Eastbourne Jobs Hub : Employer Advice
How to find candidates on LoveEastbourneJobs.com
Writing a great job description
Putting together a person specification
How to select candidates for interview
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Employer Advice
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Finding the correct candidates to fill your vacancy can sometimes feel like an arduous process. There are a million and one things that can sway your decision making process. Here at LoveLocalJobs.com we try and make it as easy as possible for you with some tips and advice on the recruitment process.
If you want to discuss your options why not pop into the Eastbourne Jobs Hub at Eastbourne Library, and have a chat or phone to book an appointment.
Address: Eastbourne Library, Grove Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 4TL.
Telephone: 01323 464548
Email: EastbourneJobsHub@eastsussex.gov.uk
Click here for information on what the Eastbourne Jobs Hub can offer businesses.
Finding the candidates
LoveEastbourneJobs.com is the hub for all employment and training-related activity in the local area.
Did you know that unpaid work and voluntary roles can be advertised with us for FREE?
You can contact us with any queries by calling 01273 651100 or sending an e-mail to info@lovelocaljobs.com.
Writing a great job advert
A great job description will ensure your advert attracts the right candidates for the job.
Be clear about what the role entails and make sure you've covered the key requirements:
- Job title
- Location
- Department
- Line manager
- Overall purpose of the role
- Key responsibilities of the role
Putting together a job spec
Thinking about the type of person you want to recruit will help you assess and screen the responses you receive when you advertise a vacancy. A person specification can cover anything you want, as long as you can justify it within the remit of the role. You must also be mindful of any potential discrimination when creating a person specification – see our separate notes on discrimination in the recruitment process.
How to read a CV
Employment screening agencies have suggested that as many as one in five candidates have a serious lie or deception on their CV, and this number has continued to increase with the decline of the economy. Candidates continue to feel the need to falsify information on their CV to improve their chances of being hired.
Conducting an interview
Job applicants are always told to prepare for an interview, and so should employers. Preparation will help you better assess your candidates. You should begin the interview with a brief introduction of the interviewers and the organisation.
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How to find the candidates on LoveEastbourneJobs.com
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LoveEastbourneJobs.com is the hub for all employment and training-related activity in the local area.
Did you know that unpaid work and voluntary roles can be advertised with us for FREE?
You can contact us with any queries by calling 01273 651100 or sending an e-mail to info@loveeastbournejobs.com, but let's answer the two most important questions now...
How does it work?
Advertising on LoveEastbourneJobs.com is an easy, affordable and effective way of advertising your vacancy. We welcome all jobs from all sectors including apprenticeships and volunteering roles.
All you need to do is:
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- Register
- Complete your company information
- Post your job
LoveEastbourneJobs.com is a self-service website available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no need to log in to track response: applications are sent to your inbox instantly.
How much does it cost?
LoveEastbourneJobs.com gives you a better offer for a lower cost. Your advert is targeted to jobseekers in the local area and the surrounding areas with FREE company branding and shared on all major social networks.
Advertise with us today or call us on 01273 651100.
Maximise your viewings by adding additional supplements.
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Writing a great job description
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A great job description will ensure your advert attracts the right candidates for the job.
Be clear about what the role entails and make sure you've covered the key requirements:
-
- Job title
- Location
- Department
- Line manager
- Overall purpose of the role
- Key responsibilities of the role
Job title / Department / Line manager / Location
Job titles can have different meanings depending on industry or sector. By including the department and the line manager in your job description, you give potential candidates a better indication of the importance of the role within the company.
Adding the location will help potential candidates find your job advert using a search engine like Google. Even though you are advertising on LoveEastbourneJobs.com, a potential candidate may find your advert by searching for 'sales job in Eastbourne'.
Overall purpose of the role / Key responsibilities
This section should be as short and precise as possible. You may want to list responsibilities using bullet points.
You should also include additional issues such as how much travelling will be required or shift patterns.
Person specification
The person specification will allow the candidates to assess whether they are right for the job.
You should include any skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required. You may want to separate these into two categories: 'essential' and 'desirable'.
It is also useful to include a paragraph about the culture of the organisation so the candidate can assess whether your company is the right work environment for them.
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Putting together a person specification
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A person specification works hand in hand with a job description (see our separate notes on creating a great job description) to help you find the best candidate you can for your role.
