The Hiring Process: Getting It Together

Hiring Manager: Hi (insert your name here), I have this great candidate that I want to make an offer to today. Can you send him an offer letter?

Recruiter: Has this candidate been through all the proper interviews including HR?

Hiring Manager: No.

Recruiter: Have the candidates references been checked?

Hiring Manager: No.

Recruiter: Has this candidate filled out an application?

Hiring Manager: No.

How many times has this happened to you? I bet you would be surprised how often this exchange takes place in a number of growing organizations. After all, in a fast-paced, growing company, getting candidates hired can mean the difference between the success or failure of an organization. Of course, that doesn’t mean that proper hiring procedures should be ignored. There’s a reason why we should always check references, or make sure candidates are interviewed by all the appropriate personnel before being offered a position. But try telling that to one of your hiring managers when they’ve got a candidate in mind that they just have to hire today. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> That is why it is so important to have a solid hiring process in place. A properly conceived hiring process can help you convince everyone to follow the rules on a regular basis?and it can help you avoid the above situation from ever arising again at your company. Here are a few suggestions on how to effectively implement such a process:

Include your hiring managers in designing the hiring process. The way to ensure that your hiring managers will buy in on a hiring process is to consult them during its design. The more they are involved in creating the process, the less they are likely to ignore it in the future.
Make sure that the process is in writing and is easy for everyone to understand. If you currently have a process in place, review it to ensure that it makes sense and is as efficient as possible. And of course, if you make any changes to it, be sure to involve both HR and the hiring managers.
Include all the components. To have a successful hiring process, you need to make sure that you have included all the necessary components. All candidates should complete the following steps: application, interviews with all necessary people in the organization (including HR), reference check, and compensation review.
Diagram it. The saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” is just as true here. A flow chart can be that picture. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just functional. If your flow chart is more than one page, then your hiring process is probably too long. Re-evaluate the steps to make sure that it is not longer than it needs to be.
Educate your hiring managers. Once you have completed the first four steps, then it’s time to unveil the process to all of your hiring managers. This is where education comes into play. Hopefully, you will have been able to get some input from the managers while creating the process. Be sure to clearly outline your role as the recruiter and the role that the hiring manager will play in the process. It’s now time to explain the details: the how and why it needs to work this way. This is the most crucial step in the success of the new hiring process. If they don’t “buy in” now, then the prospects of implementing the new process will be bleak.
Fine tune and implement. Listen to any final feedback from your hiring managers and fine-tune your process if necessary. If you demonstrate that you are receptive to feedback, you are more likely to have a process that everyone will believe in. Once you have made any last changes, then it is time to implement the program.

If you successfully complete the steps outlined above, then you should be well on your way to avoiding situations like the one I demonstrated in the opening paragraph. The important thing to remember is that there will always be exceptions to this process, so you need to be as flexible and diplomatic as possible in order to keep your hiring managers on your side for the long haul.