We joined forces with Jobvite for a hot talk on one of the biggest challenges in hiring – building a solid relationship between recruiters and hiring managers.
“Why is the search taking so long?” “What does this job title mean?” “Where on Earth am I supposed to find a candidate like that?!”
Whether you’re a rookie recruiter or a seasoned pro, these are questions you’ve likely heard around the office.
The disconnect between hiring teams is notorious and common, a longtime issue faced by teams of all sizes and industries. Last week, we endeavored to find the many widespread, overlooked reasons for this (seemingly) inherently flawed relationship. Thanks to Jobvite’s Ty Goodrich and Entelo’s Loni Spratt, we left with a good deal of those handy tips and tricks we’re constantly boasting.
Our Q&A was teeming with sourcers, recruiters, hiring managers, and heads of talent searching for some kind of solution for their team’s hiring woes. Here, co-host Loni answers your questions about growing a better recruiter-hiring manager partnership.
What are you able to share as it relates to your experience in using StackOverflow, GitHub, Connectifier, 360Social and Vibe as recruiting resources?
I'm very familiar with StackOverflow and Github. We hosted a webinar that walked through both of those sources. Both sources are great for finding software developers. Many recruiters reference or link to things they find on those sources as a way to personalize their messages.
Is it wise to involve hiring managers when sharing the feedback with sourcers on candidates?
In some cases, it can be very beneficial and ensure everyone is on the same page. Sourcers can quickly make changes or refine their searching accordingly. As I mentioned in the webinar, I'd encourage a weekly source/recruiter/hiring manager placeholder meeting on the calendar.
Other than communicating total reqs and workload, are there either ways to set hiring managers expectations?
Definitely! You'll need to set their expectations around the marketplace, compensation analysis/expectations, and time to fill. We cover this in depth in the .
Most recruiters don't ask the hiring manager the most important question: "What are the bottom-line results that the candidate must accomplish with the credentials (experience, skills, certifications, etc.) to be successful in the position? The difference is emphasizing the deliverables for the position rather than the arbitrary applicant profile that most job postings require. Thoughts?
What is your "most important question" to find the answer to when sourcing talent? I like to ask how can this person ace their performance review the first year? What are 3 key deliverables this person would have to accomplish in their first 3 months. Why would a currently employed, happy person want to take this opportunity?
The key is to get away from skills and experience lists and focus on what they person actually will be doing. If you have the feeling that the hiring manager has unrealistic expectations around skills and certifications, you can bring up a person in the org that's doing a good job in the role currently that does not have all of those skills and requirements and politely suggest they may not need to be required but more of a nice to have.
Any idea how successful recruiters are in using LinkedIn? Costs for the service?
Recruiters use LinkedIn to find and engage with passive and active talent. Without an upgraded account, you're limited to only seeing people within 3 degrees of connection or you can opt for an upgraded account. Looks like LinkedIn Recruiter Lite is $119.95 monthly and the full LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate is $899.99 monthly. Recruiters also use LinkedIn to post jobs to find more active people. Job slot prices vary depending on how many you purchase.
As a recruiter, don't you think if you continue to ask questions, you would appear as not knowing exactly what you are doing? What are some approaches I can take to communicate candidate disconnects (expectations vs reality) with my hiring manager?
I think quite the contrary. Hiring managers should not expect recruiters to be experts in all of their roles. I think it will frustrate hiring managers more if you don't ask and recruit the wrong types of people than if you ask the right questions and then ultimately find good people. Another approach could be reaching out to a few engineers at the company and talking with them about what they do. Most engineers are flattered and thrilled to talk about the cool things they are doing and this gives you more insight into their world and what the potential new hire would be doing on a daily basis.
Do you have any recommended resources for technical recruiters to get up-to-speed on technical concepts?
The Entelo Blog is great :) and also we give our recruiters and customer success managers a book called The Non-Technical Guide to Web Technologies by Tommy Chheng.
Like what you've read and looking for more? Watch the on-demand webinar in all it's glory!
