Essential Procedures Your Organization Should Follow When Recruiting Care Assistants

The recruitment of care assistants in any organization is a demanding one that requires a systematic procedure. The presence or absence of an efficient human resource team in your organization will still demand due process to be followed. In selecting care assistants, following due process cannot be neglected. They will help secure your staffing policies, and best represent the interest of your organization well.

It should include the following phases:

1. Pre-selection Tasks: this is the first stage, and it includes organizing and reviewing a job description and job requirement. It also includes putting up the job vacancy for an advertisement to reach the target audience.

2. Application Tasks: this stage includes handling inquiries about the job post and deciding how best-interested persons may apply. It could take a format of requiring applicants to complete an application form, a cover letter, or a résumé.

3. Screening and Shortlisting: there will be lots of people responding to your job ad. This stage is critical and delicate. It is concerned basically with separating applicants who are unfit from the eligible applicants; and, in the event of a tight competition, deciding on the most suitable people to be shortlisted.

4. Selecting: Making a selection entails utilizing the most effective methods to find the right person for the post. The process of selection can range from simple to complex. Identify the most efficient and cost-effective ways or range of methods you can use for the particular post. Typically, structured face-to-face interviews are the norm for care assistant positions. Structured interviews are designed to find out all relevant information and evaluate the capabilities of the candidate, with a focus on the match between the job and the given criteria. It will also provide a reliable procedure for the interviews.

5. Appointment: granting your selected applicants an appointment get may be dependent on several factors that have to be brought to the fore or negotiated — for example, salary, terms, and conditions, starting dates, and contract duration.

6. Post-Appointment: In this final stage of recruitment, after serving appointments, you will be concerned with listing references and testimonials, checking criminal records, disclosure and barring list checks and health checks. All of these things are required for the compliance of the care service to its registration requirements.

The following points are worthy of note:

• When a job post becomes vacant, there might be a need for the employer to review the position, job demands and reconsider the individual job description.
• Recruitment of Care assistants often takes a local form; this is to ensure that they match the needs of the people who need the service in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, etc.
• Ensure that your advertisements are non-discriminatory. The ads should point out how inquiries and applications will be treated in line with data protection requirements.
• It should also be noted that registered persons and managers will need to make separate applications to the Care Quality Commission to approve their appointments within the service.
• All stages of the recruitment and selection process for any post will need to comply with equality and anti-discrimination laws. Compliance with Equality Act 2010 provisions on the employment of people with protected individualities is also fused into the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.