Get ready for counter offers when you have made a job offer to a candidate.

When a candidate resigns from their current role, it is a wake-up call to their employer. They realise that they are underpaying their staff, that they are going to be expensive and difficult to replace, and that it make take months to solve the problem. So they offer the employee more money and lots of promises to try to keep them on board.

Candidates find the appeal of the loyalty, the promises that everything will change for them and the extra money on offer very flattering.

Their MD takes them out for coffee to tell them all about his special projects and new plans for them. Suddenly the wonderful new job is not so attractive.

So, assume the candidate is going to get counter offered and be sure that when you put together your job offer, it is the best offer you can make.

Give yourselves plenty of time to recruit people.

Getting the 'right person for the job' is the aim of every manager who is running a key function or a company. It can take months to hire the right person, so if you know you are going to be looking for someone in the near future then put some feelers out early. This is especially true where the location of the candidate is crucial.

To get a key person for a key post requires know-how and time - and it is the latter most managers don't have. Thus, the problem is often seen as an irksome task; and often deferred to the point when it eventually becomes so urgent that a rushed decision has to be made.

Hire graduates!

Normally the very best IT graduates are snapped up during the Milk Round by large corporate companies with massive resources and budgets. But those companies have not recruited in the same volumes this year. Consequently the quality of graduates available is far higher than usual. This year offers a unique opportunity to hire good graduates.

However, graduates are still going to take some time to make the transition into work mode; they are going to need lots of training, management and monitoring, plus constant feedback via Twitter and Facebook to keep them happy.

Ensure that your interview process makes your company attractive. If the first interviews are informal, chatty and relaxed then you will attract people who thrive in that environment. Starting the process with a one on one chat is a great first step.

If possible try to avoid starting the process with an interviewee meeting a lot of people at once. If technical tests or psychometric tests are part of your interview process then it is best to get the candidates to do these tests after they have had their face to face interview and met everyone.

And try not to start the interview late; a lack of punctuality has a very negative impact on people.

And do offer the candidate something to drink!

You are entitled to decide which agents you want to work with! If you receive the same CV from one or more recruitment company, you have the legal right to decide which supplier you want to see the candidate through.

You can choose based on who sent the CV first if you want to, but there is no legal justification for that. You can make your choice based on the fees you pay, or you can choose who to deal with based on your relationship with a particular agent, or you can choose based on any other factor. It is totally up to you and you should never allow an agent to bully you in your decision making.

In those rare situations where an agency gets heavy handed or aggressive, the client company has no obligation to justify to any agent, why they have made the decision to give the interview to the agent of their choice.

However, once you have requested an interview from an agent then you are committed to that agency for that candidate.

Starting the interview is a crucial element to the whole process; you want to come across as open and likeable, but you also want to be assertive and in control. If you go with the classic starting point of 'Tell me about yourself' you could suffer 15 minutes of misery whilst the candidate waffles on about the most irrelevant aspects of their career.

Or you could talk about your company but that is delaying the moment of getting them to talk. How about 'Tell me about the best aspects of your last/current role'. It gives the candidate an opportunity to be positive and sell their most recent experience, but limits the discussion to their last job.

Telephone interviews are as important as real interviews; don't forget to make the call and make it at the time you have booked.

Telephone interviews are frequently part of the recruitment process, but they are quite commonly forgotten or missed - they just don't seem as important as a face to face meeting. For a candidate waiting for 30 minutes in a car, or on their own in a meeting room, these are the longest 30 minutes of their day. The natural reaction is to blame the interviewer and brand the interviewer's company as having a cavalier attitude.

When you are conducting telephone interviews, set up a convenient time and try to not to miss it.

Selling your job at interview. Before meeting any candidates you should write down what technical skills the candidate will be exposed to in the first 12 months; make sure to include any new software you will buy. Then list all the projects they will work on and the roles they will be exposed to. Now you have a list of technologies, roles and projects, which makes for great interview discussions. 

Next, think about one successful recruit in a similar role to the one you are hiring for, what the role was when they joined your company and what they have achieved and learnt since then. 

During the interviews, go through technologies, projects, roles, prospects with each candidate before they leave their first interview with you; you never know what will interest them so cover all the bases.

HOW IS THE MARKET?

Ambis is up 196% January to May this year as against last year. But then last year was grim.

2010 is going to be a lot busier than last year for recruitment of skilled staff who can be deployed on projects or who can start providing application support quickly. Whilst there are still people available on the market the swing from 'available immediately' to 'currently employed' candidates is sudden and dramatic. Clients planning ahead for 2010 need to allocate 6-8 weeks to get someone onboard and they should consider putting aside some money for training. My tip would be to negotiate with your training providers early and tie up a deal for the whole year.

Selling your job to candidates can secure you the best candidate on the market more easily and often at a lower salary. There are 4 basic factors that are easiest to sell:

1. Opportunity to move into Management; if this is on the agenda then make it as specific as possible, "You will be running a team of X people by X month" 
2. Opportunity to gain new technology; people know that you have to be moving forward with technology. If they are going to learn specific skills, make it very clear what and when. Write down what they will be using in the first 12 months and compare it to what they have.
3. Opportunity to change role; if they are going to be doing any different aspect of the project then that will give them exposure to a new role.
4. Opportunity to work on tangibly different projects; this could be a new business vertical, a bigger / smaller project or a different application.

All of these factors improve the candidates' employability because they are tangible facts that will end up on the CV. By detailing these factors and explaining very clearly at interview what they will gain, you will be able to attract the best candidates.