Now you’ve prepared all the elements to create a safer recruiting process, how do you make it part of your culture and especially second nature to the recruitment team?
Many people like to have a plan, they like to put a structure and this is especially prevalent for meetings that need team members to really buy in to an idea or a culture. So here’s a snapshot agenda to help with those conversations and making safer recruitment an ‘Il fait accompli’ in your organisation.
1. Opening (15 minutes)
- Start by encourage sharing and understanding what people think about recruitment
- "What keeps you up at night regarding recruitment safety?"
- Share relevant safeguarding incident statistics
- Discuss what personal responsibility in safer recruitment means to them
2. Outline Current Challenges (20 minutes)
- Manual tracking inefficiencies
- Compliance gaps and risks
- Cost implications of current processes
3. Share and Agree Best Practices (30 minutes)
- Digital verification systems
- Real-time compliance monitoring
- Documentation management
4. Implementation Strategy (25 minutes)
- 4-week transformation plan
- Digital migration roadmap
- Staff training requirements
- Success metrics
Handling Common Objections
Sometimes meetings don’t go as smoothly as we like. Especially if your new process involves change. This can push people out of their comfort zone or create anxiety about getting it wrong. Or you might have a nay sayer.. They have their place, it’s always good to have someone who can point out the barriers and challenges you may face but we understand that can be draining. So here’s some help on objection handling
1. "We've always done it this way"
- Demonstrate real cases of compliance failures in traditional systems and ways of working.
- Use regulations and guidelines from your NGB if the standard is not being met
- Emphasise that improved steps will provide peace of mind, refer back to their first comments if they mentioned anything they weren’t happy with using the current system
2. "It's too complicated to change"
- Present phased implementation approach over time, break the changes down to into manageable steps
- Offer training and support resources
3. "We don't have the budget"
- Ahead of the meeting try to calculate current hidden costs (staff time, storage, admin) of doing the current process
4. "We don't have the time"
- This can be a common misconception, that change requires more effort and more time.
- In most instances when new process are imbedded efficiency is actually improved.
- This might not be at that particular part of the process, it might reduce effort in later stages so try to connect the dots.
Energising the discussion
If you want a more energised and two way discussion with the recruitment team then you need to think about what might get them actively thinking about the solutions themselves. Take them on the journey with you and make them feel they are part of the decision making process. This usually drives far greater adoption of the end solution. We’ve broken this down into 3 sections to help you laser in on your preferred style:
Making It Engaging:
1. Use interactive elements:
- Real-case scenarios
- Group problem-solving exercises
- Live system demonstrations
2. Emotional connection:
- Share safeguarding success stories
- Discuss potential consequences of non-compliance
- Emphasise personal responsibility in protecting vulnerable individuals
Reinforcing Importance:
1. Legal Framework:
- Latest regulatory requirements
- Consequences of non-compliance
- Recent legal cases
2. Organisational Benefits:
- Enhanced reputation and brand
- Reduced risk and improved trust
- Improved efficiency
- Better candidate experience making it easier to hire in the future
Making It Second Nature:
1. Integration Strategies:
- Build into daily workflows
- Create simple checklists
- Set up automated reminders
- Regular refresher training
2. Cultural Embedding:
- Make it part of team KPIs
- Regular compliance updates
- Celebrate successful implementations
- Share best practices
Next Steps
When you’ve set your plan out make sure everyone is clear on next steps. There’s nothing worse than a fantastic meeting with everyone onboard but then nothing happens. Integrity is doing what you say you’re going to do, so keep everyone honest with their actions from the meetings.
Follow-up Actions:
1. Weekly check-ins
2. Monthly audit reviews
3. Quarterly training refreshers
4. Annual process evaluation
With this template and structure you should be able to find the right solution for you and your team, only you know what will work best so don’t be afraid to put some time into planning out what you do.