Define Requirements
Good recruitment starts with knowing what the position is that you want to fill. Having accurate position descriptions is important to the business and the candidate. It can cause reputational damage to the business and potentially career damage to the new employee if the position that the new employee takes up isn’t what they were “sold”.
When writing the position description or updating an existing one, consider the role as performed by the incumbent and then take into account your current business requirements and long-term goals.
Think about what you want the role to achieve. Once you have determined what the key accountabilities are for the position, you can start thinking about the knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes that would be needed to succeed in the role.
You can access our existing Position Descriptions here.
Now that you have established what the role needs to achieve, you can turn your mind to whether the position is a full-time, part-time, temporary, fixed term or casual one, or perhaps appropriate for a contractor.
Note: If you are thinking of engaging a contractor, consider very carefully whether the relationship in practice will genuinely be that of principal and contractor. If it's not, the risk is the person may later claim they are an employee and endeavour to use the personal grievance procedures and/or seek unpaid holiday pay and other benefits. Use the Independent Contractor vs. Employee Checklist to ensure that you can satisfy the necessary legal tests. The same applies to the hiring of casual employees. There is a risk that if the casual employee is going to work more or less regular hours, they may be considered a permanent employee - see different hours of work arrangements for more information.
Check on or obtain authority to recruit
You must obtain the necessary authorisation before commencing any recruitment process. This applies to all positions including those where a part-time, temporary/fixed term or casual is to be employed and those where a contractor is to be engaged.
Note: We work on a "one-over-one" principle. You require your immediate manager's approval to recruit. Submit your proposal to your manager in writing, including:
Use the Authority to Recruit form
Do not proceed until you have written authority to do so - refer to the Authority to Recruit Form.