How you plan your recruiting is important, not only to ensure you find the right person for your job opening, but also because the cost of poor recruitment decisions can be very high - in terms of both time and money.

The following steps can help ensure your business has an effective recruitment plan:

Determine your recruitment goals

A recruitment plan should be based on your business goals. For example, are you planning to expand or change your business? What skills are required to accomplish this objective? From there, you should establish specific recruitment goals. One goal will be attracting the best people to work in your business. The best people will make a direct difference to your bottom line, helping to raise your service and quality level. People who are less than dedicated to your business can compromise customer experiences.

Some other recruitment goals may be:

* Attracting a higher standard of candidate
* Attracting a candidate who has skills you currently do not have in your organization
* Promoting your company as a dynamic place where people want to work

Determine your overall recruitment needs through having well established business goals.

Review job descriptions

Take time to review the job description, which may need to be updated since the last person was hired. Or, if it is a new position, you may need to create a new job description. You may want to talk to the previous person in the position and get their input on how the job description could be improved, and what the highlights of the job were. Make sure the description includes all of the critical job related components.

Hone your interviewing technique

Before interviewing, develop job-related questions so there are no awkward pauses, and so you remain in charge of the interview. Be sure to ask open-ended questions that allow the candidate to tell you about themselves, such as "What are some things you would like to avoid in a job? Why?" and "In your previous job what kind of pressures did you face?"

Follow through after a candidate has accepted

Have you confirmed the offer in writing and advised other employees within the company? Be sure to make arrangements for the candidate’s start date well ahead of time. You’ll also want to advise the other candidates that the position has been filled.

With the right recruitment plan in place, you'll be in a better position to hire the best people for your company.