"Being a great manager starts by hiring great people, and hiring great people starts by understanding how they make career decisions." This is how Lou Adler, American expert on recruiting top talent and journalist, opens his recent article on the LinkedIn social network. This time, he does not focus on recruiters, but on managers who are hiring new members to their teams. He describes five tips on how to choose stronger and better candidates.
1. Clarify your expectations
First of all, create a description of the person you are looking for (not just a job description). Focus on what the particular team member should know and what key performance targets he or she should meet related to a specific project or business strategy. Your description should include four to five such performance goals.
2. Work with recruiters
Accept recruiters as equal partners. They do not know exactly what the actual performance of a particular job involves, that is why you have to tell them. Recruiting the best people must be a consultative sales process based on understanding the real needs of the job.
3. Start by telephone screening
Before you invite applicants for a face-to-face meeting, contact them by phone. Describe the work offered to them and ask if they have done something similar and with what results. Only after you find out if the previous accomplishments of a job applicant match your expectations and that the candidate perceives the job as a career move, arrange for a personal interview.
4. Show you are offering a career move
Be careful not to "sell" the vacancy too aggressively. Candidates should not get the impression that you are eager to hire anyone. Focus on specific career-related aspects that are still missing in the specific candidate's CV that you can offer. This includes factors such as a bigger team, bigger budget, more influence, long-term growth, etc.
5. Treat candidates as consultants
Approach them as capable professionals. Especially for high-quality passive candidates, your ability to lead the interview plays a really crucial role. Lou Adler recommends you talk with job candidates as if you were talking to a business consultants who can bring a new perspective to your job.
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