Thinking about the type of person you want to recruit will help you assess and screen the responses you receive when you advertise a vacancy. A person specification can cover anything you want, as long as you can justify it within the remit of the role. You must also be mindful of any potential discrimination when creating a person specification – see our separate notes on discrimination in the recruitment process.By thinking about the job description first, you should find it easier to create the person specification. There may be specific skills that are required or qualifications that are needed – academic or otherwise (a clean driving licence, for example). You can also be specific against set requirements – e.g. a height restriction if the role requires the ability to work in a confined space, such as cabin staff on an aeroplane.
Think about characteristics for the person as well. Someone who is always going to be front-of-house, such as a receptionist, could well need to be of sunny disposition. You may need a strong team player, or someone who can cope with a very noisy work environment, and still be focused enough to get their work done without distractions.
However, you must also be realistic. If the role involves putting in data all day, you want someone who can be accurate rather than someone who can entertain the whole office!
Be clear also about which characteristics of your person specification are essential for the role, versus those that are desirable. You need to be flexible enough to find the right candidate, without automatically eliminating everyone who doesn’t look perfect on paper.
How to read a CV
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As an employer, it can be so difficult to sift out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to looking at CVs. Clearly, candidates spend a lot of time creating beautifully formatted documents, but is their experience really what they claim it to be?
Employment screening agencies have suggested that as many as one in five candidates have a serious lie or deception on their CV, and this number has continued to increase with the decline of the economy. Candidates continue to feel the need to falsify information on their CV to improve their chances of being hired.
Here are some suggestions to help you improve the quality of your screening:
Overall impression
Has the candidate spent some time creating a strong first impression through their CV? Simple things to look out for including spelling mistakes, or a lack of flow through the document (i.e. does it have a logical format). Although presentation isn’t everything, a well laid-out CV will make it easier for you to assess the candidate against your criteria.
A tailored response
Every candidate should always tailor their CV for the job they are applying for. Whilst this can result in masking some critical information, they key is for you as an employer to decide whether the candidates have the specific skills or experience you are looking for. If the candidate is really interested in the role, they may well take the time to signpost specific information to match your needs within their CV. Clearly, there is also scope for the covering letter to indicate this matching of needs.
Academic qualifications
Does your role have a specific academic requirement? If the candidate seems to have the right qualification, then the awarding body or educational establishment can also help you assess the quality of the qualification. Make sure that the dates stated to achieve the qualification make sense, and also that you are clear about all required qualifications as part of the job advert.
Experience
Watch out for gaps, particularly if the candidate fails to account for them properly. Make sure that valid gaps (e.g. for legitimate personal reasons and business circumstances) are clearly explained. Check the dates of previous employment – and take care to ensure that a candidate can demonstrate real commitment to a role if they have a number of short-term roles in their background. Ask candidates to clarify their role in any activity mentioned on their CV, and assess their real involvement linked to specific achievements (e.g. reduced costs by x, increased leads by y).
Substance
A well-laid out CV can still hide a large amount of fluff, padded with out important memberships and general interest information about a candidate rather than clearly demonstrating experience and skills. Make sure there is real substance to the document you are looking at.
Hobbies and interests
Whilst the hobbies and interests of a candidate may not be the difference between them getting an interview or not, make sure that the claims are real. Can your candidate talk coherently and with passion about the things they say they are interested in.
Clearly, it is hard to ensure that no fraudsters slip through the net, but by asking for real proof (e.g. copies of academic certificates, references from previous employers) you can improve the quality of information you have on any prospective employees. Spending a small amount of time double-checking information at the outset can save you appointing the wrong person to your company, with all the inherent problems that can bring.
The best piece of advice we can give you is to go with your gut instinct. If you feel something is wrong with the answers you are getting from a candidate or from their CV, trust what you feel!
How to select candidates for interview
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Recruiting a new employee can be time-consuming but it is essential the process is clear and transparent.
Avoiding bias
You must select candidates for interview based on how closely they fit the job description and person specification.
To avoid any allegation of bias or discrimination, two or more people should decide how closely a candidate matches the job description and person specification.
Sending an interview letter
Once you have selected candidates for interview, you should inform them in writing. The interview letter or e-mail should tell the candidates to advise the organisation in advance whether any particular requirements are required.
The interview letter or e-mail should also state whether the candidate will receive travel expenses for attending the interview.
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Conducting the interview
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Job applicants are always told to prepare for an interview, and so should employers. Preparation will help you better assess your candidates.
You should begin the interview with a brief introduction of the interviewers and the organisation.
What are you looking for?
The three main questions you want the interview to answer are:
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- Has the candidate got the skills and experience to do the job?
- How will they cope under pressure?
- How will they fit into the team?
