Revisiting Neglected Areas of the Hiring Process

December 15, 2014 at 12:01 PM by Rob Stevenson

When you're facing 10 open positions for hard-to-find roles, trying to please a finnicky hiring manager, and haranguing a slow moving HR department to get an Hiring Process tipsoffer letter together, the different stages of the hiring funnel all seem to blur together into one indistiguishable, insurmountable blob. While any time spent away from the actual act of recruiting can be costly, if you can take some time to revisit and streamline the hiring process, your future self will thank you. Let's take a step back and stop missing the forest for the trees by assessing some under-visited areas of the hiring funnel.

Hit the Ground Running

Before you begin your search, you need to define precise parameters for your new hire. Circle up with hiring managers and team members and go over the must-haves and nice-to-haves. Ask them what the qualities in their current team they wish they had more of, and why other candidates didn't work out in the role. Painting a precise picture of the candidate will help your sourcers go after only the most relevant candidates.


The Cream of the Crop

If your hiring looks anything like Entelo's, you start by letting loose your sourcers and compiling a list of dozens of potential candidates. You can't just start messaging hundreds of candidates without risking impersonal messages that are going straight to the trash, so you've got to narrow down the field. This is a great opportunity to improve the hiring funnel from both ends. At least for the first batch, involve your hiring manager and have them thumbs up or thumbs down candidates who they find interesting. This is a great way to ensure you're delivering the exact candidates the hiring manager wants, and also is valuable feedback for the sourcing team. Everybody wins!

 

Extending the Offer

I'm sure you've all heard the horror stories about organizations bringing a candidate on site 4 times, meeting with 8 different people, and taking 6 weeks to extend the offer. Don't be that company! For one, it's disrespectful to the candidate's time. You'd be forcing them to take considerable time away from their current role, or if they're between jobs, flounder in limbo land. Further, if they're a strong candidate, they're going to have options. Don't miss out on a great person just because another company's offer came in faster. Trim interviewers down to essential personnel, meet up with them before hand to cover which areas they should probe on, and get as much approved as you can beforehand to trim down time-to-hire. Every second counts!

 

comments