In today’s world, recruiting, hiring, and talent picking takes more than a search and recommendation job, it takes high skill to hire the right person given the numbers of people available for each position is rising as the world gets more connected, the philosophy of working from home is spreading, and let’s be realistic, the economy can use help, which impacts both the number of positions and salaries. So, what should you do to find the right person for the job?
Finding people is not an issue when it comes to recruiting and hiring, you can reach out to anyone who makes themselves visible in social media such as linkedin, and there are many algorithms, agencies, and website that you can also use to find candidates. However, finding the right candidate who will make you proud a year into their role is not that easy. People simply lie in their CVs and social media, they glorify their achievements as a way of branding, and unfortunately our society does not reward the humble ones, hence everyone is pushed to show off and sell themselves. Equally, companies also tend to glorify the roles they advertise for hiring. In my career of 15 years, I have come across many positions that require high skills, creativity, problem solving, only to realise after that it is daily routine role with no exposure to any challenges, ending my stay with the company shortly after.
“Do not advertise for a dinosaur position if all you need is a cat!”
So, what should a recruiter do to find the right person for the job?
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- Understand the role you are hiring for and the skills that are really required for it: do not advertise for a dinosaur position if all you need is a cat! Have the job description ready to provide to candidates and understand what the top 3 requirements are, such as social skills, experience on the domain, willingness to learn, and so on.
- Know the salary: know the rates the company is offering, as there is nothing more annoying for a candidate looking for a job than spending your time on the phone with someone only to tell them the salary on offer is half what they are expecting
- Know the source of the candidates list: is it an agency that already vets the candidates or linkedin where you need to check out the candidates, many people nowadays pay for followers, take a short course from a prestigious university, and try to show it as a degree, and remember people rarely say the real reason they left their job.
- Apply filters and be ready to change your filtering often: filtering is essential if the results of searching for candidates is large. If you are using a filter, understand how it works. Many AI algorithms use limited data to train, which means their results of choosing candidates can be bias. Few years back I applied for 7 positions, 4 were human recruiter based, I passed the recruiter’s vetting, and was offered all the positions post interviewed, the other 3 positions had an algorithm filtering on them, I got automated rejections few hours after I applied!
- Do not dwell much into gap years: though many companies question why a person took few months or even years between jobs to mitigate ‘risks’, the reality is life happens, and many qualified people end up taking time off between jobs to look after family, deal with health issue, try out their own business, or simply travel. Whatever people do in their gap years, believe me, they would have gained experience from, and do not worry about knowledge of subject matter, any subject can be quick enough to pick up or remember if you know what you are doing.
- Understand the culture fit: fitting into the company’s culture is very important, more important in fact than understanding the candidates’ vision for their future by asking: where do you see yourself in 5 year’s time? Though this question shows some level of commitment to an industry, ambition, and success seeking attitude, it will not in any way ensure that this successful person will be realising this beautiful 5 years from now picture they draw in your company. This is because if they are not fit with your company’s culture, they will simply leave way before they reach those 5 years potential. Therefore, focus on the now rather than what it could be, as a lot can change in the future. Likewise, beware that someone with new vision might influence your culture to the better, so keep an open mind.
- Don’t burn bridges: you might spend time getting to know a candidate only to find out later they are not the best fit for the role you are looking for, however, if they seem good, they might be a candidate for another role you are looking to fill in the future, it never hurts to grow your network, after all, your network is your net worth.
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