There’s one thing many Hiring Managers are doing that drives away top talent.
I’m not convinced they know they’re doing it. It’s simple to fix and it makes life so much harder on their teams. It’s the primary reason I see good candidates leaving the recruitment process and good companies missing out.
Hiring Managers are taking too much time to hire.
I’m not here to say that Recruiters and HR Professionals are getting it right all the time either. But when that perfect candidate strolls into your life, what Managers do (or don’t do) matters.
Top candidates are in demand; everyone wants to hire them and they have choices; you must bring your A-Game. You can’t wait for comparisons, you can’t meet them next week (or in two weeks), you can’t get them excited about your job and then take weeks to produce an offer.
If you find someone that fits what you need, you must move. Your competitors will.
The effort and strategy that you put into attracting and hiring top talent will correlate directly with your ability to lock-in the right people to contribute to your future success.
I do understand how hard it can be to move fast. I’ve been a Hiring Manager with people relying on me and the weight of the world on my shoulders. I’ve been stretched thin and pulled in too many directions. It’s hard to be in charge.
My question for a busy Hiring Manager is this: if you don’t hire this outstanding candidate right now, will ‘something bad’ happen?
Namely, will you lose out on hiring them?
It sounds simple, but this is my gauge for prioritizing my day, and it should be yours.
Will ‘something bad’ (losing a good candidate, being stuck with second-tier talent, having to start the process all over again) happen if you don’t make a move? And will it be expensive? And inefficient? And hard on morale?
You bet it will.
In that case, it is a question of priorities.
What item on your to-do list can be pushed back or delegated without ‘something bad’ happening? Recruitment needs to take the place of that task.
Easier said than done.
With that in mind, below are my recommendations for clearing up time to spend recruiting the talent that you need:
1- Delegate or task some of your administrative duties.
Chances are there are employees that you really trust. Folks that are ‘up & comers’ that would absolutely LOVE to take some of the work off your plate. This is a double-whammy: you develop the skills of your talented employees, and you get to clear some head-space. Even if it’s boring work for you, it’s probably thrilling for them.
One of the objections to this suggestion is that it takes more time to train someone than it does to do it yourself. A completely fair comment. I think about ‘who covers what?’ when I’m on vacation. Who already knows how to do a few things (payroll, that report that you dread filling out every week, etc.)? Use that bench-strength to your advantage.
2 – Say “no” to a few things (preferably not recruiting).
We all want to say “yes” and to look like superheroes. But do you need to go for coffee with the sales-rep you haven’t heard from in a year and won’t have an order for? Join that obscure project-team? The birthday celebration for Linda in Accounting? The meeting that is a time-suck and is basically just a review of the last meeting?
I’m not suggesting you be a Negative-Nelly, but what tasks are adding value and what tasks are just taking up space? Pick the top 1-3 things that need to be done most urgently, and put the rest on ice for a while. It doesn’t have to be forever; what can you delay for one or two weeks so that you can catapult ahead with an amazing hire?
3 – Find some help in a trusted Recruitment partner.
This isn’t a plug for Recruitment agencies. The sad fact is that all Recruitment Professionals aren’t created equal. Some genuinely care about your organization and finding the right talent to propel your business forward, and others are in it for the commission or to keep their jobs.
The great part is that if you’re working with a good Recruiter or HR Professional, they’ll want to do everything in their power to make life easy for you.
Lean on them for support.
These people know your organization, will prioritize candidates and put together a brief but concise profile with all the info that is important to the job, and set up interview times for you.
If you’re working with a true professional, that person can help you develop interview questions so that you don’t have to ‘waste’ time preparing. They may even sit in on, or lead, interviews if that’s what you need. If working with a Recruiter is painful, you’re working with the wrong one. It should be an easy collaboration that you look forward to, and a means to drive your business forward.
Author Jim Rohn says it best, “Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”
Which one will it be?
It’s time to stop missing out on amazing candidates.
