Getting the recruitment process right

Why are businesses still getting the recruitment process so wrong?

Last week I was approached by two different companies to hire people into what were described as ‘important management roles’.

This should be great news – it is an ideal time to be looking as there is a lot of available talent at the moment. However, when I asked each of the CEOs to describe to me why each role was so important to their business and what key performance outcomes they would use to measure the success of the new person, they both struggled.

Making matters worse, in each case they said ‘I am not exactly sure what I want yet, but I will know the right person when I meet them’. Clearly this strategy didn’t work last time for them, because in each case the last hire failed, albeit neither could describe how they measured ‘failure’ other than each person was gone within nine months of starting.

I explained to each that they really needed to get clear on the scope of the role and how it fits into the purpose, strategy, processes and performance objectives of the business.

As we have said in previous blogs, the ‘Scope’ is the most important part of the recruitment process, because is where the most mistakes are made. For some reason everyone wants to rush to ‘Search’, which is actually the easy bit!

Potential client A got it. We are now undertaking an analysis of the business structure and dynamics and learning from past mistakes made with this role. By the way, the last failed hire alone had a negative financial impact of some $200,000 in just 6 months, so it was really important to do a deeper dive to get things right.

Potential client B’s response? ‘We don’t do all that – can’t you just give me some names and CVs to look at?’ Really? After acknowledging they tore up a heap of time and money on successive hires, this is still the response?

Remember, the key to the Scope stage is to think like a great candidate. What would you want to know if you were going to join a company for a long period of time and throw all your energy into making it work?

If you get this right, it becomes even easier to attract the right candidates as you will look professional, organized and thorough. If you don’t, you will be flying blind and giving all the negotiating power to the candidates. Not a great way to kick off the relationship.