Insight Blog

In last week's post, Managing Director Jim Lord and Managing Consultant Wendy Zang highlighted the top recruitment challenges we hear about from clients. Now, we want to talk about simple changes you can make to your hiring process the enhance your ability to attract and secure the right candidates. Try them out and see what happens!

1. Create compelling position descriptions.

The first step to a successful recruitment process is a solid position description that includes intangible aspects of the role, positive attributes of the organization, and finally, “must have” and “would like to have” qualifications. (Men tend to focus less on meeting all of the qualifications and more on their abilities, while women will only apply if they have all of the qualifications listed.)

2. Expand the talent pool by networking. 

Sharing open roles on all of an organization’s social platforms is a must. There’s also no harm in current employees posting open roles to their own social platforms. Developing an employee referral program can only support recruitment efforts.

3. Understand a candidate’s need for confidentiality.

Add a statement about confidentiality to the position description and assure candidates that you are committed to retaining their privacy. Emphasize the importance of confidentiality with the hiring manager, recruiter, and other interviewers and ensure you have their commitment to providing it to candidates. 

4. Show respect to candidates. 

While this may seem like common sense, this is an extremely common complaint of job candidates. Merely providing clarity on the timeframe and steps of the recruitment process can put you ahead of other employers. Even if you don’t have any real update, just touch base to demonstrate respect. 

5. Make interviews conversational and with the right people. 

Keep interviews well organized and give candidates your full attention. Have questions prepared, and make them different for multiple interviewers. Make sure candidates are meeting with the right individuals. Most importantly, make sure all of those individuals are on the same page regarding the opportunities and challenges of the role. Finally, get to know the final candidates. Go beyond the rote questions and answers, and strive to have meaningful conversations.

6. Have at least two finalist candidates.

Selecting a final candidate can be a challenge, especially in this candidate-driven market. If possible, having two finalists is ideal. In other words, a plan B. As search consultants, we always have at least two finalists because candidates and clients can change their minds at the last minute. People can be surprising, even when you’ve been thorough, which is why having the second finalist can help you pivot quickly after a rejection and get your hire made.

*Note: Since the release of this blog, our posts on recruitment were noticed by Cleverism, a leading educational website. If you're involved in recruitment, don't miss their article From Good to Great: How to Become a Badass Recruiter. We highly recommend it!