However difficult the candidate sourcing/hiring processes can be at times, conducting these procedures thoroughly and effectively plays a vital role in the health of a company, and failing to do so the first time around will only cost the company valuable time and resources when the process must be repeated. These undue losses can be easily avoided however, by simply keeping in mind four easy rules identified by executive search firms to increase the effectiveness of these processes by helping employers avoid making the same old mistakes.
1. Diversify Candidate Sourcing Methods
Given the drastic growth in technology over the last decade and the new potential offered by the internet in the candidate sourcing, it is easy to see how many employers might resort to relying purely on web based means for advertising position openings and contacting prospective candidates. This is a mistake however. As valuable as this new resource might be, and while it should most certainly be engaged to its fullest potential, this should not become the only means of candidate sourcing used by employers, as doing so runs the risk of overlooking the ideal candidate who might have been found through some other means. Hiring managers need to remember that, vast though its reach maybe, other, more traditional techniques do exist, and not everyone can be reached online.
2. Invest Time in Network Development
One of the greatest mistakes an employer can make in this process is in overly limiting the size of their candidate pool through a failure to expand their search. The best way for companies to expand their search is through professional networking. This can be done numerous ways both online and through traditional methods, by making and nurturing professional connections there in extending the company’s search reach to as many potential candidates as possible. In order to find the perfect candidate for the job, employers need to be able to pool as many individuals as possible, giving themselves a wide range of applicants to hire from, and thus increasing their chances of finding just the right match.
3. Never Rely on Purely on Gut Instinct
Far too often, seasoned hiring managers believe that they can tell a good hire purely by following the gut instinct. While in the interview process, listening to one’s gut feeling to help judge a candidate for a cultural match can have its benefits – but even then should not be solely relied upon as an assessment technique – this is by far one of the poorest methods an employer can use in the hiring process. Making a good hire requires various levels of detailed candidate assessment on the employers part to find the ideal individual for the position, none of which can be done judged by the hiring managers instincts.
4. Stop Deferring Hires
While a company’s human resources department can be a valuable tool in conducting certain executive search and hiring processes, far too often managers with hiring capabilities will defer all of their hiring responsibilities to these individuals, even when properly filling the position in question requires knowledge that the HR department does not have. In these situation it is time for hiring managers to step up and fulfill these duties in order to avoid HR making a bad hire because they did not have all the facts.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
