Having an established recruitment process will help you to source, shortlist and engage suitable workers more effectively, can save you time interviewing unsuitable applicants and save time in subsequent recruitment.  Effective processes can help you to work more efficiently and could potentially provide the means for someone in your family or network to assist you to find suitable staff.

It is always important to remember self-direction does not mean you have to take on the responsibility for doing everything alone.  Planning can assist you to work out how much of the recruitment process you wish to be involved in depending on where you live, the resources within your family and networks, the support from your Host Provider and the amount of money you have to spend on recruitment.

In the story, Finding the right person - being in charge of the recruitment process, Madonna Nicoll gives an overview of the process she uses to recruit  people and talks about the advantages of being in control of the recruitment process. "It is preferable to the generic recruitment that my previous service conducted. That process didn't really work for me. I like having ownership of the applicant selection and appointment."

A recruitment process includes:

• Advertising With a clear idea of the role you need filled you can begin the process of finding the right person for the position whether this is through formal advertising or through less formal processes.
•  Interviewing and Selecting Interviews are your time to assess the applicant's capacity to carry out the duties required or their ability to learn them.
• Reference Checks It is always important to contact referees to check that what an applicant has said in an interview or on their application form is correct.
• Checking Work Visa If you are thinking about employing a person from overseas, it is important to check their work visa status and the associated entitlements.
• Criminal History Screening It is a requirement that persons engaged to work with you undergo a national criminal history screening.

• Appointing It is important for both sides of the employment negotiation to be clear about the working arrangement before the point of employment.

Other important areas to consider when engaging people to work for you include:

• Induction and Training These offer opportunities for establishing your expectations for the role and for people to feel secure in their work
•  Establishing and Maintaining a Working Relationship This is an important consideration, especially when working with a team of people
•  Letting Staff Go At times it may become apparent that a staff member is not a 'good fit' for you or the team and that you will need to part ways.
• Managing the Paperwork Having an easy to use system for managing paperwork can save you time in the long run.

In this video a parent talks about how she engages people to work with her son.