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Hiring managers should be hiring the best teams that produce the best results, but far too many are hiring the wrong people for the wrong roles. This costs the company time and money, and it slows down the overall productivity of the business.
As a hiring manager, you already know that hiring is a time-consuming, lengthy process that can tarnish your reputation if you make just one bad hire. For this reason, taking the time to hire the person who fits the role like a glove is key.
Executive headhunters who are successful at what they do have a process which attracts only the best talent. They evaluate each candidate in several areas, before taking the time to really get to know them. Is there a secret to this success? Yes, there are a few. Let’s take a look at how to hire and build a great team that will outshine your competitors.
Every company has a culture. Even more important than hiring a human machine who is the very best at what they do, is hiring a candidate who fits in with your company’s culture. If they don’t, they’re going to be another bad hire.
A candidate will be spending at least 50% of their waking hours at your company. As such, it’s imperative that their values match your values.
Before you make a hire, it’s a good idea to think about your company in depth. Ask yourself a few questions:
– What is my organisation’s culture?
– What does my organisation expect from employees?
– What ethics and ideals do we have?
– Do we promote respect or aggression?
Talk to other people at your company to establish your culture. If you don’t establish your culture before hiring someone, you might hire a candidate whose personality and skills do not match up with what you actually need.
Establishing your culture ensures that you are able to understand:
– Why you’re hiring a candidate
– What you want from a candidate
– How the candidate will fit in with your brand
The hiring process starts with the job description, and if you aren’t careful, your job posting could deter the best candidates from even applying.
According to a study published by the Wall Street Journal, writing extensive, detailed job descriptions can actually put-off the best candidates. The researchers behind the study re-wrote over 50 job advertisements in a bid to highlight two varying approaches:
– The Needs-Supplies Approach – this zones in on what your company can do for a candidate
– The Demands-Abilities Approach – this zones in on what the candidate can do for you
According to the study, the higher-qualified candidates are more responsive to the Needs-Supplies approach than they are to the Demands-Abilities approach.
This ties in with the above tip. Basically, outstanding candidates want to know more about your company and its culture – and what you’re going to do for them.
In 2016, the best teams are made up of talented individuals are clued-up on all the latest digital trends (http://dupress.com/articles/digital-transformation-strategy-digitally-mature/). It follows, then, that hiring managers need to embrace social media and digital trends in order to appeal to the best candidates.
MIT and Deloitte recently carried out a survey which concluded that most people aged 22-60 have a strong desire to work for organisations that are digitally keyed in.
As a hiring manager, an easy way of appealing to candidates who want to work for digital enabled organisations is to make your career website mobile-friendly. Almost 1 in 3 American adults now rely on their smartphones to enhance their job search, which means that in order to make sure top candidates don’t slip through the net, your site needs to mobile ready.
Checking a potential candidate’s social media profile before making a decision is legally risky, but it helps to give you a more rounded, more informed picture of the person you are about to hire or turn down. After all, knowledge is power.
Most executive headhunters will carry out a background check on an applicant which includes “Googling” someone’s name to see what comes up. But you might be missing something that could sway your decision one way or another if you fail to take a look at their social media activity.
Social media can actually clue you in on a candidate’s skills and talents. You might, for example, get access to their portfolio or blogs, which could strengthen or weaken their case.
Leadership IQ carried out a study that highlighted how flawed the interview process is for many firms. According to the results of the study, 82% of managers said that their interviewers were guilty of making too many mistakes, including:
– Lacking confidence
– Not paying attention to a candidates red flags
– Lacking proper time
– Focused on the wrong issues
Focusing on the wrong issues is a common mistake that many hiring managers make. Instead of looking at a candidates’ temperament, emotional intelligence and coaching ability, they focus too much on how technically competent someone is.
There are many behavioural clues that a candidate will express during the interview, and you need to be on your guard for them. These include:
– Candidate is too self-absorbed
– Candidate avoids mentioning past failures
– Candidate cannot give a reason for previous job moves
– Candidate condemns their past bosses
Your interview process might need to be tweaked, but to prevent yourself from crowding out the interview room with too many wrong candidates in the first place, you need to find a way of stepping up your sourcing process.
Retained headhunters spend a significant amount of time sourcing the right candidates. The least successful hiring managers, conversely rarely scratch beneath the surface.
All in all, you need to remember that all companies are only as strong as their weakest link. One bad hire can result in poor productivity and growth. To be successful, you need a stellar team that works in perfect synergy the way a top sports team does. You can’t afford to carry anyone.
Top executive headhunters know this, which is why they obsess over the hiring process. It might be time for you to do the same.
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