In the words of one printer (who understandably wishes to remain anonymous): "Hiring staff is like walking through a minefield blindfolded; there are so many ways to take a wrong step its almost impossible not to have it all blow up in your face."

It’s a fair bet to assume that this printer is not alone. The majority of print businesses are SMEs and do not have a dedicated HR professional on the books. This makes hiring exactly the nightmare described above. You see, the process of hiring a new member of staff is now dictated to by a whole raft of regulations and legal stipulations, so it can often feel like you need some sort of high-level qualification to wade through it safely. From wording and placing the job advert, to the final signing of the contract, there are many ways to take a wrong turn, and even get yourself into serious trouble. Fortunately, there are also ways to forge a safe path.

That recruitment is more of a challenge to smaller firms than large firms is clear, according to Siân Harrington, editor of HR magazine. She adds that companies often fall foul of the law not through vindictiveness or deliberate error, but simply by accident through not having the time to recruit properly.

"Smaller companies without experienced HR people could fall foul of recruitment legislation by accident," she explains. "It is a big issue for SMEs – especially smaller companies – because many do not have dedicated HR staff and HR processes can be bureaucratic and time consuming. Keeping up with employment legislation, which tends to change annually, is hard for firms when they are busy trying to keep the business going day-to-day. It is also a very complex area."

Chief among the dangers for SMEs is discrimination law. Formerly a rag-tag of various Acts, the government tried to simplify this area in 2010 by consolidating all discrimination law into the Equality Act 2010. 

"That has brought together all the types of discrimination there can be," explains BPIF head of legal and HR Anne Copley. "There is a list of protected characteristics: sex, marital status, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, transgender, age and disability."

Not simple
Essentially, if you choose not to employ someone based on a factor relating to the above, you are leaving yourself open to a legal challenge. Copley says that while these parameters seem easy to follow, they are in fact far from simple.

"Belief is a difficult area, for example," she says. "Until recently political beliefs were not included, so if you did not employ someone because you Googled them and found them to be a BNP member, it would not be discriminatory. But a BNP member was dismissed recently and fought his case in the courts; it was decided political belief is a protected characteristic."

She gives another example of a print company falling foul of this law. A receptionist answered the phone to a caller wishing for an application form for an advertised job that involved good communication skills. The caller was difficult to understand and, overhearing this, another employee told the receptionist to tell the caller the position had been filled. The caller then got a friend to call and request an application and that friend received one. This led to the original caller successfully bringing a case against the printer for race and – because her speech was affected by a slight disability – disability discrimination.

"The key is for all your staff to be trained in the discrimination laws and you don’t need in-house HR to do this. The BPIF runs a half-day course that should help protect you," says Copley. Consultants will offer a similar service.

These training days, whoever the provider is, are well worth taking up as discrimination touches every part of the recruitment process. They may cost you up front but they will save you in the future in the form of protection against expensive discrimination courses.

They will also help embed your recruitment policy through every stage of the process. Kirsty Mitchell, owner of SME specialist Halcyon HR Consulting, says each of these stages carries its own risks.

"At every stage, you need to be very clear what you need to do and how to do it properly. Otherwise, you leave yourself open to expensive risks," she explains.

This begins even before you place your advert, says Mitchell. She advises the first thing any company does when they decide a position needs to be recruited is to formulate a very specific job specification profile. This profile will detail all the duties of the job and the skills, qualifications and experience required to carry out those duties. It then forms the basis of the whole recruitment process.

It is particularly useful for the advert. Whether you advertise in print or online – Copley notes that the job should always be advertised in a local paper and the local job centre to avoid discrimination against local residents – the wording of the advert has to be carefully thought through. Firstly, it cannot specify any desirable attribute that would discriminate against the aforementioned protected areas – so it cannot give an age requirement, for example – and secondly it should concentrate on asking only for those skills set out in your job profile. Mitchell also advises putting an approximate salary figure on the advert, as well as any benefits offered.

"The downside is that if you don’t, you will have people applying that may expect a higher salary and never take the lower salary on offer. You’ve then wasted a lot of time and effort taking that person through the process," she explains.

Once you have placed the advert, people will begin the process of applying. The convention is to ask for a CV and covering letter, but Mitchell says times are changing. Many firms now opt for an online application that is more specific in its process.

"These online systems can range from being free to costing around £4,000 for the most comprehensive systems," she says. "Here you can ask specific questions related to the role so that you do not have to trawl through irrelevant information. For example, the job ad may just say you need someone who is computer literate, but you could ask questions about knowledge of specific programs and software."

However the applications arrive, the selection process for those you bring to interview has to be carefully considered. Mitchell says you have to have the job profile in one hand and the applications in the other and take notes as to why those you reject do not fit that job profile. Copley adds that it is best for someone not in the selection process to separate personal information from skills and experience information, so that the person selecting can only see the latter. Thus, you cannot be accused of discriminating on the basis of the former.

Mitchell says the ideal number of people to bring for a first interview is around six. She adds that firms can generally wander into dangerous territory at the interview stage, because print is such a personable industry. Mitchell says you have to restrain yourself.

"Keep the questions directly linked with the job specification profile you originally drew up," she says. "It should all be about skills, experience and knowledge related to the job. Keep all personal questions out of it. Even asking where a candidate lives or if they are married is potentially discriminatory. You have to ask yourself what you are trying to gain from that question. If you want to know if hours are a problem, then state the hours of work and ask if they are feasible, not whether the candidate needs to finish at 4pm to pick the kids up."

