Mastering the art of Recruiting !!!

Recruitment is considered as hiring the right candidate for the right position, but to be honest this has been a challenge to many companies. We have been interacting with 100+ of our clients and have learnt the various challenges they face and we always respond to them with solutions. This article will state few aspects of the same and hope that helps in taking right hiring decisions.

1. Have a competency skill set mapping : Most of the organizations make a document called Job Description for hiring, which is a detailed description of the open positions. The way forward is to have a skill set document of the required candidate. Set a 10 point skill set expected in the candidate, which will be the most useful and easy to understand document. For Example – Designation: Web Developer, Skills Set- javascript, html, jquery, webservices, ajax, mysql. One can break it up as must have skills. This should be mapped with all the CVs received and also during the interview, this will greatly help in improved decision making.
2. Focus on Strengths/ Selection: Recruiters/ HR often focus too much on what the candidate does not have or he is not good at, the perception at the start is negative. Always look forward to the strengths which the candidate possesses and positively think on what can the organization benefit out of that. All individuals have weaknesses but focusing on strengths helps in keeping the candidate in confident zone. A positive thought process will help hire better candidates, his weakness can we worked out once he joins the organization..
3. Send a Company Presentation before interview: Candidates coming for interview with just knowledge of the name of organization are a disaster. Always prepare a one pager about the company and share with the candidate at least 1-2 days prior to the interview. This helps the candidate learn about the company and he will also have more confidence in attending the interview. It is better to have people on board who like the company and join. This one pager/ presentation should include a brief journey of the company, the working days, exhibit the employee engagement activities, a brief of HR policies like leave policy, team size, founding team introduction and career enhancement opportunities. The company should ensure that the recruitment consultancies should follow this process.
4. Salary no bar for right candidates: A lot of job advertisements say, “salary no bar for right candidates”. This is a vague statement as the company has the clear budget for each position which should be communicated clearly. Such statements raise the expectations of the candidates and they demand too much, also the candidates who would apply will have the sole objective of hike and will overshadow all other factors. Such statement confuses the recruiters as well as candidates. Always state the right range that the company can actually offer.
5. Predefined and Quick Interview Process: The interview process is very essential in selecting the right candidate. Each company has their own process, few have 2 rounds, few have 4 rounds of interview. This process should be well defined and communicated to the candidate prior to the interview, so he comes with the right mind set. It happens at times that the candidates leaves half the process and does not turn up after that. The process should be ideally completed in not more than 3 days of the first interview. As when the candidate is searching a job, he attends 1-2 interviews on daily basis, if the process is long his starts losing interest in the offer.
6. First impression is the last impression: This also implies for the companies. Always have a policy of scheduling the interviews and completing them as per the schedule. Most of the times the candidate reaches on schedule and has to wait for 20-30 minutes for the interview which gives a negative impression on good candidates. Also ensure that the interview area, waiting area is neat and clean, well lighted. It would be great if there are some posters that make the candidate feel positive.
7. Transparency: This is also required for potential employees. Always state the right facts about the company to the candidate. It happens several times that the candidate is communicated that the company has a team of 20 employees but actually the team is of 10 only. The chances of a good candidate backing out after the interview or within 7 days of joining can be reduced if there is transparency maintained in hiring process. The company also needs to keep a check on hiring consultancies that they communicate the right facts.
8. Communication: This is the most unsaid requirement. Candidates should be communicated at each stage of interview process and it has to be quick, we have seen that within 24 hours of interview the communication has the highest impact. Most of the companies do not communicate with rejected candidates. We would advice them to send emails regarding rejection and have a communication with them on regular intervals, may be in future he can be relevant.

Following this simple steps we are sure that you can master the art of HIRING !!!

You can connect to me on japan@jmsadvisory.in for any solutions regarding hiring.