6 Essentials to Successfully Hiring in your Team

Hiring people for your team can be a complicated, risky process, whether you have a clear idea on who you are looking for, or not. If you are a People Manager and have the good fortune of having an open position to fill in your team, you may be facing one of the following scenarios: 

1. I have an external head-hunter supporting me in my search
2. I have an in-house recruiter (or HR) supporting me in my search
3. I am alone

In all of the above cases, note that You are the Key Player in the game. Not the Recruiter. Sure, the Recruiter is there to source the right candidate for the role, and he or she is probably very skilled at doing so, therefore having recruiter support is extremely valuable. But without the Hiring Manager sitting in the driving seat, leading the orchestra, the recruiter alone is set up to be slow, unsure, misaligned, misinformed, demotivated (after a while), developing the wrong network, or lost… 

So Orchestra Director, we have established you are 100% liable for successfully hiring the right person for your team. To optimize every possibility of hiring success (on time), here are 6 essentials that guarantee speed and uncompromising quality:

1. YOUR OWN MINDSET – Have a Healthy, Responsible Hiring Manager attitude: As said, although you may have a recruiter sourcing for you, do not operate with the conviction that they will be the cause of your hiring success or failure. Also make sure you build into your busy agenda the necessary time it takes to search, interview, debrief etc. (I suggest min. 6 hours per week).
2. YOUR OWN APPROACH – Be Clear and True to yourself (and your recruiter). Know what you are looking for and make sure you are realistic about your need and the seniority that fits the role. Gather your thoughts and jot the answers to the following questions:
   • Do I have a Job Description for the role? If no, where can I find one?
   • What will be their business goals?
   • What are the top 3 hard and soft skills needed for the role (vs the nice-to-haves)?
   • What is the seniority level and who could be my internal benchmark comparison? 
   • How can I help the Recruiter “sell the role” to the candidates. What is great about it?
   • What do my target profiles look like? (companies and types of roles the candidates could be in now).
   • What would make my new hire successful in their job?
3. YOUR RECRUITER INTERACTION – Kick-off and Hit the ground running from Day 1: Once you’ve gathered your thoughts (point 2 above), make sure you share them in a structured way with your recruiter. The Kick-off meeting is essential and without one you risk losing time and/or pointing your recruiter in the wrong direction. Once point 2’s information has been covered, be sure to set your recruiter up for operational success by:
   • Defining an effective sourcing channel strategy (Internal / Active Applicants / Head Hunting / Referrals / MBA / Campus / Events / previous pipelines etc.)
   • Walking through the optimal recruitment process (phone screening and interviewing responsibilities, whether to include a subject matter expert to help you interview the candidates, who else will interview, and so on)
   • Establishing the Questions each interviewer will ask, to guarantee to get the most out of your interview answers, without overlapping and at the same time guaranteeing a great candidate experience
   • Deciding your Recruiter/Hiring-Manager best practice: Time and Day for weekly follow-up meetings, building an evaluation template etc. 
4. YOUR OWN NETWORK – Begin to build your network inside and outside your company to identify viable candidates. Ask others if they know someone -who knows someone- who may be good for the role, or you may already know someone you want to reach out to. You are not required to approach them yourself, if you have a recruiter supporting you, but by providing names you are: 
   • Guiding your recruiter towards who you consider a great candidate,
   • Building great Team Spirit with your recruiter, 
   • Developing a potentially stronger shortlist in less time,
   • Adding a new sourcing channel. 
5. DO NOT SHORTLIST – Do not compare candidates nor settle for the best candidate on a shortlist. You may be lucky in your search and find the right candidate for the role on the first interview. If you do, great! Stop searching and make an offer! If not, however, considering you have done all of the above correctly (including having a very clear idea on the ideal candidate) you do not need to follow hiring traditions by interviewing 2-3 “finalists” and picking from a shortlist. What if the shortlist consists of 3 apples and you are searching for an orange? Would you pick the apple that looks most like an orange? And be aware of your unconscious biases.
6. KEEP THE MOMENTUM – Stay true to the above 5 points and do not lose faith nor energy until you hire your star ✨

Done! Now you are fully aware of what it will take from your side. Also your Recruiter has a clear direction and is perfectly informed on how to help you find the best candidate. Take a quick step back (to Essential #1), to the Best Hiring Manager Mentality you can have: if your recruiter ticks all the boxes on your above tasks, consider this a plus (most recruiters know what they are doing), but make sure you do not lose sight of Your Primary Responsibilities as a Hiring Manager, as it is precisely that, that makes the difference, guaranteeing your present and future success.