The last article listed mistakes ten through eight. This set lists the next three mistakes companies make when selecting a recruiter.
As a reminder how we came to this list.We undertook an in-depth survey project conducted over a 3-year period with 425 CEOs and senior executives. IMPACT Hiring Solutions examined the top 10 mistakes and false assumptions in working with recruiters.
Mistake #5: All Recruiters Help a Client Define a Great Job
Participants in our study had contracted with executive search firms assuming they would help in effectively defining the position. They politely described most recruiters’ efforts in this area as a re-write of their internal job descriptions. They found that the recruiters they’ve retained took their original two page job descriptions, added 4-6 pages of boiler-plate information, and had the audacity to claim a portion of their fees were based on this “value-added” service. When both the recruiter and the executive use the Success Factor Snapshot as the primary tool to guide the search project, accuracy and success soars like an eagle on a consistent basis.
Mistake #6: All Recruiters Do a Good Job of Assessing Candidates
Our participants were under whelmed by their executive recruiters’ ability to conduct an effective interview. Our participants found that they still had to conduct initial screens and catch the glaring errors and omissions ignored by recruiters. Our participants were stunned to find that most recruiters haven’t the slightest clue how to deeply evaluate a candidate. The vast majority of recruiters conduct meet-and-greet sessions with candidates in an attempt to determine if the candidate can interview effectively. Forget about determining if the candidate can do the job. Most recruiters are simply measuring likeability. A recruiter who uses a structured approach, such as our 5 Core-Question Interview and the Magnifying Glass Approach to Interviewing, overcomes this fundamental mistake.
Mistake #7: Recruiter’s Value is based on Showing Candidates
Study participants recognized that assuming the fee paid for an executive search was directly correlated to the presentation of candidates was a major mistake. The investment in search fees for most companies is a major expenditure. When this expenditure turns into nothing more than a high-priced resume service, there is likely to be significant disappointment in the value perception, even if one of the resumes presented turns into the candidate who gets hired. Top recruiting professionals have a rigorous and systematic business process for hiring, such as the Success Factor Methodology, which encompasses a cradle-to-grave process to raise hiring accuracy from historical standards close to 50% well up into the 90% range. Since most recruiters lack a rigorous process, our participants felt that there was a significant gap of value received
Please let me know if these are helpful as your company considers engaging recruiters. I would appreciate your feedback and thoughts.
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Many of the frustrations executives experience with recruiters stem from initial mistakes in hiring the recruiter.
We undertook an in-depth survey project conducted over a 3-year period with 425 CEOs and senior executives. IMPACT Hiring Solutions examined the top 10 mistakes and false assumptions in working with recruiters.
Here they are in reverse order.
Mistake #10: All Recruiters Know How to Recruit Top Talent
Another major mistake that occurs during the selection of a search firm is the assumption that all recruiters are outstanding at recruiting, motivating, and nurturing the selective and sleeper candidates from the deep end of the pond. Our participants were frequently disappointed that the search firms they engaged were unable to attract and interest selective and sleeper candidates. They realized that most recruiters took the easy road of fishing in the shallow end of the pool, where the candidates are desperate for work and don’t need to be recruited. The very best recruiters understand candidate motivation at a deep level and are able to craft compelling statements of work that appeal to the primary motivators of top talent. The Success Factor Snapshot and the Compelling Marketing Statement provide tools for top-notch recruiters to demonstrate to a high potential candidate what they will learn, what impact they will have in the organization, and what they will become for being in this new role. The very best recruiters consistently recruit, excite, and close selective and sleeper candidates.
Most managers have never had any training on how to interview. They simply show up to the interview and start asking questions. This is especially true when the candidate comes back to meet the manager’s peers or others in the company. The manager rarely sits down with these interviewers and explains the purpose or expectation for their interview.
Every interview should be well planned and have specific objectives. They should never be random and unstructured. The manager should give each subsequent interviewer a particular topic or area to interview. The same is true for the first interview with the manager. Pick two or three important topics for each interview and then probe deeply on each. For example, if leadership, international sales and a hands-on management style are important for this person to be successful, then design a series of question around these three topics. Start by asking for examples of where the candidate believes they have demonstrated these and then probe for details. Try and determine how well these examples align with the company’s culture, resources, systems and department structure. Repeat this same process with anyone else conducting interviews. Give each interviewer at least two areas for them to a conduct thorough in-depth interview.
Never again simply ask someone to interview one of your candidates without first planning out their role and what the expectations are for the interview.
