workplace as a whole, including follow-up check-ins with the employee and manager.
A full service HR consulting firm like Harrison Human Resources will not be limited to the above mentioned tasks, in fact they will offer services to help business leaders through the entire range of people, culture and performance issues to meet business goals, by having the capacity to drastically enhance the productivity and cohesion of any workplace. Contacting a skilled human resources consultant will be of great benefit to any workplace and is strongly advisable to those businesses without an established human resources department.