Make Face-to-Face Time A Priority. In building your team – hiring the right people that can perform the job and fit your company’s culture, investing time in your recruiter is essential.
My favorite Uncle Bob, used to say, “we get so busy.” He was making an observation at 90 years old, that when we are busy, we lose track of the essential daily effort required to move larger objectives forward like hiring hiring the necessary people on your team.
In the competitive fury to develop business, it’s easy to prioritize seemingly urgent tasks over investing time to achieve the objectives that require invested time. I’m reminded of a case where a senior executive came to us and asked us to help regenerate his firm’s team.
The initial discovery calls went well – but when it came to allocating time to review submitted candidates – there was never enough time. Back-to-back meetings, late nights, and manager and interviewer unavailability; everything that was an urgent burning issue took priority over providing productive feedback to keep the search going at a good pace.
Why make hiring an important and urgent objective? Several reasons:
- Hiring is a fundamental lever of growth. If you need growth, but don’t have the right people to do the work (in all functions to make the product, sell the service, support your customers and collect the money, and so on), what will you deliver to market that achieves financial results – a.k.a growth.
- Like in any other operational process, efficiency cuts cost. If you want growth, at lower cost, invest face-to-face time necessary to accelerate hiring results.
- Maintains the focus of your recruiter on your assignment. The responsive client will always get the most timely attention and focus.
- Tunes your search to find the optimal candidate. Job descriptions alone are too broad. As your interview team reviews screened and vetted candidates, your recruiter gains the finer points you are looking for that are not reflected in the job description, alone.
- Saves time. Fundamentally, the more focused the early collaboration you (or your management/interview team) invests with your recruiter the the faster you will achieve the hiring outcome you need to drive results (growth).
- Drives the brand of your company. When a strong candidate is in the queue, but it takes days, or weeks, to set up the interview – your brand is being set in the minds of the job market. What is the candidate to think?
- The alternative relies on luck. To not invest time and to not collaborate with your recruiting partner, will statistically always produce poorer outcomes.
There are no panacea-like solutions to this make face-to-face time a priority dilemma. Do it, and you are competitively advantaged. Assume you don’t need to do it, and you give competitive advantage to the teams at competitor firms that know better.
Three simple ways to invest time responsively:
- Return recruiter calls and messages the same day – keep momentum going.
- Provide clear, direct and honest feedback on candidates – improve the next submission.
- Make time for interviews outside typical schedules – convey value and importance for the search and candidate.
Humans on your management team must invest time. It’s not realistic, or ethical, to abdicate this role and then blame your recruiter for failing to give you the candidates you wanted. How could they know if you didn’t invest the time to collaborate and enable them to achieve the best outcome for you? No software or web technology is going to replace the importance of investing time to build the right organization to satisfy the expectations of your stakeholders (your leadership team, owners, investors, stockholders, etc.)
Barton Professional Placement Group is your partner. We are here to do the recruiting work, as your partner. We do this together, as partners in collaboration, ensuring we are in it for the long-term effectiveness of the people you hire on your team. Call us today to set up an appointment to discuss our process further.
