May,
1998
Hasten
the Hiring Process without Taking Shortcuts
BEST-SELLING
AUTHOR AND SPEAKER Michael Gerber describes the life of today’s
typical executive as "busy, busy, busy … doing
it, doing it, doing it." Isn’t that the truth?
The last manager at your company to stick his or her feet
up on the desk and engage in some old-fashioned planning probably
got fired for laziness.
In today’s
downsized corporate environment, there’s generally too
much to do – and too little time in which to do it.
It matters little whether one makes widgets, markets them,
buys the raw materials or runs the company: there’s
hardly enough time to go around. And that’s when everything’s
working perfectly.
Then
suddenly a critical position opening occurs. The incumbent
resigns to take another job, accepts a promotion or faces
termination. It’s a job that needs to be filled, and
tomorrow is definitely preferable to next month or next year.
Each day the position remains open will cost the company money
in terms of lost revenues or savings. Time is money, but all
your time is spent or spoken for. What should a hiring manager
do?
Plan
Now to Avoid Delay Later
"A
stitch in time saves nine" referred to the wisdom of
mending a small hole before it got larger. The same general
philosophy applies to the search process: a few minutes of
attention now can save hours later. So after you have locked
the door, stick your feet up on the desk and engage in a few
productive moments of productive planning.
Think
first about the job. Verify in your own mind that it does
in fact need to be filled. Review the existing position description.
Is it still accurate? Are there things about the existing
position that ought to be changed?
Next,
consider the ideal candidate. Should he or she be a clone
of the most recent incumbent, or would a different kind of
person be better? If so, how?
Last,
consider how you plan to conduct the search. In many cases,
a promotion or transfer from within may be the wisest course
of action since it costs the least, advances someone’s
career and improves organizational morale.
Other
times, however, a qualified candidate does not exist in-house,
or a "new broom" is required to bring fresh insight
and approaches to the tasks at hand. In the kind of job where
skills are of paramount importance (as in the case of a computer
programmer) and skill-holders are in abundant supply, a combination
of advertising and Internet recruiting may identify acceptable
candidates – along with a lot who aren’t.
Conversely,
when particular skills are in short supply or – equally
important – are secondary to management ability, creativity,
problem-solving, leadership and other "soft" attributes,
there’s no substitute for a custom search conducted
by a skilled recruiter.
Is
More Merrier?
Some
employers pass out search assignments to numerous recruiting
firms. These employers tend to have multiple, virtually identical
openings and value quantity over quality in the identification
of potential candidates – a "more the merrier"
philosophy that generally produces the same end result as
classified advertising, i.e., lots of poorly qualified resumes.
In addition, firms that recognize they are part of a cattle
call are highly likely to limit their activity to searching
databases, as opposed to conducting original recruitment.
This is low-value-added assistance.
Keep
in mind that the goal of outsourcing the recruiting function
is not only to acquire outside expertise, but also to improve
productivity by transferring responsibility to a trusted outside
provider. Productivity declines, however, when no single firm
bears responsibility for completing the search. The end result
is that countless hours you had hoped to save are consumed
reviewing resumes that aren’t even close and answering
the same questions over and over from would-be outside providers.
The alternative
to trial-and-error recruiting is to entrust the search to
a single firm that can familiarize itself completely with
the position opening to be filled, that can be trusted to
represent your interests in a professional manner and that
will conduct the search efficiently and confidentially.
Selecting
the Search Firm
You and/or
your company may have well-established relationships with
several qualified search firms already. Alternatively, you
may be looking to add a firm to your list of preferred providers.
Either
way, when making the final cut for the search at hand, here
are a few questions to ask:
- Is
the firm a specialist in my line of business? (Said another
way, does the firm know me, my company, my competitors and
their employees?)
- Am
I comfortable with the search consultant and with the organization
that stands behind him or her?
- Has
he or she taken the time to fully understand the specific
search criteria, and will this individual meet my requirements
for service, communication and follow-through?
- Will
no stone be left unturned to identify and present candidates
I can count on?
- Will
I see the best possible candidates in the fastest possible
time?
Sanford
Rose Associates, for example, combines speed with precision
by using its unique Dimensional SearchÒ profile to
identify those key elements for success on the job and compare
them to the skills, past experience and operating style of
potential candidates. While the process requires significant
time investment up-front, it pays great dividends as the search
progresses.
By contrast,
the search firm that promises to fax three candidates tomorrow
(based on a five-minute conversation) is peddling resumes.
Working
with Your Search Consultant
The most
important things that search consultants have to offer are
their time and their expertise. The more wisely they use them,
the more both they and their clients benefit.
It therefore
is important to keep the consultant in the loop and to make
yourself available when he or she calls. If the nature or
the timing of the search changes (as has been known to happen
from time to time), share the information.
Also,
don’t overlook the second word in "search consultant."
Should a good consultant challenge any of your assumptions
about the position opening (e.g., title, pay, functional responsibilities,
etc.), he or she is doing so with a knowledge of the marketplace
that can help make the position attractive to the happily
employed, not just the desperately unemployed.
Likewise,
good consultants will explain the relative strengths and weaknesses
of candidates they present, will offer their suggestions on
how to maximize the interview process and will help you design
– and make – offers that stick. With regard to
offers, it is the consultant’s responsibility to know
precisely what it will take to make a candidate say "yes,"
and clients who fail to make use of this intelligence are
likely to watch the offer crash in flames. Not only is that
a bummer, it’s also a waste of time.
*
* *
Which
brings us back to busy-ness. Someone once said that the two
keys to making a successful football play are planning and
execution. The same can be said of successful hiring, especially
when time is both of the essence and in short supply.
At the
onset, a few minutes of thought and preparation can ensure
that you will be engaging the right firm to recruit the right
person for the right job. Then, by making yourself available
and by heeding the firm’s advice, you can be well on
your way to nearly flawless execution in the shortest possible
period of time.
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