Hiring can be fun & a lot of responsibility !!

I started off my career with Recruitment & hence it will always remain very close to my Heart. Among others, it taught me to be patient & focused. What I enjoyed most about recruitment is hiring for difficult positions, I was never the mass hiring types. Although there is no full proof way of doing it, #HowIHire is mostly guided by some simple things I picked up along the way. So here's my two cents to the whole game of Recruitment....

Some important things that every recruiter should remember & follow, ALWAYS -

• If skills & experience are important, so are attitude & ability to learn.

• For every requirement, there are skills that are mandatory & skills that are a bonus. Make a proper note of these & use these for shortlisting the resumes.

• Spend sufficient time with the hiring manager, get to know the requirement well, re-write it in your own words.

• Do your homework, before you start hiring. Know what is possible, what is difficult & what is difficult but not impossible.

• If a candidate cannot express it, he may not know it.

• Treat all candidates as equal, however do not lose your ground.

• Study the market, always know what is in & what is not.

• Have a clear idea of what kind of position you are working on, what the possible challenges are or can be.

• Carefully choose your source.

• Decide how the opening should be projected & stick to the plan.

Here are a few things that are absolutely important & need to be managed effectively -

Before scheduling for an interview -

• Shortlist the resume objectively. Make an initial contact to get a feel of the candidate's ability. Strike up a conversation to discuss his/her professional growth. Assess communication, confidence & ease with which he or she can converse. Give equal importance to the non verbal communication & cues that you observe or feel. Trust your own judgement about the candidate's overall personality, attitude & skills.

• Share details about the Organisation & the role clearly. While it is okay to generate interest in the opportunity, do not over sell. It is a good idea to let the candidate decide whether he or she is really interested in pursuing the opportunity.

•  On completing your own checklist & getting a go ahead from the candidate, schedule an interview.

•  Choose a good team to interview for the position. Two is good, only if it is a  niche or tricky position have three interviewers. This also helps in taking a decision .

 While Scheduling an interview -

• Give the interviewer & the candidate, sufficient time & notice before scheduling the interview. The Hiring Manager is a "must be there" in the Interview Panel.

• Choose a right time & place for the interview. Ensure the interviewers are on the same page about the role & have same expectations. It is good to have an interviewing strategy in place & for example, have one interviewer evaluate 2 specific areas or skills & the other may be 2 other skills, decide who starts first or what kind of questions to start with. 

•  Make sure you have a concrete yes or no result & a "why yes" or "why no answer" from the interview panel. And ofcourse, be ready with your opinion as well. 

After an  interview -

•  Have a good discussion on why a candidate is selected or not selected. Make sure the reasons are objective & important to the role. 

• Always remember, you along with the interview panel, are taking a "Hiring" decision here, make sure it is a well informed decision. Be ready to own it up.

•  You may choose to let the candidate know about the decision after a few days. It is a good idea to inform rejection as well. If the candidate wants to have a feedback, give a genuine one.

If you were to ask most recruitment professionals, any recruitment is incomplete, until the person selected has joined. Hence, this does not end with selection. Now that you have informed selection & the offer has been rolled out, the ball is in the candidate's court. And just because he or she has been offered a role by your Organisation, does not guarantee his or her joining. The time period between selection & joining is crucial.

 Between selection & joining -

• Have an open discussion about the offer, clarify what the job has & does not have in store for the selected candidate.

• Ensure that the candidate is genuinely excited about the opportunity and willingly accepts the role.

• Keep in touch with the candidate between the selection or offer stage until joining. However, do not go overboard, you may end up annoying him or her with frequent phone calls or emails. Just do as much required to sound interested but do not sound desperate.

• What can you do to keep in touch ?? Okay, check if the handing over is progressing well at his/her current employer, inform him/her about the preparations at your end towards his/her onboarding, communicate the recent developments in the organization, while it is okay to sound "looking forward to having you on board", there is a difference between that & "I will so be in trouble if you do not join".

Let us also be aware that if someone is not interested in joining your organization & is using your offer to simply bargain for a better one elsewhere, no amount of being professional is going to get him or her to join. You & your organization are better off without such people. 

Having back ups is a good idea to mitigate risk. If it is possible & affordable, offer two people even if you need only one immediately. If you cannot offer two, ensure you have two or three final selections. If you have a not so good feeling about the person you are about to offer, don't waste your time. Look for any cues from the potential joiner about him or her having second thoughts on joining your organization. The sooner you get to know the better. If, at any point between the offer stage & the joining date, the candidate begins to re-negotiate your offer, the call is yours to make. Do not hesitate to revoke an offer on grounds of unethical behavior.

While there is no full proof hiring & even with everything planned & executed well, hiring decision may not always be correct, there are no two ways about doing it well. Ofcourse, time & experience are the best teachers.

 Happy Recruiting !!