A look at the retail recruitment in 2012 and expected future trends and the top 10 mistakes employers make.

1. CPL Retail
How To Make Better
Hiring Decisions For Your
Business
Arleen Quigg

2. Agenda
• The Marketplace
• Retail Statistics
• Current Irish Market
• Think About The Future
• Future Trends
• Cost of Turnover
• Increased Profitability
• How Hiring Decisions Are Made
• 10 HIRING MISTAKES EMPLOYERS MAKE
• Engagement

3. The Marketplace
• Increase in Discount Stores
• Fashion Slow - Shortage of Top Talent.
• Grocery Steady Growth.
• Non Food and Cosmetics Slow to
Steady growth

4. Retail Statistics
• 255,000 people employed in 2012
• 310,000 people employed in 2007
• Currently there is a Shortage of Top Talent for
the Retail Industry in Ireland.
• Highly Commercially hires are key to the
current market .
Quality vs. Quantity.

5. Current Irish Market
• May 2012 Live Register of 432,907
14.3% This includes part time workers
(3 days), seasonal and casual workers
entitled to Jobseeker Benefit
• Unemployed is measured by the
Quarterly National Household Survey
4th Qtr of 2011 Unemployment is at
302,000

6. Current Irish Market
• Long term claimants raised by +7% this year
to 188,729
• Short Term claimants
Make up 56.4% of Live Register
at 244,178 reduced by -7.7%
• Under 25 decreased by 8,345 (-10.3%)

7. Just Think ....
• 20 years ago No One had Mobile Phones
• 10 years ago No One was part of a Social
Network
• People are more Flexible on International
Career Opportunities than just close to home
• Advances in Technology is
Changing our Communities.

11. I hate networking!!
Trends - Tomorrow’s Candidate
James is 12
 …his last Christmas list was online using price
comparison site data!
 …his favourite film Ironman, he downloaded
from iTunes.
 ...he put together his holiday videos into a
movie using the iMovie app.
 … after scanning a QR code on his mum’s
iPhone, he won a trip to Disneyland.
 … he taught his dad to stream football online.
=> Do you think he’ll ever send you his
CV or reply to a job ad?

12. Cost of Turnover
• Cost of a poor hire = 3 to 5 times employee’s
annualised compensation.
• Specialist functions = 10 times annual salary.
• For an employee earning €30,000, a hiring
mistake can cost up to €150,000.

13. Increased Productivity
225
185
150
100 100 100
Average Top Average Top Average Top
Performer Performer Performer Performer Performer Performer
Low Complexity Jobs Medium Complexity Jobs High Complexity Jobs
Journal of Applied Psychology

14. How Hiring Decisions are made:
•Labour Cost as a % of Sales
•Hours Allowance per Store

15. Top 10 HIRING MISTAKES

16. Mistake 1: “We want the person who just left the job”
No you don’t. The person who has just left is not the person
who will want the job as they can already do it, you need
some stretch in the role for the prospective candidate.
The person you hired originally
is who you are looking for.

17. Mistake 2: References are taken as a “tick box” exercise
There is NO better way to really find out about an employee
than to find out how they performed in a previous job. This
will be much more reliable than any interview process.
Once you are confident the
reference is accurate…

18. Mistake 3: Not selling your company brand
You may think you are the best company to work for but
without providing a great impression and an engaging
interviewer to a candidate, they won’t feel the same.
The interview is the start of the journey with your brand as
an prospective employee but also for a future customer.
Also Word of mouth is critical to brand success in Ireland
which includes the interview process.
First impressions are critical.

19. Mistake 4: The Line Manager is not actively involved
Everyone says their staff are their most important resource
but how many times is the recruitment left to the HR/
recruitment department? You will get out what you put in.
Have the prospective manager
involved from the start.

20. Mistake 5: Out of date, too narrow or too vague job specs
It may seem like a chore to write but if you cannot agree what the
job entails, what the key competencies are for the role, don’t be
surprised if you cannot find the right candidate.
Stop re-hashing old job specs and work out
competencies of the role.

21. Mistake 6: Over Interviewing
Interviewing a candidate more than 4 times generally means
that you are not doing interviewing effectively. Interviews
alone only have a 30% accuracy.
Try other assessment methods:
• Group role-plays “Tell me about
• Psychometric tests yourself again and
• Presentations
again and again…”
• Exercises

22. Mistake 7: Delaying the Recruitment Process
Don’t start the process until you can answer the question “if
I saw the perfect person tomorrow would I hire them
immediately”.
Delaying the process sends all the
wrong messages to candidates.

23. Mistake 8: Have they got the X-Factor?
Don't be mislead by first impressions. Just because they work
for a competitor and look the part open your mind to interview
the candidates that fit your company and have passion for your
company.
Use competency based behavioural interviewing techniques to
identify the real skills sets to identify your next Susan Boyle.
Don’t have tunnel vision,
take advice from your
recruiters for suitable hires
for long term engaged
employees

24. Mistake 9: Under-utilising your own people to source
candidates
The best hires are generally referrals from someone who has
worked for or with someone. Ensuring there is a constant
pipeline of referrals is critical to find great talent for your
organisation.
Network your own
organisation and contacts.

25. Mistake 10: Over stating the role
If you mis-represented the role at the start, you may hire the
person but they won’t stay. You have already broken the
psychological contract with the employee. They may dis-
engage from the start.
Be open and honest about
the role from the beginning
of the hiring process.

26. Engagement
• An engaged employee is one who is
willing to put in discretionary effort
• “An exceptional employee is not just a
little better than someone who is pretty
good they are 100 times better”
Mark Zuckerberg

28. Name Arleen Quigg
Title: Manager CPL Retail & HR
Phone: 01 614 6071 / 087 2391519
Email: arleen.quigg@cpl.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CplRetailIreland
Website: www.cpl.ie