A Checklist of Best Practices for Tribal Recruitment
Tribal recruitment – hiring and training new workers, along with managing and retaining them, is a growing challenge for most tribal employers. Four generations are active in today’s marketplace, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z’ers (now teens), each with their own traits, values and mindsets; your tribal recruitment and management practices should encompass these widely disparate groups. (A bit like herding cats, you’ve no doubt expressed to a colleague.)
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a high-level list of best practices from a number of resources that may help in your quest to acquire and retain productive new employees.
Clearly define job requirements
- Define the role’s essential job functions, noting physical job demands.
- Define performance requirements, basis for evaluation and salary range.
- Identify important values required for culture fit.
- Specify the necessary education, skills, certification, experience and equipment required.
Establish recruitment procedures
- Ensure recruitment practices provide a consistent process for attracting, qualifying and selecting candidates that reflect the available qualified labor pool, demonstrating compliance with ADA and other employment laws.
- Document procedures for securing confidentiality of private information, and restrict access to sensitive information to limit allegations of misuse.
- Whether online or hard copy, ensure job application forms include appropriate disclosures and conditions, acknowledge-ments and authorizations (permission for background check).
- Ensure all screenings and verifications comply with employment regulations (authorizations, disclosures, timing).
Post the job
- Ensure that job ads comply with non-discrimination laws.
- Include workplace policies (e.g., substance abuse) to support candidate self-selection.
- First advertise the opening internally, offering a referral bonus to current employees if applicable.
Screening
- Pre-screen applicants via phone interviews, about 30 minutes in length; ensure that the same set of questions is asked each time.
- Quickly filter down applicants to the top 4-6 that you want to call in for first round interviews.
Interviewing
- Provide a brief but accurate portrayal of the job and its contribution to the organization in each interview.
- Use behavioral questions and applicants’ past experiences (“Describe a time when you”) rather than hypothetical situations (“What would you do if”) to assess potential job performance.
- Ensure that all candidates are treated uniformly in the recruitment, screening, interviewing and final selection process.
- Complete remaining steps in the hiring process (testing, reference and background checks, education and employment verifications). Never skate over these important steps.
Job offers
- Provide a written job offer including the job description, salary and next steps.
Orientation
- Obtain new employee acknowledgements of company policies (benefits, attendance and leave, performance standards, substance abuse).
- Include notice and acknowledgement of personal and workplace safety require-ments, injury reporting, use of designated medical providers (where permitted) and return to work policy.
- Provide training on workplace and materials hazards, safety program and incident reporting, including a visual demonstration of safe work practices.
- If the new hire is a manager, provide training on anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and privacy laws and regulations, plus procedures to handle disability accommodation requests.
Mentoring
- Assign a supervisor or experienced coworker with time to mentor the new hire until he or she is safely integrated into the workforce.
- Ensure management and coworkers share responsibility for new hire safety.
Resources:
Zurich’s Hiring and Workforce Management Checklist
LC Staffing’s Recruiting Checklist
A Checklist for Success in Hiring Employees
Please Note: Information contained in this article is not intended to constitute legal advice; you should consult with your own attorneys when developing programs and policies.