Recruiting The Right Way
It’s a good idea to think of
recruitment as a six-step process.
Let’s put them in order:
1. Create the Job
Description
Does that sound painful and
bureaucratic? A lot of managers
think so and so they just find an
old job description at the bottom
of a drawer and shoot it over to
HR. How easy will it be to find
the right person if your recruiter
is working from an out-of-date
document that doesn’t reflect
what you need?
Rather than focusing on just
“writing a job description,” start
with the first step to figure out
what is needed in this role and
then communicate that to HR in
a way that makes sense to them.
This can be surprisingly difficult
if you haven’t done it before.
This is a good time to partner
with HR. Have a conversation
with them about what the job
is and the kind of person you’re
looking for. That conversation
will make a big difference in
helping you document what you
need so that HR can begin the
recruiting process.
2. Determine the
Compensation Range
In most cases, the pay range for
the job will already be self-evident
(hint: it will be the same as it was
for the last person in that position).
However, if it’s a new position,
then the organization will need
to decide what the appropriate
pay grade is for that kind of work.
They’ll have a process for that.
The more clarity you can give
them about what you need, the
more likely the process will end
with an appropriate pay grade.
3. Sourcing
Next comes sourcing. What is
“sourcing” you ask? It’s what
recruiters do to find candidates
to apply for the job opening. It
all starts with the employment
brand. The employment brand
helps ensure people are
interested in applying for a job at
your organization. As far as the
opening you need to fill now, HR
will start advertising the job and/
or use ‘direct sourcing’ to find
candidates. Advertising typically
means posting the job on your
organization’s career site and job
boards. There are lots of ways
to advertise including putting up
posters in bus stops. You don’t
need to worry about this much, as
HR (or a third-party firm HR has
hired) will handle this.
Direct sourcing means seeking
out specific individuals, usually by
searching LinkedIn or other online
sources, to look for people with
the right qualifications. Direct
sourcing is used for more senior
roles and for professional roles
that are hard to fill. This approach
is often described as searching
for “passive candidates,” that
is, people who are not actively
looking for work. It’s often
believed that the best people
are already happily employed
elsewhere and so you need to
seek them out; they won’t be
looking at job ads. Employee
referral programs, where you ask
employees to recommend people
they know for an opening, can
be considered a kind of direct
sourcing. Usually these programs
offer a payment to the employee
who makes a recommendation
that leads to a successful hire.
Again, you don’t have to worry
about that too much, HR (or a
third-party firm HR has hired) will
handle this. However, you should
ask your employees to participate
in such a program since referrals
often lead to getting high quality
new hires who fit the culture.
4. Screening and
Short-Listing
Are you getting excited about
actually seeing some candidates?
Well, hold on, there’s another set
of steps. HR will probably end up
with many applicants for the job
and they’ll have processes for
taking that long list and turning it
into a short list. If you are lucky,
HR will have a sophisticated
system for shortlisting, quite
possibly involving assessment
tests or pre-screening calls from
a recruiter. If you are unlucky,
HR’s screening and short-listing
process will include dumping 100
resumes on your desk and asking
Do you need to fill
some vacancies?
That’s easy; tell
HR and they’ll
quickly deliver the
ideal candidate. If
you believe that,
either you’ve got an
extraordinary HR
department or you’re
new to the real work
world!
Leadership Excellence presented by HR.com DECEMBER 2021 39 Submit Your Articles
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