Both Mitchell and Copley advise using written questions that you ask to every candidate with no changes, and to take notes throughout each interview. This means no candidate can claim they were asked questions others weren’t, which could be the basis of a discrimination case.

For second interviews, Mitchell says it is advisable to bring a maximum of three applicants back. She says that before you conduct the interviews, you have to decide and write down on what basis you are going to make a decision and to create the second interview process as a result of that.

"You cannot make an off-the-cuff decision based on the fact one candidate was a good-looking 25-year-old blonde woman and the other a slightly dumpy 40-year-old man," jokes Mitchell. "You have to justify the selection process by deciding beforehand the selection criteria. Then, in the interview, run tests, get them to meet the team, do practical demonstrations or presentations; whatever will help you see which candidate best meets the criteria."

Job offer
Finally, after this process, you are ready to offer a contract. Mitchell advises you to offer the job subject to two satisfactory references and that you do not tell the second-place candidate until those references are returned – "it’s a good idea to keep that candidate warm in case you need them," she explains. Copley warns, though, that references have to be cautiously reviewed.

"I advise most employers to not take references at face value," she says. "You have to be more careful. The employee may have brought a perfectly legitimate claim against their previous employer and so that employer may not give a reference or give a bad reference. So you have to be careful."

If references do all come back satisfactorily, you have the pleasure of accepting what should be a new asset to your team. A full contract should be supplied within six weeks of them starting, and Mitchell recommends a six-month probation period in which either side can terminate employment with a week’s notice. Copley adds that if the decision proves to have been a bad one following that probation period, employers now have two years wherein they can sack an employee without fear of an unfair dismissal case, as long as it does not involve discrimination.

If you follow our guide on the next page, however, you should have no need to use that grace period. Recruiting is a difficult and complex process, but with a little help it does not have to be a dangerous one for employers and by following proper procedures you should end up with the best person for the job. And though it all seems a bit overwhelming, Mitchell says that at the end of the day "it is mostly common sense". With a bit of training, those print businesses without full time HR should be able to hire problem-free.

HR TOOLKIT

PrintWeek provides your essential guide to recruitment. Cut out and keep these top tips to ensure you do things by the book next time you’re looking to welcome a new employee to your team

Before you start

• It is best to cast a wide net when recruiting; use both print and online job portals (such as printweekjobs.com). It is also advisable to place a print ad in the local newspaper and local job centre, so as to deter any locals complaining they were discriminated against by not being made aware
• The wording of the advert has to be very carefully thought through. It has to state the experience and qualifications from your job specification profile and not add any potentially discriminating factors, such as ideal age or location.
• Notification of the salary is not a must for the advert, but it helps to filter out any candidates who were on a higher salary and would not accept less. Benefits – such as pension, childcare and so on – should be included as this can be a real draw.

• When going through CVs, you always have to have your job specification profile next to you and to use it to check off whether applications are suitable. You should keep notes as to how and why those applications you discard do not meet your job profile
• You should also get a staff member unconnected to the selection process to separate personal information from the experience and qualifications information. This protects against any accidental discrimination based on personal information.
• It is not a legal requirement, but it is best practice to notify failed candidates with a standard letter or email and to provide these candidates with feedback if they request it.

• The average number of applicants for first interview is around six.
• Interview questions should be prepared in advance and written down. The same questions should be asked to each candidate with answers noted throughout.
• No personal questions should be asked. Do not ask if the female candidate has a family or is planning one, for example. This could lead to accusations of discrimination. Keep questions purely about experience and qualifications.
• At this stage, state whether any overtime/unsociable hours are expected and – if the job requires physical duties – a questionnaire should be completed by the candidate. Never ask verbally about the latter; always keep it written as this prevents confusion, miscommunication and problems later on.
• You must judge these interviewees on the basis of their suitability to match your job specification profile and you should keep notes as to where they do or do not meet it. This means that should a failed candidate appeal your decision, you have the evidence at hand to contest the case.

• Typically, between two and three candidates are brought back for second interview. Before these interviews take place, you must decide and write down on what basis you will make a decision. Then devise the interviews accordingly. For example, you could make the candidates undergo written tests, ask them to do a presentation or to prepare additional documentation; for example, to complete a financial assessment or financial management tasks if the job is for a financial position.
• The questions must be different to the first interview, but the same rules apply: keep to the topics of qualifications and experience.
• While getting to know the applicant socially is a preferred method of some companies – for example, by taking them for a quick drink or dinner in the case of some senior positions – this is not advisable according to the professionals. It means that should you then reject that candidate, you risk a case against you for rejecting them on personal grounds.

Offering the job

• You may have to prove why one candidate was selected over another – so keep extensive notes and be clear about why one candidate has best met the original job specification profile.
• You should always offer the job subject to two acceptable references. That said, those references should be analysed carefully as refusal to give a reference or a bad reference does not always mean the candidate is a bad one. Look carefully at the background of these references.
• Keep your second choice ‘warm’. Do not tell them they don’t have the job until references come back and the job is accepted by the preferred candidate.
• Offer the job subject to six months’ probation. Remember: the government has extended the period in which you can’t be sued for unfair dismissal to two years
• The probation period has to be carefully managed so that the candidate has the best chance of success. Failing to support the candidate adequately could see you get into trouble.