When Hiring Managers identify hiring needs for their teams, they get the approval to hire and a passing of the baton goes to the recruiter to conduct the search for the right candidate. Many companies believe that the Hiring Manager has other more important matters to attend to and their time can be better spent rather than being heavily invested in recruiting.
However, problems can arise when there is minimal to no involvement from the Hiring Manager in the recruitment process:
- Recruiters are often left with just the job descriptions without a clear understanding of the role
- Hiring Managers’ expectations may be unrealistic in terms of quality & quantity of candidates available, and timeline for position to be filled
- Hiring Managers’ definition of a good candidate may differ from that of the Recruiters
- There is minimal to no communication between Hiring Managers and Recruiters
- A high number of candidates are interviewed but no hires are made
- Recruiters and Hiring Managers get frustrated at each other in the process.
All the above problems can be eliminated with the involvement from the Hiring Manager. This doesn’t mean that the Hiring Manager needs to spend a large portion of their time in the overall search, but simply with timely input and open communication. Below are a few examples of how the Hiring Manager can make a key difference in the recruitment process in finding the right Candidate.
1) Preparing / advising on the job description
One thing that Hiring Managers can do to put everything on the right track from the very start is to write or help to prepare a detailed job description that outlines the job functions, responsibilities, and qualifications of the position. When job applicants at the job description to get a sense of what the position is all about and without even speaking to the company about the position further, they sometimes determine whether it is a good match for them simply based on the job description.
2) Communicating details of the job and the focus of the search
Hiring Managers are the ones looking to fill the position on their teams and they know exactly what they want. This needs to be communicated clearly to the recruiters so that they know what to look for. Simply having the job description is not enough and the hiring managers need to have an initial conversation with the recruiter to describe: what the position actual does, what a typical day would be like, the reason the position is available, what are must-haves and what are nice-to-haves, what type of candidates they believe would fit the role, where they believe candidates can come from, and more. All of which is to help the recruiters focus their search and go down the right path.
3) Defining Realistic Expectations
Before any search for candidates have even begun, Hiring Managers already envisioned how the process will go, how long it will take, and what the perfect candidate / candidates will be. However, after discussing with the recruiters, they must rely on the expertise of the recruiters to see if those expectations can be met with the available talent in the market. Hiring Managers and Recruiters must work together to set realistic expectations so that both sides know what to expect and what’s to be expected.
4) Stay communicated
After the initial preparations from the Hiring Managers, Recruiters will then go about their recruitment strategies to find the perfect / near-perfect candidates for the job. Most of the heavy lifting is now shifted to the recruiter at this point of the process, but the Hiring Managers must still communicate with the Recruiters. During the search, Recruiters may be asked questions by potential candidates that they don’t have the answers for, or the Recruiters may have ideas about potential candidates that were not initially discussed. Hiring Managers have the answers to these questions that help the Recruiters carry on with their search.
5) Providing timely feedback on candidate resumes
Hiring Managers can help Recruiters greatly by reviewing and providing feedback on the candidates in a timely fashion. The quicker the response, the quicker the recruiters will know if they’re on the right track and whether the candidates they’ve been targeting are the right ones. And if they’re off track, this will avoid having the same-wrong candidates lined up for the hiring manager and the sooner they can steer back on track.
6) Devising an interview strategy
Whether this is done at the beginning of the search or when several qualified candidates have been identified, the Hiring Managers should work together with the Recruiters to come up with a plan for their interview process. Depending on the type of position, together they would need to determine: what type of interview they should utilize, how many steps they should break out the interview into, who would need to be involved as an interviewer at each step of the interview process, and more.
7) Providing timely feedback after interviewing with candidates
After interview with a candidate, it is important that the Hiring Managers communicate their feedback to the Recruiters in a timely manner so that the recruiters know what the next step for that particular candidate is. If there is interest in the candidate, as a company you want to show them that you’re interested with a timely response. If there is no interest, quick feedback to the recruiter accomplishes two things: 1) it allows the recruiters to let the candidate know the decision and move on; and 2) it gives insight to the recruiters on why that particular candidate is not a match and they can alter their search.
8) Help with adjusting the search strategy
When searches are coming up empty and no qualified candidates can be found, it is very important that the Hiring Managers work with the Recruiters on adjusting their search strategies. Hiring Managers will need to listen to the feedback from the Recruiters on the struggles of finding the right candidates and reassess their must-haves and nice-to-haves based on the findings of available talent in the market. Sometimes there’s not much that can be changed, but still the input of the Hiring Managers at these moments will help recruiters realign their search priorities.
At the end of the day, the responsibility of finding the right talent for the company does not rest on just the recruiter as the Hiring Manager plays a big role in the process as well. It is important that the Hiring Manager works closely with the Recruiter each step of the way to ensure that best available talent ends up on the team!
Contact us today to speak with one of our Recruitment Specialists and let us help you build your team with talent this year!