Have you ever noticed how we tend to do whatever we make important? There are probably lots of things on your mental To Do list that aren’t getting done. That may not be a bad thing. When it comes to recruiting top talent and taking your company to the next level though, those star performers you desperately want on your team are much less likely to find you if you aren’t actively going out there to find them.
Unemployment is generally down from where it has been the past few years, and at least in California where Plus Delta is based mass layoff events are generally down as well. This is great for the overall economy, and especially anyone who struggled to pay his/her everyday bills during the recession. This can, however, make it harder for employers to attract top talent away from their current roles.
If you’re looking to upgrade your talent with any new hires as we kickoff the new year, here are a six surefire ways to do it!
- Effective recruitment starts with effective job definition. What are the job requirements of the position you are trying to fill? Even if you are replacing someone who recently left, you may want to assess your current – and future – needs as opposed to hiring based on your old ones.
- Defining your selection criteria before screening resumes and interviewing applicants is also key to your hiring success. There are numerous ways to select your new hires. For some roles, technical skills are most important. Oftentimes, it’s the cultural fit between the candidate, the hiring manager, and the broader organization that matters most. What matters most to you? For this role? Make sure you identify that first before you eliminate – or maybe worse, select – any candidates prematurely based on the wrong criteria.
- With your job requirements and selection criteria in place, you then need to establish your interview and selection procedures. It’s generally better to have someone in HR or otherwise responsible for recruitment post the position and screen all applicants. That likely includes an initial phone screen with any viable candidates. From there, you definitely want at least the hiring manager to conduct a one-on-one interview, and in-person whenever possible. You may also want a panel of potential peers and other team members to conduct interviews too. All of these people need to be clear on the process and especially their individual roles, including what questions to ask and not to ask, etc., in evaluating and selecting your potential new hires.
- Throughout the interview and selection process, be sure to maintain consistent communications with everyone. Your hiring manager and other interviewers need to provide real-time feedback on the candidates to HR or whoever else is orchestrating the process, or you run the risk of getting more bad candidates in the door or even worse not offering positions to the good ones! Your candidates need to know where they stand in the process, or they will likely assume no news is bad news and turn their attention to other opportunities. Regular and consistent communication simply yields better results and keeps the process moving rather than having it stall out anywhere in the process.
- Make it a group effort! Who knows that you are looking for a new VP of Operations? Or maybe it’s a mid-level manager in your customer contact center… Whatever the role might be, make sure that you aren’t the only one who knows you have an opening. As with most things in life, people who know you best – friends, family, co-workers, professional peers, maybe even your customers! – will not only want to but also will be able to help you if they know what you need.
- And finally, one of the best groups to engage in your recruiting efforts is your employees. Some companies offer their employees monetary incentives to recruit successful new hires. Some employees just do it because they want to work with people they like and trust. Regardless of your approach on this one, your current employees are probably your best source for attracting your future employees. They know what it takes to fit in and succeed with your company, and if you have the right culture they do actually care if you succeed!
Don’t let recruitment stay at the bottom of your To Do list for too long. Just a few coordinated efforts like this could bring you the fresh talent you need to get to the next level. For more information on implementing positive changes like this in your organization, visit the Change Management page of Plus Delta’s website.