Your job description will tell you what you are looking for. Everyone involved in the recruitment process should be aware of the content of the job description and should have a common approach to the interview.
Asking questions
Preparing questions before the interview will ensure you spend your time listening to the candidate's answers.
It is useful to ask for examples to gauge whether their skills and experience would transfer to the job for which they are interviewing:
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- What steps would you take to achieve … ?
- How would you deal with … ?
To gauge their ability to cope under pressure, you could say: “Tell me how you handled a stressful situation at work”.
Similarly, to gauge their ability to work as part of a team, you could say: “Were there any colleagues at your last job you didn't get along with and what did you do about it?”
Team fit can often be the deciding factor between equally qualified candidates so don't underestimate this part of the interview.
Congratulations! You have recruited the right person for the job.
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Legal advice for employers
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Just as people are the beating heart of every business, disputes with employees can be a serious drain on energy and resources.
Armed with a practical understanding of the law employers can resolve issues swiftly, avoid unnecessary problems and bring out the best in people.
As one of our Founding Partners, the employment solicitors at Mayo Wynne Baxter are offering advice and support through this section of our website.
As well as revealing the most important points in the ever-growing raft of employment rules we’ll cut through the legislation to offer sensible suggestions.
If there’s an issue you’d particularly like us to tackle please email enquiries@mayowynnebaxter.co.uk and we will do our best to cover it.
Mayo Wynne Baxter’s employment solicitors work throughout East Sussex and beyond with offices in East Grinstead, Brighton, Eastbourne, Seaford and Lewes.
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Useful links
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Eastbourne Jobs Hub
Eastbourne Jobs Hub also offers recruitment support to local businesses such as supporting with person specifications and job descriptions, helping them with interview processes and matching their vacancies to appropriate people who are looking for employment.
Apprenticeships In Sussex
Apprenticeships In Sussex is a service run by the Sussex Council of Training Providers on behalf of 50 apprenticeship training organisations. The website enables searching for apprenticeship training organisations by occupation, nearest local town and apprenticeship level and contains a wealth of information about apprenticeships. The events service supports schools, job centres and employers with information about apprenticeships in the form of presentations or exhibiting at careers events.
CIPD - Recruiting Young People advice for Employers
Darley Training
Darley Training provides people over the age of 19 years with advice on CV preparation and job and college applications. Also available are training courses in Security, CSCS, Food Safety, Employabillity Skills and other short courses to people who meet the eligibility criteria.
East Sussex Community Information Service (ESCIS)
ESCIS stands for East Sussex Community Information Service. It is a computer database of local and community information developed and managed by the Library and Information Services of East Sussex County Council in association with Brighton and Hove Library Service. It is a free resource for everyone. It is free to be listed and free to use.
East Sussex Credit Union
The friendly face of Community Banking owned by the members, investing in East Sussex.
Edeal Enterpise Agency
We provide govt funded start-up workshops and business mentoring free of charge. We also run the successful Eastbourne Borough Market every Sunday and Wednesday in Terminus Road by Bill’s.
Call us for a pitch.
East Sussex Disability Association
ESDA is a user-led organisation supporting disabled people to have choice and control and participate as equal members of society.
Need some advice from your local Jobcentre Plus?
Eastbourne Jobcentre Plus: St. Anne's House, 2 St. Anne's Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 3XX
Lee Hawkins - lee.hawkins@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Jackie Akehurst - jackie.akehurst@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
JTL
JTL delivers Electrical, plumbing, H&V, engineering and Motor rewind apprenticeships, working with local employers and local colleges for the best results nationally.
Business training and support with Let's Do Business Group
Let's Do Business Group based in Eastbourne, has become a leading provider of business advice, training, access to finance and business events in the South East. As well as its work directly with businesses the Group contracts with a range of public and private sector partners to deliver projects and contracts – worth over £5m over the last 8 years.
The training and business support they offer include:
For more advice contact Let's Do Business Group on 0844 415 2272 or email info@ldbgroup.co.uk
People Matter
We are an independent Charity whose aim is to provide information, advice, guidance and practical help to local jobseekers aged 19+: to enable them to obtain or retain suitable employment and access training opportunities.
Sussex Coast College Hastings
Sussex Coast College Hastings provides further education to 16 – 18 year olds, Apprenticeships as well as adult learners.
Sussex Community Development Association
01273 516347
We are a charity organisation who work with the long term unemployed, we offer a range of opportunities to our clients. We also offer a free recruitment service to employers.
Sussex Downs College
Sussex Downs College provides high quality education and training across all ages and sectors of the community.