If you have ever hired anyone, either yourself or through a third-party recruiter, you know how hard it can be to explain what that "ideal" candidate can look like. I have been recruiting for my entire career and will be the first to admit that I can absolutely improve. There are some lessons I learned the hard way for sure. Here are some of my take-aways that hopefully are making me a more effective hiring manager and recruiter:
Intake with the hiring manager is a gamechanger - you have to do it
I used to think that every job was similar - particularly those jobs that might even have the same job title. Not so fast. Talk to the hiring manager and find out what they need - not just skills but also cultural fit. Does that manager have a special focus on training so they might be more willing to bring on-board a "project"? Is the hiring manager so busy that they have no time to train? What about other variables like the manager's communication style or flexibility? A thorough intake with the hiring manager will flush out not just the skills that are needed but also a fuller profile of the type of person that will be successful.
Don't settle. Ever. I mean it.
Nearly every hiring mistake I've made has been either because I didn't understand what a successful candidate looked like (see "intake" above) or because I felt like we couldn't find that "ideal" candidate and we settled for someone that didn't hit the mark. Unsurprisingly, we found that the person who didn't meet our hiring expectations couldn't meet our work expectations. Not exactly a shocker. Does it hurt to leave things open while you find the perfect fit - it can for sure. But that inconvenience pales when compared with the pain of dismissing someone whom you know you should never of hired in the first place
Hire people for who they are, not just what they know
My purpose here is not to advocate abandoning 50 years of progressive improvements in selection techniques and employment law. Discriminating against anyone based on their immutable characteristics is more than illegal, it is patently a horrible business decision (consult any number of articles written on the ROI of diversity and inclusion programs). What I am describing is that it is important to talk about your culture and make sure that any candidate knows what they are walking into. Is your culture a cube farm where neighbors email each other? Tell them so that expressive and face-to-face-collaborators know. Is your culture straight-talking and direct to the point where entry-level employees interact with the CEO on the shop floor and can tell him/her where things are going awry? If I am an introvert or lack the courage to voice my opinion then that could be a challenge.
It is as much an art as a science to me. Good luck and I would certainly welcome your thoughts as well!
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