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Lengthy recruitment process

Andrea

Does anyone else experience pressure from managers to "corner cut" when recruiting?  We have a relatively high turnover of employees in 3 key areas of the business, 2 of which are from highly skilled sections.  We know what the contributing factors are and are  working to resolve as much as is possible and  we are in a very competitive market.  Anyway, I digress.  The issue is one  of Managers constantly hassling me with an expectation to "get him/her in" within ridiculous timescales i.e 3   days from initial offer letter!  They just don't want to be bothered by the whole issue of references, medical questionnaires, right to work documents, notice periods (heaven help me if there isn't any notice to serve) or by the fact that the "keen as mustard" potential new employee STLL hasn't returned their acceptance of our conditional offer nor have they made any contact regarding presenting required documents.

Often I am experiencing delays as a result of misinformation/lack of information on behalf of the applicant...incorrect details provided for reference purposes, boxes ticked incorrectly on medical forms that require me to investigate further ; does it need to go to OH or is it an error as I suspect? .  I could go on and on.  As a Standalone HR Manager, with all Payroll Responsibilities and with no Admin Support I simply do not have the time to repeatedly  chase up the amount of missing info.  Despite all of the foregoing all I keep hearing from Managers  is that recruitment agencies; don't get me started; and themselves think we have a lengthy process.  Well we don't, as simple as that.  By the way, in the case of one person for whom all went smoothly and referees responded extremely quickly, I did onboard within 5 days.

Would be interested in hearing from someone on this.

Parents
  • We do employment subject to satisfactory references, so we don't wait for them to come back before they start (appreciate that may not be possible if you have roles that require working with children or vulnerable adults, where references are needed before they start). In most cases references aren't any use at all anyway (i don't actually recall receiving a bad reference in 20+ years of working in HR), but if they were poor, we would just end their employment if they had already started

    We do insist on seeing right to work documentation first thing on their first day - if they don't have it, they get sent home. We don't do medical checks for most roles.

    So for ours, whilst we try to get a week before offer and start date, we have done it faster. We do have some roles that require a DSB check and for those we will be clear that they can't start until we have received that.
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  • We do employment subject to satisfactory references, so we don't wait for them to come back before they start (appreciate that may not be possible if you have roles that require working with children or vulnerable adults, where references are needed before they start). In most cases references aren't any use at all anyway (i don't actually recall receiving a bad reference in 20+ years of working in HR), but if they were poor, we would just end their employment if they had already started

    We do insist on seeing right to work documentation first thing on their first day - if they don't have it, they get sent home. We don't do medical checks for most roles.

    So for ours, whilst we try to get a week before offer and start date, we have done it faster. We do have some roles that require a DSB check and for those we will be clear that they can't start until we have received that.
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