Selecting Your HRMS Team Talent: Where’s Waldo?

Before you select the software, first you select the team and the principle is not dissimilar. Just as you need to know your system and software requirements in order to measure the likely vendor options, so you need to be clear on your representation and skills and knowledge requirements in order to identify the most effective team members from the large pool of available candidates. No matter how much you work on these requirements, it can sometimes feel as if you are trying to find the ever-elusive Waldo. Just remember the key to finding the right talent for your HRMS team is the stripey sweater, or in this case your team requirements.

HRMS Team Selection Procedure

The process of choosing HRMS team members (and let’s assume that you have a choice and that organization priorities, time restrictions and budget constraints aren’t choosing for you) is naturally similar to any other recruitment or hiring procedure, albeit simplified wherever possible.

Put very simply… identify the skills, qualities and knowledge required for each role (the criteria); advertise in the right places (in-house, this might be as simple as talking to the right people); take applications (again, this can be quite informal or you may decide to ask for a short written application); shortlist the people you think look to be likely prospects; interview your shortlist (this might be quite casual but you still need to be asking questions that will draw out the person’s suitability – or otherwise – for the team); finally, make some decisions.

Start Dates

Whether it’s in-house talent or an external HRMS consultant, who you want is one thing, when you can have them is another entirely. Of course, there is something to be said for the whole team starting together. The team bonds (or not) from one point in time and you’re not constantly adding new elements which shake everything up. On the other hand, only having people working on the project as and when you need their input is a cost- and resource-effective way of working if you can manage it.

Maybe the best combined option is to conduct a single selection process to identify all team members, regardless of when you need them. Then, have that first meeting together and lay out the project schedule/plan and identify exactly when each person will drop in and out and what combinations will be required and when. That way, everyone has at least met everyone, even if they’re not due to come on board for a month or so.

Onboarding

Just dropping someone into any new role and expecting them to perform instantly is an unrealistic expectation. Whatever their past experience, your new HRMS team members are finding themselves in a new role on a new project and having some onboarding activities can help them get off to the necessary flying start.

First, they need access – to premises, to your HRMS technology, to information – whatever it is, it can be arranged beforehand so that on their first day, everything they’ll need is available to them. They also need introductions to the people they will be working with, interacting with, even battling with as they drive the project forward. Finally, each HRMS team member needs clarity on what is expected; both of the HRMS project as a whole and also of them in respect of their role.

Not only does the team selection process determine the resources and talents you’ll have at your disposal, but it is also the first step in managing the team as an entity. As with any recruitment procedure, it’s the team members´ first impression of what it will be like to work on the project, with each other and with you!