[Editor’s Note: Beverley Ireland-Symonds is one of EmployWise.com’s expert authors. She has worked in different fields including the NHS and fashion and spent 16 years working in adult and further education. She currently runs a training and consultancy company, Accelerated Training & Consultancy as well as a coaching practice: Coaching with Confidence.She writes for her blogs Communication Skills and Confidence Coaching.You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Beverley has a Master’s degree from Greenwich University.]

Is there a science to recruiting the right person? Many organisations put a great deal of time and effort into their recruitment practices, devising a range of tasks aimed at selecting the right candidate.  Planning a set of challenging interview questions is fairly standard, but depending on the context and level of the job there can be a variety of tasks that interviewees have to undertake including  delivering a presentation, taking part in a group activity and completing range of psychometric tests.

Of course not all organisations go to that much trouble.  There are no standard recruitment practices even across industries. Some recruiters stick rigidly to a set of planned interview questions asking every candidate exactly the same questions and others prefer a much more open style and may ask slightly different questions depending on the individual candidates. Some recruiters, especially if they are not HR specialists, seem to do virtually no planning at all and ask whatever they like. Criteria also vary considerable.  Some organisations are interested in experience and qualifications  and others favour a person’s potential.  There are clearly some very fair practices, aimed at recruiting the best person for the job but equally, although some may deny it, there are many  practices that can only be described as dubious.

However much trouble you put into your recruitment process, is there some sort of science to recruiting the right person?  No of course there isn’t.  No matter how much time and effort you put in, you can stillget it wrong. Different tasks, tests or activities may provide you with a lot of information, but as everyone knows there are no guarantees.

I’m not an HR specialist, but I’ve interviewed hundreds of people for jobs over the years and I’m glad to say that I’ve appointed some great people.  Have I ever regretted appointing someone – yes.  Was it because I was deceived – no.  When I have reflected on what ‘mistakes’ I may have made there has been a common theme.  When interviewed the candidates have said or done things that have raised questions in my mind, but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, ignore my instinct and give them the chance.  On a couple of occasions I was left wishing that I had followed my gut feeling and not appointed.  However, I didn’t and that’s because there is no science to recruiting the best candidate. It’s a game of chance.  Sometimes we hit gold and at other times we don’t.  These are my key top five issues to consider when recruiting.

1. Be clear about the job and job role. This may sound obvious, but quite often job descriptions do not match the reality of the job.
2. Use consistent recruitment practices: Whatever type of interviews, tasks that you are using, make sure that they are suitable for the type and level of job and are fair to all candidates
3. Have clear criteria. What criteria are you are using to select candidates? Does everyone on the recruitment panel know them?
4. Think about your own possible prejudices and bias: It’s very easy to make a judgement as soon as someone walks through the door.  Think about your own prejudices and possible bias beforehand and then banish them.
5. Don’t ignore your gut feeling.  I’m not suggesting you should place everything on gut feeling, but I certainly think you should use it alongside other criteria.  Just be sure that it’s gut feeling arising from experience rather than prejudice.