We have all heard the all-time favorite slogans such as
“You are as strong as your weakest link,” or “People do business with people, not companies.” Eluding to the importance of having the correct team allotted to the needs of a company.
So how to get with the right people?
Hiring is one of the few process within a company that science, logic and statistics do not scream an answer at you.
It comes down to gut feeling, cultural fits, blind luck and the process as a whole. This is exactly why Directors are faced with uncertainty during the Talent Acquisition process - a term that makes the hair stand on the backs of any CEO and CFO!
The main aspect of hiring is the success rate. The problem is the definition of that success rate, for example, is success how quickly a position is filled, how long employees stay at the company, what value the individual added to the company or at what bargain was the new incumbent hired at?
As hiring mangers or Recruiters, we love to hit for that honey comb condition, nice and warm, right in the middle of the all these aspects, but in reality we will always have a stepped chart with highs and lows per hire.
The way I see it is that Companies hire for two main reasons:
1: You can’t do the work due to skills shortage.
2: You can’t do the work due to manpower shortage.
They both end up with needing a new human. Hiring should not be done to increase efficiencies without having considered the skills capabilities and time capacities of your current staff compliment.
The hiring process is performed differently from company to company, some have their own databases and recruitment software, some use Recruitment Agencies and some use paid subscriptions to online databases such as LinkedIn.
Just like there is a mass of literature that is available to try and formalise the hiring process, so is the amount of tactics that companies adopt and adapt for their own needs.
So here is what I have seen as a trend or a glue that sticks when hiring. So listen up Recruiters, Hiring Managers and HR Managers.
1: Your current staff are your eyes and ears!
First and foremost, your current staff compliment should try to predict when individuals
are looking to leave. This allows your hiring managers or HR departments to have a few CV’s of available candidates in their top drawer.
2: THE SEARCH IS ON!
Cast a super wide net, but with large holes that allow the small “none applicable” candidates to slip through. For those that need a little explanation of my maritime analogy; try to get candidates from a variety of avenues and do so with the correct keywords and searches, or else you will attract and discover candidates that are completely unsuitable for your vacancy, leaving your hands calloused from all the sorting.
3: MONEY TALKS!
Discuss money and benefits with absolute clarity.
The concept of Cost to Company seems to differ from person to person. The best way to ensure that the correct candidates are being pushed up the pipeline is to show them the lay of the land in terms of their take home pay, benefits and PAYE. A simple conversation in this regard aids in sorting through the mass of candidates, but make sure that the information that is being divulged is accurate and not, “we are looking for market related.”
By the point of interviews as a hiring manager you should have a good idea of what the market is paying and what you are offering, it is not a good image for the company to not understand or know their own figures at the point of an interview.
Once you have shortlisted it is also advisable to show candidates a dummy payslip, instilling a bit of trust between you and the possible incumbent and showing something in black and white, making the process a reality.
4: LOOK GOOD DOING IT!
Manage your image when hiring! One of the dangers of Social Media these days is that every person that interacts with your company can be a potential bad review or PR hassle. Consider the following, for every vacancy, only one person gets the job, leaving the other candidates unsatisfied and rejected.
It’s like having a birthday party and only one kids gets a balloon, not cool. With this in mind, during the selection process we have to be mindful of how we handle candidates as a whole, a short list and the final hire. Incorrect interaction such as not replying, not managing expectations or timelines can be harmful to the companies brand and result in a negative image. To the point there are apps and websites such as Glassdoor that allow employees and candidates to share not only their interview experience, but the actual questions asked and salaries offered. We cannot prevent transparency being a fundamental component of the hiring process.
This brings me to my conclusion and a recommended tactic that works well in the hiring process, and that is Honesty!
In any part of the hiring process whether it’s the advert posting , psychometric testing, face to face interviewing, skype interviewing, cv screening or old school networking, people will move towards honestly, they stick by truth, give their all to the fulfillment of a real proposition, and will do so with money as a factor of the process rather than the deal breaker.
Amore Legere