Successful enterprises and corporate establishments have one thing in common-healthy employer- employee relationship. A mutually rewarding relationship that promotes respect and shared vision, characteristics all successful and sought-after enterprises and establishments have.

This means before recruiting anyone into your enterprise, it is imperative for entrepreneurs to appraise themselves with the check list of the essential fundamentals of such an exercise to make sure that both the employer and the employee meet their end of the bargain in this important “marriage”.

Our focus as a leadership, entrepreneurship and human resource organisation, is to research and share with you, the best practices in such entrepreneurial contractual relationships. Below are six of the best recruitment essentials for successful enterprises.

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Job Analysis: What needs to be done in the organization?

Before successful entrepreneurs decide to hire anyone, they first think about what needs to be done and how it will impact on the overall output of the business. This is vital because there is no need to recruit anyone who will not add value to the organisation. Besides, any extra hand in the business means additional expenses. It is therefore important to assess the real impact of the intended vacancy on the general operation of the enterprise. Will recruiting additional person help turn the business around and bring about growth and profitability, both in the short and long term or even more of the same after filling that vacancy? These are important questions to consider before a recruitment decision is taken.

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Employee qualifications.

Next to ascertain is the capabilities and expertise required to perform the intended functional roles of the position. What educational qualifications, trainings and qualities are required? These include but not limited to right skills, education, technical competencies, good work ethics, flexibility, integrity among other things. Without the right skills, the employer will not get value for money after hiring an incompetent person.

Job description/ roles.

Apart from assessing the impact of the functional roles of the intended vacancy, successful entrepreneurs go a step further to outline and itemise the specific duties to be performed by the person who takes up the position. This is a broad description of the roles and responsibilities of an employee, reporting lines, job title, key performance indicators (KPIs) and the general conditions of work. This is a vitally critical function never to be taken for granted.

Attitude.

It is said that Attitude is everything. This is a very important quality that all successful entrepreneurs look out for before recruiting.  Employers are looking for employees with positive attitudes, outlook to life and demonstrate excellent work ethics and relationship with other employees.

Everyone has a root and unique background and circumstances that shape us as we set out to develop careers. In the process, not all are able to handle positively, certain events that come their way resulting in the formation of certain traits that undermine their outlook in life. Bad attitude breeds laziness, low-productivity and lack of innovation. Successful entrepreneurs prefer to work with people with positive attitudes in life but low qualifications rather than high qualifications but negative attitudes. They know that negative attitude is like Ebola- it kills that individual and is also very contagious to the rest of employees.

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Employees working conditions.

The conditions under which your prospective employee will be expected to be working under must be spelt out before the engagement. What will be the general terms of engagement? These include, but not limited to a salary or wage, annual leave, working hours, overtime entitlements and the general health and safety conditions of the work place.

These are important conditions for the employee to consider before taking up the job because they have a direct bearing on their health and those around them. Besides, many entrepreneurs have found themselves battling in court because of lack of clearly defined and outlined terms of engagement which is agreeable to both parties.

Termination of employment.

The conditions under which an engagement contract can be terminated, should be well stated to avoid unnecessary legal battles and all successful entrepreneurs must know this. Will the entrepreneur wake up one day on the wrong side of the bed and just order an employee to leave the business? Or will employee just wake up and quit without any notice? There must be clear criteria for termination or resignations stipulated in the employment contract. This helps both parties to plan better and avoid a stampede.

So, before a recruitment decision is made both the employer and the employee must know and appreciate what is at stake I the engagement contract.

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