So you’ve got a job description that offers an opportunity, not a job. You’ve come to terms with how you see the value of the job. Now it’s time to start looking for people–candidates–to help fill that job.One way to make a job highly attractive is if you, the hiring manager, actively participates in the recruiting. There are several ways you can actively participate:
Write the ad for the job so it sounds like you.
Spruce up the ad on your company’s web site so it sounds attractive.
Make sure you’ve let everyone in your group know you’re looking. Your employee referral system might be your best ally here.
Attend professional group meetings where your candidates are likely to be.
Perform phone screens for every resume you think is a “yes” or even a “maybe” if you’re having trouble finding candidates.
Attend job fairs.
The more active you are in the recruiting, the more likely you are to find someone quickly who will find the job attractive–because you’re involved.
I’ve been traveling virtually all of March. (You can probably tell, eh?) I’m leaving Albuquerque today and spoke with some folks from Chili’s, the restaurant chain.They’re opening a new restaurant in this area, and are hiring over 100 people. I asked about turnover and they said that yes, they do have a fair amount of turnover and therefore they do continuous recruiting.
Continuous recruiting is the ongoing job analysis, sourcing, interviewing and eventual hiring of people. What’s key is to continue to update the job analysis, to keep looking for people in a variety of places, and to update your interviewing questions and auditions.
I don’t know of too many technical organizations that are doing continuous recruiting right now. But some organizations are in constant growth mode, and those of you who work in those places know that though you may be spending a ton of time on recruiting, hiring great people is worth it. Continuous recruiting can help you keep the pipeline full of great people.
Here’s the message I’m seeing loud and clear: It’s worth a few minutes to perform a little research on the name of the person you’ve just discovered via the web. If you’re a hiring manager and you’re hiring a contract recruiter, interview the recruiter. Ask questions such as, “Give me an example of someone you found via the web. How did you find that person? How did you make contact? What intrigued you about the candidate?” Try using questions like these to discriminate among recruiters who say they know how to use the web to uncover candidates and those who actually do know.
For some unknown-to-me-reason, more and more hiring managers appear to be attempting to do their own recruiting. While I do encourage hiring managers to network and constantly be on the lookout for candidates, especially passive candidates, I can’t see how a hiring manager can effectively perform the management job and recruit for candidates.If you’re in the position of trying to find your own candidates, consider outsourcing the recruiting piece. You can hire a contract recruiter, someone who brings his or her contact list into your organization, works the phones and email, searches the web, and sources candidates for you. (You pay this person as a contractor, an hourly wage.) You can hire an external recruiter who will do the same and only cost you money if he or she finds a candidate. You can allow/encourage/train/hire an in-house recruiter (see Heather as an example of an in-house recruiter).
If you’re not sure where to look for recruiting help or other marketing help, take a look at HR Marketer. I discovered them via Recruiting.com. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’m in their HR experts directory.) And if you select an external recruiter, make sure you develop a great working relationship with that firm/person.
I’ll be the first to admit I am a neophyte when it comes to searching the web and marketing to source candidates. And if you’re a hiring manager, you should be too. That’s not the place you add value to the entire hiring process. You add value in job analysis, determining the interview team, who’ll ask which kinds of questions, how you’ll audition, how you’ll decide about candidates, what to make as an offer, checking references, and starting the person working in a way that makes sense. But not sourcing candidates. Leave that to the experts.
I can’t imagine doing a phone interview or discussing an open position with a hiring manager without having strong knowledge of the functional space.
If you’re a hiring manager inside an organization, using an internal recruiter, take the time to teach the recruiter what he or she needs to know about how your group works. If you’re considering using an external recruiter, make sure that person understands the functional skills required and how your product is similar or different to other products (a little about domain expertise). And, if you’re a candidate, make sure you choose a recruiter who does understand the kinds of jobs you would want.
Recruiters can be invaluable, but they need to understand the position you need filled.
Take a look at Ask My Advice. If you’re hiring a senior manager, it’s difficult to imagine not using a recruiter. But the recruiter fees can be a heavy tax to pay. But, take A (Anthony?)’s advice:
Ask why someone would want to work at your company
Negotiate with a smaller recruiting firm for a smaller percentage by building a strategic relationship with the firm
(BTW, the person who asked the question now has free marketing to help find people.)