It takes two hearts to hire well: a system at the center of how your team coordinates to choose new people and the standards with which you treat all the candidates that apply as they go through that system.
The First Heart – A Hiring System
All too often business leaders don’t include the right people and train them properly to hire for the business. You may even choose to use professionals who are excellent at spotting skills but are only [passingly, vaguely, somewhat] familiar with your culture. At the heart of great hiring is a human system. A system with all the practices and tools needed to make a great choice.
Within your hiring system you need four basic components to hire exceptionally well:
- A designated, trained group of people who communicate well and are all looking for the same thing,
- A shared understanding within the group of exactly what you are looking for for a culture and talent fit,
- A step-by-step process designed specifically to communicate with candidates and gather information on all candidates being considered, and
- A way for hiring team members to be objective.
Critical mistakes are likely when you don’t have each of these components. Assuming your people know how to interview and are clear on what your culture is could put your team in jeopardy. The right skills and the wrong cultural fit bogs down great performers and could cost your company dearly.
The Second Heart – Your Hiring Team’s Standards of Behavior
Setting in place the best environment for letting candidates be their true selves takes intention. You also want to make sure you reflect the values and work ethics of your company. The unwritten, unsaid rules for interviewing tell us to make sure we conduct a “good” interview and get it done quickly. The problems with this are that it’s hard to get the real person when they’re nervous and you don’t communicate well with talented candidates who are not selected. That stuff gets around.
For your hiring team to do well you’ll have to set standards of behavior that will get the best information out of a candidate and leave them speaking well of your organization even if they don’t get the job. Standards of behavior are rooted in two basic areas:
- What, when, and who communicates with the candidates as they go through your hiring system.
- Develop scripts for what to communicate to candidates who don’t get the job so they are uniform and match the voice of the company.
- Appoint someone on the team to shepherd candidates that are still being considered.
- How team members prepare themselves and the interactions with candidates:
- Give candidates what they need to make their choice too.
- Acknowledge and clear biases as best you can.
- Set up a true thinking environment for your interactions with candidates so they can show their true selves.
- Enlist candidates to support or help shift your business culture to make it a healthy one.
- Discuss openly the expectations you have and find out how you can support them in meeting those expectations.
How heart healthy is your company hiring practices?
Every good business leader knows about conducting a SWOT. Where does your hiring process need attention?
- Buy the book for a complete picture of THE Hiring System™ The Hire Effect™ – Hire for Culture and Skill.
- You can download THE Starter Kit™ and hire better by the end of the day. Download it now.
- You can book time with a coach and have as many people on your hiring team attend as you need. Book a session now.
- Little or no self-accountability in your business culture? Learn more about our Accountability Baseline Project.
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Miche Rayment is the Founder and CEO for The Hire Effect™. The Hire Effect clients learn how to identify, organize, and get the most out of their Unconventional Hiring Teams. TheHireEffect.com