Far too many project managers concentrate on the project and its goals, and leave the important task of assigning personnel to it until it's too late. If you choose the right staff for your project, it can have knock-on effects on meeting deadlines, keeping the budget on track, and best of all, producing a quality project. If you find yourself in the position of having to recruit staff for your project, here are some tips to get it right first time:

Looking internally first can have advantages

When people think of 'recruitment', they think of recruitment drives, which are usually external. There may be someone right under your nose with the right skills, attitude and know-how to fit perfectly into your project, but lacking the experience to come to your attention. You may be the key to that experience. Recruiting someone internal is usually cheaper, plus you can nurture their skills to better serve you in the future, too.

Employing someone who already knows the company is also an advantage as you don't need to do so much induction training with them, and more time can be spent familiarising them with the project.

Try to find multi-skilled rather than single skilled staff

Whether you decide to recruit internally or not, always try to look for multi-skilled staff. You may know the particular skill you need to fill, but having additional ones can also come in immensely useful. For example, it's all well and good if you recruit someone with excellent budgeting skills, but if they lack timekeeping skills too - they may as well cancel each other out for all the benefit you'll get from them!

Sometimes, when a person knows they have a good skill set, they will ask for more salary - balance this out in your mind with the benefit vs. cost ratio (more on this later).

Check for negative records

It's an unpleasant job, but many managers (not just project managers) don't tend to go through prospective employee's records with a fine tooth-comb, usually because they don't have the time, or they trust someone after interview to the point where they become complacent.

If someone has a record of excessive absence or sickness without medical backup, you may need to reconsider how reliable they will be. Don't forget to check references, either - they can be crucial in your decision-making process.

Assess the salary of staff versus quality of work and experience

Similar to judging how many different skills you can get for a certain salary, the same idea applies to the kind of experience, skills, and expertise a person has versus what kind of budget you are willing to spend on hiring them. You may think a very experienced person is expensive, but if they could cover for you, for example - and continue to lead the team - then it may be worth it.

You can also look out for overpriced personnel - as in life and business, some things are overpriced and not good value for money!

These tips should be in the back of your mind whenever you have to choose staff for your project. If you can incorporate these ideas, you will be better prepared and the project with have better results. The project is usually a sum of its parts - make staff one that you spend quality time on.