How to secure the right hire under new employment laws
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Posted: Tue 11th Mar 2025
5 min read
With upcoming changes to employment law –including expanded day-one rights – the recruitment process is set to become more critical than ever.
Employers will need to refine their hiring strategies to ensure they bring in the right talent from the outset, reducing the risk of early disputes, underperformance, or costly dismissals.
Here’s how you can tighten your recruitment processes to ensure you hire the right person for the role.
1. Define the role with precision
A vague job description can attract the wrong candidates, leading to wasted time and resources.
Ensure your job adverts and role specifications are clear, specific and aligned with business needs by:
Outlining key responsibilities in detail
Highlighting essential and desirable skills to filter applicants effectively
Being upfront about expectations, including working patterns, flexibility and progression opportunities
A well-crafted job description sets the tone for the entire hiring process and ensures candidates know what they’re signing up for.
Optimising the role's profile for the job boards is also critical. You have the options here of adding filters, non-negotiables, and additional information around culture and benefits, so utilise this to get in front of the right audience.
2. Strengthen your screening and shortlisting process
With new laws making it harder to dismiss employees after hiring, it’s crucial to weed out unsuitable candidates early.
Improve your screening by:
Using structured application forms with role-specific questions to assess suitability
Implementing skills-based assessments where relevant
Running pre-interview telephone screenings to gauge communication skills and cultural fit
Top tip: Consider AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS) to quickly filter CVs based on key skills and experience.
3. Conduct more rigorous interviews
A casual chat isn’t enough – structured interviews are essential for making informed hiring decisions.
Ensure you:
Use competency-based questions that assess past behaviour in real work scenarios
Score candidates objectively against predefined criteria
Include practical tasks or case studies to evaluate job-related skills
Where possible, involve multiple interviewers to provide different perspectives and reduce unconscious bias.
4. Improve reference and background checks
Too often, reference checks are rushed or treated as a formality. In the new legal landscape, thorough verification is essential.
Always request at least two professional references, ideally from direct managers
Verify employment history and look out for gaps or inconsistencies
For certain roles, consider enhanced background checks, such as DBS checks for regulated industries
If a candidate cannot provide satisfactory references, it’s a red flag worth investigating further.
5. Trial periods and probation: Set clear expectations
While the proposed reforms include up to a nine-month probation period, probation should never be treated as an afterthought.
Strengthen your process by:
Setting clear performance goals from day one
Holding structured check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days to track progress
Providing early feedback and support to help new hires succeed
If performance concerns arise, document everything and take action quickly, waiting until the end of probation to address issues can lead to difficult conversations and legal risks.
6. Be transparent about culture and expectations
Many hiring issues stem from a mismatch between employer expectations and employee reality.
To avoid this:
Be upfront about workplace culture, pressures and challenges during interviews
Allow candidates to meet potential teammates to assess cultural fit
Offer realistic job previews, such as shadowing or trial tasks, where feasible
By ensuring candidates fully understand the role and work environment, you can reduce early turnover and misalignment.
Final thoughts
As employment laws evolve, recruitment must shift from a reactive process to a proactive, strategic function. Hiring mistakes will become more costly, so tightening your recruitment processes now will pay off in the long run.
By defining roles clearly, screening effectively, conducting structured interviews and setting expectations upfront, businesses can secure the right talent while minimising hiring risks.