The cost of getting employment wrong can be up to twice the annual salary.

We seek a thorough briefing on the position and then further details about the organisation structure and those who are currently employed. This step allows us to build an ideal candidate profile. We then ‘road test’ this candidate profile with the client to ensure we have understood the information gathered.

Once we have a full understanding of the client requirements we need to develop a strategy to attract candidates. Types of strategies might include:

Advertising – Our extensive experience ensures our advertisements have the best chance of attracting quality candidates.

Headhunting – Networking a targeted list of potential candidates or required skill set through a sector.

Considering a merger or acquisition to bring in the required skills to an organisation.

This strategy is then discussed with the client to ensure we are all on the same page and ready to proceed.

With an appropriate position description, the aim is to develop a list of candidates that are appropriate for the client to interview. This process requires:

The candidate outlining their career: this is a listening and observing process with few interruptions;

Secondly we outline the client and the organisation, the reason for the vacancy and the role;

Finally, we ask the candidate specific questions to ascertain their suitability for the role.

The interview between the client and the candidate is crucial. Where appropriate, we are available to attend the Client – Candidate Interview to ensure its structure with an interview check-list.

Where appropriate we will ask the candidate to answer behavioural questions which reveal more about their personality in the workplace.

If it is a critical role (or for example, the person is stepping into a management role) then we recommend psychometric testing and this analysis is outsourced (refer to 'Caliper').

An essential part of Eve’s service is reference checking. These not only confirm the history of the candidate but also provide information as to their personality. A reference check is also flexible tool:

- you can probe technical aspects and have your impressions confirmed;
- talk about cultural fit (e.g. the management style to which they respond).

Caution must be exercised with all reference checks. They can tell you much about the referee as they do about the candidate. With this in mind, the information gathered must be interpreted. To avoid referee bias the reference check is structured so questions about the candidate’s suitability for the role are the final part of the interview . This helps lessen the potential for the referee “selling” the candidate to the role. If “selling” is suspected (given the information elicited earlier in the interview) and after further probing this suspicion confirmed then it is clearly noted.