Top leaders demand the best recruitment practice

From substantial experience gained on both sides of the executive search and recruitment fence, I know that for some employers, attracting the best candidates seems relatively easy, while others struggle. Nothing strange about that you may say. Are the reasons not always confined to job financial package, employer size or job status either? It has a lot to do with the clarity and quality of the hiring company recruitment process.

The employers who plan the process ahead of time with a properly crafted quality assignment brief usually succeed hands down. As well as the obligatory role description and financial package, their additional inspiring published story of organisation history, product portfolio, company value proposition, key personnel, current situation and plans for the future win through. An exciting thought-out onboarding programme coupled with a serious talent retention statement scores high too. It sure beats a lazy ‘bog standard’ job description telephoned to an outside recruiter who in turn grabs a placement opportunity with both hands, then scratches about trying to interpret a sketchy brief to find likely suspects from a tired database. Challenge? You bet.

Conversely, the top recognition for the best-demonstrated practice goes to organisations with the most professional interview process coupled with skilled professional interviewers. The assignment brief is part of that and is expected by quality applicants applying for essential vacancies. These candidates are often holding down respectable jobs and need prising out professionally. Following a sensitive first approach (preferably by an appointed search consultant), an attractive assignment brief at long-list selection is central to the process. So why don’t all companies produce one when facing important vacancy management?

Not sufficiently interested in a quality outcome to work it out? Where is the project leader's investment in one of the most important aspects of company sustainability? finding the right people in the first place and doing the candidate search job thoroughly! 

Successful recruitment is so important it requires everyone involved to have the same sense of purpose for hiring excellence and, is even more critical today.

It is that exemplary recruitment project that will ultimately determine ongoing business success or otherwise. Immense care must be taken to secure the best candidates to fill vacancies every time and drive out futile short-cuts.

Pre-interview preparation is particularly important. Yet still we see no more than a two-minute glance over a prospect's CV just before beginning an interview.

That practice ought to be denounced along with last-gasp pre-interview panic questions from hiring managers including, “Who is in the interview with me? Who picked this one out anyway…?”
Recognise anything? Structured pre-interview briefings ahead of time eliminate these blocks to quality.

Not many, if any hiring managers seem to receive formal interview coaching or even mention it. A dire skill shortfall can remain for years. Again, this is a personal leadership responsibility, hiring managers should demand it! Without coaching, an interviewer is left to ‘blag it’ relying on dubious prior experience as a candidate. The resulting performance can be dreadful. As a Non-Exec, I still witness excruciating interviews comprising random questions from rudderless interviewers who dominate the air time to the despair of the switched-on applicant. A competitor gain in the making!

That happens if recruiting managers are left to treat interviews as a chore and just ‘wing it’. Perceptive candidates say it shows and of course, they tell other people. Not helpful for any company's reputation.  

Take a step to check on your recruiting performance. Get up to speed, find the best applicants and save £000’s in fees and time on mediocre hires. Contact Alan Dawson to discover how to coach your hiring staff to make the simple changes to enhance your company talent acquisition profile, deliver incisive interviews and secure the best candidates. It is lifeblood!