Whether you’re hiring or looking for a job, you’ll probably be operating through a deeply flawed process.
Everybody wants the best people for their openings and candidates seek positions they feel they deserve. Unfortunately, most companies are not set up to secure these results.
Let’s consider the hiring-side process routinely encountered in most businesses.
Generally, companies offering positions:
- Advertise/scan resumes/search for people online and through contacts
- Prescreen candidates versus job specs/offer Hiring Managers (all, or) best choices found
- Conduct first round interviews With Hiring manager and/or HR
- Conduct second round interviews If required to thin out a large candidate pool
- Conduct final interviews with additional interviewers Involve Peers, other Managers, Stakeholders and Insiders Securing internal buy-in as required
- Confirm selection/Make offer
Some or all of these steps are involved and are administered in fundamentally this same order. Larger companies more formally control and orchestrate their recruiting systems.
Take a look at the process above. Upon closer inspection it’s inherently vulnerable to personal opinions and judgments eliminating candidates, while additionally highly prone to causing LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) selections. This is hardly conducive to finding the best people for the job.
Let’s consider just a few of the potential liabilities.
Even at the earliest point in the selection process, folks making initial searches without profound insight into the job skills, background and personal traits required will inevitably mine many invalid candidates and overlook others who are truly viable. We’ve all received inexplicably inappropriate resumes to review despite our efforts in producing supposedly thorough job specifications.
In addition, studies performed in Behavioral Interviewing have shown that better candidates can be uncovered by people wholly unversed in the field of the position under hire. This is achieved by interviewers methodically searching for strong demonstrations of specified behaviors required for the job. These same behaviors must first be carefully defined by hiring managers and appropriate experts. Clearly, this doesn’t speak well of the inherent selection skills possessed by most untrained hiring managers when simply left to their own devices.
Even good behavioral analysis is hardly enough. Our entire recruiting method additionally needs to be truly unprejudiced and free from candidate eliminations brought on by first impressions. Since we form strong opinions (as is widely accepted) about people in the first 4-7 seconds of meeting, surely this will wreak havoc in any candidate selection process?
Also inherent in our own behavior is the propensity to deselect when making choices. Rather than err in selection we naturally choose an easier path and simply exclude those candidates (say) exhibiting minor deviations or shortcomings relative to the job spec. This is very risky if it causes you to pass on otherwise exceptional people; as opposed to recognizing an opportunity to simply live with quite tolerable, even though unpredicted, minor flaws.
Similarly troubling is the fundamental judgment of the individual doing the hiring. Do they pick the best person who can do the job, or the best person for the job? What criteria do they employ? And, as hiring managers the job specifications they generate/approve are preeminent in steering the selection process. Ultimately, their personal judgment is really a reflection of who hired/manages them and this continues on up the management chain.
It is as important that candidates are a cultural and personality fit as it is that they are a skills match. Their potential must also be consistent with future company needs. Just how well do most hiring managers fair with their selections in these regards? Are they ever consistently and appropriately trained in such matters?
These are a sample of many indigenous flaws that can exist in any hiring process.
Clearly there is a litany of pitfalls that might beset any company. However, every organization that believes the future is tied to their people should make a meaningful investment into how candidates are identified and selected.
The better recruiting processes will normally:
- Have multiple Channels to viable candidates
These will include word-of-mouth searches and enquiries, job postings, recruiters, online searches, referral systems and more. The importance of recruiting should be systematically highlighted throughout the Company.
- Establish and maintain Accurate, real-time Job Descriptions
Comprehensive definitions should exist of Skills, Experience and Personal Characteristics/Attributes/Traits sought for positions. Realistic outline needs to be provided on what is Essential, Desirable, Important and Nice-to-See in a candidate; guidance should exist as to any flexibility that can be considered in the job search.
- Ensure Efficient Processing
The basic rule is to eliminate nonviable candidates quickly and early on, yet build a process with job descriptions that cannot inadvertently discard viable or exceptional people. This process should vary appropriately depending on the skill-set and seniority of the position in question.
- Identify people who Demonstrate the Behaviors you require
When selecting candidates make sure they have the behavioral characteristics you require. Certain experiences and skills are essential in many roles, but some are not. If (say) a candidate must work well with others but is previously an individual contributor, this need not be a negative. Focus on their behavior; strong, demonstrated capability in this area can more than offset specific work history. I recommend behavioral interviewing practices wherever possible.
- Train Managers to Recruit
Every manager should understand the culture and mission of the organization for him/her to recruit effectively. If the manager isn’t culturally engaged and knowledgeable of the recruiting process you want, what is the likelihood they’ll be recruiting appropriately downstream? Managers need exposure to both opportunities and liabilities involved in the recruiting process.
- Feature Proactive Recruitment
Senior managers should always have viable internal/external candidates for both their new and existing positions, in the side-wings. People are the channels through which we do our work. However, don’t inadvertently threaten incumbents with lurking candidates; remember, continuous recruiting can be just a part of the Networking Process.
Be sure you’re candidates are being groomed or trained whenever practical opportunities arise.
- Advise when to walk away
If the company isn’t turning up the right people on a search, start over. Reassess the fundamentals of the job spec, review process details for flaws and adjust accordingly.
Never make inferior or rushed selections when you can often wait just a little longer.
- Check References and Major Resume Claims
It’s essential that enough checks are made ahead of job offers being extended. Sadly, these days it’s not uncommon to find invalid qualifications and claims made on Resumes; so beware.
- Help Commission the New Guy
When you bring on a hire, ensure they get all the training, support and insights they’ll need to succeed. Perform all the introductions and coach them throughout the process. Don’t assume everything’s working out until they’re well underway; be certain all necessary relationships and interactions are fully developed and established.
Great leaders get the right people in the important roles. And, great companies have robust selection processes rippling down through their organizations.
Again, it’s ultimately people who run businesses. So, are you getting the best candidates for your openings? After all, it is the most fit that will ultimately empower your company.
Better take a close look at your recruiting process. As your enterprise grows, it will be upon this foundation that you must build.
Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh