Over the course of this year, my team has been faced with a number of hiring opportunities. In some cases, these opportunities have been incredibly smooth for all involved. In others, well, they have been anything but. In all cases, however, the ways in which we recruit, and how candidates feel about the experience (whether they end up being successful candidates or not), are entirely controllable by those doing the recruiting. So, it stands to reason that every recruiting opportunity can be one where we can showcase our care and concern for people. Here are three steps I’ve learned to incorporate to recruit with people at the forefront.
Be fully transparent
It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t we want to recruit staff with intentionality and share everything with possible candidates that we can? And often, we enter into hiring scenarios with that as one of our primary intentions. But then something happens: We forget to mention something to one candidate and, for fear of shaping the experience for others, we don’t share. Or, we feel that sharing details about something during the process might impact a potential candidate’s view about our organization, our direction and/or our leadership. Or, we believe we can’t be fully transparent, and consider that there are some things that potential team members have to learn on their own.
All of these, of course, are potentially valid beliefs that ultimately end up hurting our recruitment efforts, the long-term retention of a given potential staff member and the trust and honesty that we lead into relationships relying on. To be fair, we don’t know what we don’t know, and there are always elements of our work that we don’t know enough about to share with confidence. Too often though, we err on the side of caution and end up ignoring people’s needs by not sharing what can help them make a very important decision.
I’ve learned that I am better served by sharing as much as I can about a given position, situation, etc., before and during the recruiting process, regardless of whether I am sharing what I am 100% certain of, or what is still unclear. In this way, potential team members have all they need to make a decision as to whether working with our team makes sense for them long-term.
Welcome varied voice
One of the biggest mistakes we make in recruiting initiatives is in assuming that only certain members of our team should (or would want to) participate in the hiring process. Too often the people around the table represent only a small fraction of the people who will be working with the successful candidate. I’ve learned to widen my perspective on who should play a role on a hiring committee. I’ve made the decision to incorporate as many members as makes sense in the process. This includes everything from reviewing and providing feedback on potential questions, to considering writing samples to assisting in selecting the candidate (or candidates) that move onward.
For instance, for a recent hiring process for a staff member providing support in the area of world language, we had educators, clerical staff, leaders from other parts of our agency, members of district communities and members of our internal departments all playing a role. While this made the process more challenging from a logistical standpoint, it made the results of the process more fulfilling for all, including the candidates participating.
How do we build committees with intentionality and purpose? First, we have to truly consider who will best serve the process and provide us with the most expansive thinking as we make decisions. The role should always matter the least in these situations, as the perspective people bring and the ability for them to help create a more nuanced decision-making process need to be at the forefront of our recruitment practices (and often have little to do with a person’s current job title).
Be thankful
It’s common practice to assume that candidates should reach out to the organization they are seeking employment from and share gratitude, appreciation, etc. I agree that this is a good step for anyone seeking candidacy within an organization.
Something that isn’t always seen as common practice is for the organizations themselves to express gratitude for a candidate seeking employment. This can take numerous forms. Sometimes it is a phone call (rather than an email) to candidates who made it to an interview stage to explain why they are (or are not) moving on in the process. Other times it might be an offer to share a strong (but not successful) candidate’s qualifications with others looking to hire for similar roles.
Paying it forward in this method doesn’t require much work on our parts. It can, however, pay significant dividends for the positive impression and strong connection it builds between a hiring organization and a candidate. We never know where people will be in the future. It is quite common for our paths to cross with people in our profession multiple times. So, why not keep relationships strong? Today’s unsuccessful candidate may be tomorrow’s chosen candidate. And we never want to purposefully reduce our pool of potential strong team members.
I will be the first to admit that it has taken me a long time to hire with people at the forefront. Since shifting some of my practices, I feel better about the way we hire — and not just with our final choices. I feel strongly about the process from start to finish, and I believe (and qualitative evidence has helped support) that our candidates, whether ultimately successful or not, feel good about it as well.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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