Join the other 10,000 CEOs, key executives and HR professionals and download a FREE copy of our best-selling book, You’re NOT The Person I Hired. Just CLICK HERE and under the FREE Hiring Resources section you can download our free eBook.
Retaining your best talent is always the best thing any company can do. Download our FREE Non-Monetary Rewards and Recognitions Matrix. It will help you retain your best people without additional compensation. CLICK HERE to download under the Free Resources section.
A recent research study identified the ten biggest mistakes companies make when hiring. The study included over 130 companies ranging in size from Fortune 500 to mid-size privately held organizations, a wide variety of industries, and more than 250 job openings.
The number one hiring mistake made was rather surprising and one rarely even considered by most companies. Yet, this one mistake impacts the whole hiring process, including how candidates are sourced, where to find candidates, compensation, performance management, advertising, position title and what questions should be asked during the interview. Everything seems to go sideways all because most companies fail to properly define the real job.
Question: How much value should be placed on background checks when hiring someone? Seems like we discover the people we want to hire have some issue in their background just before we are ready to offer them the job.
I believe before you hire anyone, from the janitor to the CEO, you should conduct a background check. Depending on the level of the hire a background check maybe more extensive and involve multiple locations, but the information gained is important to know before hiring anyone. Discovering a potential issue may not be a knockout blow, but it should be addressed with the candidate.
Advising the candidate that they will be going through a background check early in the process might eliminate your second issue. Towards the end of the first interview let the candidate know exactly what you are going to check (driving record, credit, criminal, degrees) and ask if there will be any issues when the check comes back. If they say, “No” and then issues come back you may have a dishonest person. Often you will find the person to be upfront and tell you something will show up. You can then have a discussion about these issues and decide whether to proceed or not. This should greatly reduce the number of surprises at the end of the process.
Join the other 10,000 CEOs, key executives and HR professionals and download a FREE copy of our best-selling book, You’re NOT The Person I Hired. Just CLICK HERE and under the FREE Hiring Resources section you can download our free eBook.
Retaining your best talent is always the best thing any company can do. Download our FREE Non-Monetary Rewards and Recognitions Matrix. It will help you retain your best people without additional compensation. CLICK HERE to download under the Free Resources section.
I recently asked over 100 CEO’s and their key executives, “Is hiring top talent critical to the success of your organization?” Not surprising everyone replied “Yes, it is critical.” Not simply important, but critical. So then I asked,”If it is critical, then how much time each month is spent focusing on hiring, excluding when you are actively looking to fill a position?” Not surprising, only three people raised their hand.
WOW, something that is critical to the success of the organization, gets virtually zero time unless there is a current need. Is that the way most critical issues are handled in your company? No strategic planning. No thought or action discussed or taken until the problem arises? Only once the problem arises is it dealt with. Until then it is that famous management strategy, “Out of sight, out of mind.” or “We will cross that bridge when we get there.”
Q. How can we improve our advertising so it expands the pool of candidates we attract?
Most company’s job advertisements rarely motivate candidates that are working but open to exploring a new opportunity. This results in a very small pool of candidates that are actively seeking a new position.
Q. Over the next year we will be hiring a significant number of people outside California. Other than running ads are there better ways to hire in other states?
Hiring in other states will take more time and commitment from the hiring managers. They must become actively involved in the process. The best people in the place where you are hiring may not be answering ads, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in another compelling opportunity. How you search for top talent in other states really doesn’t change that much from how you do it in California.
Q. Our company’s on-boarding process isn’t much more than a quick orientation on benefits and some things about the culture. This doesn’t seem to be helping in reducing some of the turnover we have been experiencing with key position. Any suggestions as to what a good on-boarding process includes?
I have seen many good hires go bad due to a poor on-boarding process. For far too many companies this process is ignored, delegated to HR or is simply watching the “Godfather” movie to understand the culture.
Q. We have just recently started hiring again and so far with limited success. We thought with this economy it would be easy to hire successful people, but so far our average is pretty poor. What in the short-term can a company do to improve its hiring accuracy?
Start by solving the number one hiring problem. Which is untrained people. Most people have never had any formal training on how to hire. This is especially true in mid to small companies. Even many large organizations don’t train managers on this topic. Some companies may provide interviewing training, but that is only one step in an effective hiring process. There is a lot more to hiring than just interviewing. For example finding top talent. You can have well-trained interviewers, but if people aren’t trained how to bring top talent to your table, all interviewing will do is validate they aren’t qualified. Your hiring process is still ineffective. That is just one example.
