Dear Hiring Manager: You probably only hire a handful of people each year, and the recruiter assigned to your team has always done a reasonable job at getting decent people. Sure you have to ask for resumes two or three times in order to get enough to make sure you are hiring the best, but it seems to have worked out pretty well over the years. But now let me ask you a few questions. How do you define “decent” people or “the best”? Do you have some specific criteria that you use? How do you know you’re getting anywhere near the best resumes out there? Do you have any benchmarks or standards to compare against? How much time do you spend in the upfront process of figuring out the job requirements and laying out the things the person you want to hire will have to do to make you happy? In my many years as a recruiter and as a consultant, I have found that this is the area most frequently overlooked or skimped on in the hiring process. Most of the hiring managers I work with are willing to spend time in interviewing, often demanding that candidates go through numerous interviews. But they are less willing to give up time to talk to the recruiter about the position before any recruiting happens at all. My guess is you’re running on your gut ó telling yourself that you know the “best” when you see it. After all, you’ve been in your field for a while and can generally spot a loser. If you are lucky, you’ve had a recruiter at some time in the past who could always seem to get you the perfect candidate, but you’ve never asked yourself why they could do that or how. We all unconsciously look for certain traits in people, and we are usually very adept at determining whether or not a candidate has those traits. What is unfortunate is that we almost never can articulate them. Even though we may believe that we are choosing candidates solely on the basis of experience and demonstrated skills, there is always our unconscious influencing the decision. That recruiter who always seemed to find the perfect candidate was able to figure out what those unconscious traits were and use her interviewing and screening skills to bring you those kinds of candidates who also had the necessary technical skills and experience. You can help your recruiting staff in a number of ways. By taking a few minutes to heed the following suggestions, you will find the recruiting process faster and more satisfying ó because you will be getting candidates that meet all of your requirements.
By taking a few minutes from your busy day, and by working with your recruiter are a partner you can improve the speed in which you fill positions, increase your satisfaction with the candidates you see and with your recruiting partner.
