4 Key Factors for Managers to Improve Their Hiring Process
If you are a manager, one of the most stressful aspects of your job can be finding good candidates to fill available positions in your group. Whether you work in a small business or for a large corporation, hiring new personnel can be a hard task to manage. There are many things to consider when you are jumping into the hiring process and focusing some attention on a few key factors can increase your success in finding the right person for your needs quickly and efficiently.
Whether this position is a permanent hire, contract-to-hire, or contract, one of the first steps is deciding exactly where this effort will be coming from. Are you going to search for, review, and select this new team member all on your own? Are you going to exercise your internal HR department? Or could leveraging a partnership with an employment agency be the best path forward? Chances are option 1 is out of the question because you are already too busy. Option 2 may be a great choice, but does your HR department have the specialized skills needed to make this as quick and easy as possible for you? Option 3 is your key factor that leaves you with the most time and energy on your hands to focus on your project goals while giving you the confidence that the candidates you receive are worth your consideration.
The next key factor is developing a description that is comprehensive while being direct and accurately describing the technical skills your team needs. All too often job descriptions are much longer and include far more information than is needed and can turn away many applicants who would otherwise be interested, as well as make it very difficult for recruiters to screen candidates. Your description should contain a short (2-3 sentence) overview of the position, 5-6 main tasks or anticipated daily activities, 5-7 must have technical skills, and 3-5 “nice-to-have” skills or traits. This should be completed in a single page. The idea is to focus on the most important details only without overloading the description.
The third key is to have a quick 5-minute discussion with the recruiter at the employment agency you’ve partnered with. Here is where you can fill in all the rest of the blanks and communicate the other details about the position and what else you would like to see in your next team member. This will greatly improve the quality of candidates that are presented to you. The recruiter has access to a large talent pool and potentially has professional history with many qualified candidates which allows them to narrow down with almost surgical precision the accuracy of resumes ultimately reviewed by you.
The last key factor here is trusting your recruiting partners and their process. This is what we do on a daily basis and we are good at what we do! We can make the whole process much easier and much more efficient. You’ll still have to review resumes, but it will be few, and they will be good. And you’re still in control of the final decision which is the most important part.
Here at Summit Technology Services, Inc., we can use our expertise and leverage our ever-expanding talent network to help fill all your most important team roles. Whether it’s a contract, contract-to-hire, or a permanent position, we’re here to help and get you the resources you need.