Management Insights: Manager Tips: Successful Managers' Recruiting Practices

Have you noticed that some managers consistently find good hires quickly when they have a need? And others eat up lots of valuable time churning through tons of resumes from numerous sources with less success? If you want to be in the first category, you can take some simple steps to make your hiring easier.

1. Develop a habit of looking for potential hires all the time. Pay attention to people you meet in professional or industry meetings and assess the best individuals as potential candidates - then keep in touch for when you have a need. When you meet people in other settings where work is discussed, listen for leads.
2. Recognize hiring opportunities early. Plan your specific and general recruiting requirements early so you have adequate time to do the job well.
3. Define your specifications clearly. Think: why does this position exist? What is its current focus and how does it fit into longer-term business goals? Develop written specifications that meet all your requirements and show minimum needed skills and attributes as well as any preferred 'extras'. Include such "soft skill" items as customer knowledge or interpersonal skills as well as technical skills capabilities.
4. Match your personal contacts list (see #1 above) and those of your team with these specs - who do you know who already meets these specs? Who might be a good referral source?
5. Write a job-posting that clearly defines what you need and what the job offers potential candidates. Use this as the basis for internal and external sourcing. E-mail it (or a link) to your contacts: ask for help and/or if they are interested.
6. Telephone screen candidates against your specs. Tell them if they are someone you identified or how you learned about them, but don't bring anyone in until you are sure they meet the basic specs. Then set up an interview appointment.
7. Learn and use your internal human resources processes effectively to meet your needs. Work with the HR staff and respond to their needs. Learn how to interview effectively. These steps will help you hire efficiently and will help speed the process.
8. Found someone with potential? Make the interviewing and decision process happen quickly. You are making an expensive decision and need to make a very good one but you need to make it quickly. Good prospects go faster in any labor market.

Back to Top ^

« Back to Main Articles Page