I'm a big fan of group recruitment... in the right circumstances! The reason I promote this as an alternative to one-on-one interviewing is that I have used it many times with great success. However, you need to use it selectively for the right type of roles within your company and make sure that you present your business, and yourself, in a professional light.

To many busy business owners, group recruitment is a wonderful time saver. It allows you to see potential employees using a de-selection method. I particularly love this method as it fits right in with my mantra of "recruit on attitude first, then on aptitude".

If you want committed, enthusiastic and passionate employees who have bought into your business vision, utilising a de-selection process is a wonderful way to ensure that you get the best person for the job.

SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
In the most leveraged situation, you would begin with the application process:
1) Identify the characteristics of the person you want to recruit. Determine if it's introverted or extroverted and if this is the best method to attract the type of applicant you want.
2) Advertise the position with a phone number for applicants to call that links directly to a telephone "hot line".
3) Your telephone "hot line" has a recorded message thanking each applicant for their call and asks them to leave their name, contact number and quick answers to one or two short questions.
4) Clear the hot line messages on a regular basis and record each applicants details and answer on a response sheet.
5) Listen to their voice and their answer and then indicate on the form whether to ring them for a phone interview. You would be amazed what you can glean just from a quick 3 minute phone message!

Once you've shortlisted applicants from the phone interview:
6) Phone the applicant for a quick ten minute phone interview (using a standard phone script asking questions about why they applied for the role - see our website for a great template contained in the 22 Essential HR Templates workbook).
7) Decide, while on the phone to them (to save time), whether to invite them to a group information evening or reserve your judgment until the final phone call has been made.

Hold the Group Information Evening at your office, or at a reputable function venue:
8) Once you've held the Group Information Evening you will have a shortlist of applicants.
9) Contact shortlisted applicants and invite them to a one-on-one interview at your office.

Continue your interview process with a one-on-one interview at your office:
10) Conduct additional one-on-one interviews as per your standard recruitment process.

The benefit is that by the time they have come into your office for the one-on-one interview, you are sure that they match your cultural expectations and have the right personal attributes to be a success in the role.

TYPE OF ROLES BEST SUITED FOR GROUP RECRUITMENT METHODS
1) Extroverted roles
To ensure that the group recruitment method works, use it solely for roles that require people to be extroverted, confident, engaging and conversational. More what you would expect in customer facing or business development type roles. It wouldn't be suitable, for example, when recruiting more introverted type roles like finance managers.

2) Positions that attract a large number of applicants
In a tight labour market, there will be roles that attract a large number of applicants with similar characteristics. I like to use group recruitment as a de-selection process where applicants that don't match your criteria will simply de-select themselves from your shortlist.

3) Non-professional roles
The best use of group recruitment is for what I call personality based roles, not those that are of a high professional standing. If you're looking for a quality professional candidate, then the professional one-on-one interview process is probably a better fit.

5 WAYS GROUP RECRUITMENT COULD BENEFIT YOUR BUSINESS

1. Leveraging Your Time: It's a great way to leverage your time - you save at least 15 minutes for each interview by not having to go over valuable time about your business as this is covered in full during the presentation.

2. It Does the De-Selecting For You! Those that aren't interested or invested in getting a role with your company won't turn up. When I first heard this method, I dismissed it with a "nobody would respond to our ads". What I didn't realise is that it's actually a de-selection method - people deselect themselves. At the end of the day, you only want people who really want a job with you. If they can't respond to a simple instruction or put themselves out there to get a job with you, then really question whether you would want them working for you.

3. Seeing How Applicants Perform When Placed Outside of Their Comfort Zone: You get to see how each applicant performs under pressure and when they're in a situation that is not the norm.

4. Interaction is Key: You benefit from seeing how each person interacts with others.

5. Team Selection & Involvement: You have an opportunity to engage your existing team members in the process by inviting them along to not only provide valuable assistance and credibility on the night, but to also mingle with the applicants at the networking break. They will then be able to provide their impression of each applicant be engaged in the selection of the right person for the team.

THE DOWNSIDE OF GROUP RECRUITMENT
1. Because it's not a familiar recruitment technique, people are often scared to turn up. Expect a 30% drop off rate - even when you have confirmed with each person that day!
2. It's different to what people are used to therefore there can be some resistance and hesitation about participating in group recruitment. But don't worry, this is a de-selection process!
3. Some recruitment firms are completely against this method as they believe that it doesn't select the right candidate as some people will be turned off. But to me that's precisely what I want. Remember, it's a de-selection method!
4. It can take some time to put together a solid process (have a look at our website for some excellent templates that you can use to run a successful, easy and streamlined Group Recruitment session).

EXPERIMENT WITH A HYBRID MODEL!
As this is a great time saver, I have also had great success using a hybrid of this method. For example, you could integrate the group recruitment method in a more professional type role and run it something like this:

1) In the job advertisement, ask people to respond by either phone or email.

2) Screen applications (by phone or email) and shortlist those that appear suitable.

3) For shortlisted applicants, conduct a short and sharp phone interview using a standard phone interview template.

4) Invite shortlisted applicants to the group information evening ensuring that you have positioned it as an opportunity for them to attend a non-pressure environment to find out more about the company and the role.

5) Run the Group Information Evening using the set format - outlining your business and the role in which they are applying for.

6) Accept applications and ask interested candidates to complete an application form.

7) Invite shortlisted applicants to a one-on-one interview.

Getting Group Recruitment Underway
You may also be thinking right now that it sounds like a lot of work to put together this and get all the right forms together. And it is the first time! However, it is well worth the time investment to ensure that you get the right person.