Three Important Steps To Streamline Your Recruiting

It’s not rocket science—when you conduct business, would you rather deal with someone that’s shrouded and vague, or open and authentic?  Transparency wins the day in every professional relationship, and we all know it. “I’ll know the right candidate when I see them” isn’t an effective hiring strategy.  But if that’s true, why do so many hiring processes look more like a mystery or a game of cat-and-mouse than an honest, real conversation?  

If we’re honest with each other (since that’s the theme of the day), we’d admit there are three big places where the transparency challenge often hits-where-it-hurts in our recruiting practices: that upfront discussion about your hiring challenges, understanding and being open about the type of candidates that actually succeed in your organization, and of course, the granddaddy of them all, the compensation conversation.   

Discussing your hiring challenges upfront isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a step towards not having them anymore.  

News flash:  we’ve all got them.  Every hiring manager knows their biggest challenges, whether its finding qualified candidates, engaging them and having productive conversations, or ensuring they stick with you through the offer and onboarding process.  Why not discuss those and other topics upfront with your recruiter so you can work together on a plan to overcome them? 

Hiring in today’s candidate-driven marketplace isn’t like it was 10 years ago.  To start with, there’s constant pressure to speed up the process—something that appears to be on the radar everywhere even though it never really seems to work to anyone’s advantage.  Then, we’re all dealing with super high competition and low unemployment rates.  Finally, just successfully navigating “workplace culture” and office politics can make every day seem like an uphill battle.  Worn out yet? 

It doesn’t have to be a battle you handle on your own.  Talking about all these things upfront in an open and confidential conversation with your recruiting partner not only fosters collaboration (which can go a long way towards helping solve some of those challenges), it also gives your recruiter the info they need to work within and around those challenges—making you more successful at finding and landing employees who will thrive in your organization. 

Hard truth:  Some candidates won’t thrive in your organization.  Let’s talk about why. 

It may be difficult to admit, but in every organization, certain candidates will thrive, and others won’t.  Far from being a sign that there’s something wrong with your company, it can actually be a sign that you are operating in your wheelhouse instead of trying to be all things to everybody.  Every candidate wants to work at a company that knows and embraces who they are, to find a corporate culture that fits them as an individual.  Example: if your corporate culture empowers and rewards people that take ownership and eat challenges for breakfast, hiring a team member with analysis paralysis might not be a great idea.  However, if you already have a room full of headstrong Alphas, you might benefit from having a Steady on the team to help keep everyone progressing towards the goal instead of butting heads.  In either case, it’s a great discussion to have with your recruiter upfront, helping them identify candidates most likely to succeed in your organization. 

Then, there’s another aspect to the cultural challenge that is worth considering.  Not acknowledging that certain individuals will do better than others within your culture can result in good employees walking out the door with a bad taste in their mouth.  And in the era of social media, the bad experience of one employee can instantly create a more difficult experience recruiting and landing that next candidate.  The best way to solve this is before it begins, in an open conversation with the right recruiting partner to help identify candidates that fit your culture and will thrive on your team.   

It isn’t all about the money—unless we make it that way. 

The need for open conversation is never more real than when it comes to money.  When your initial conversation with your recruiter sounds like you’re looking to hire a Site Super seasoned enough to construct a five-story townhouse, but you’re hoping to fit that person into an already budget-constrained project, the process goes a whole lot smoother when that challenge is dealt with upfront, where expectations can be properly managed on both sides of the table. 

Hey, we get it!  We’ve all had experiences where budget called the shots.  Where everyone had to give a little to get a little, and where perfect became the enemy of the good.  But with the right amount of transparency upfront, the story can go in a much better direction. 

When hiring managers break out of their vagueness and talk about how much they’re expecting to shell out upfront, in that all-important collaboration with the recruiting partner, chances of getting a great candidate with all the boxes checked are dramatically improved.  We know, this is scary stuff, but hear us out.   

Everyone, your candidate included, understands that the figure on that paycheck affects both the employee’s quality of life and the company’s bottom line, and thus the balancing act.  No big secret here!  Talking about figures upfront helps break the ice, setting an open and honest tone to the discussions and establishing expectations early in the process. 

But we can still smell your fear—what if that perfect candidate comes along, I mean a bonafide unicorn, that magical individual who fits every single qualification, and you SCARE THEM AWAY with your salary?  While it’s theoretically possible, it’s unlikely if you’ve been open from the start with your recruiter and developed a relationship firmly based on transparency.  If everyone’s been transparent and open from the start, that situation should result in a productive conversation, not a closed door.  A conversation where both sides understand there’s room to move because there’s reason to.  The key is willingness—willingness to have the conversation, and willingness to be flexible when required for that special individual who will more than pay you back with their stellar performance.  And after all, isn’t that the goal here? 

At CLT Recruiters, we value honest and frequent communication with our clients.

You won’t have to guess where we’re at, ever.  Our goal is to make sure both of us are aiming for the same target, and we know the only way to do that is to communicate often and well.  Regardless of your past experience, the recruiting process can be open, transparent and productive if you’re working with the right partner.

If you want to work with someone who can help you attract, evaluate and land a house full of unicorns, let’s start the conversation.  We’re ready if you are!