Traditionally, as hiring managers, we all start scouting for qualified candidates to interview only when we have a spot to fill. In this article, I’m offering the concept that you owe it to your business to always be interviewing.
Current protocol dictates that we interview for the following reasons — and ONLY when these situations occur:
• Someone leaves unexpectedly. We all know two weeks is never enough time to fill a key role, so business pain results.
• We have to let a non-performer go. This provides a little more breathing room, but, as we have all experienced, recruiting to replace someone who is handling some of the load, often keeps us from making a timely termination. We linger in the hope that the employee will miraculously improve.
• When our growth has outstripped our staff’s ability to meet business demands. This inevitably leads to staff stress, unplanned overtime and key objectives not being met. When this goes on long enough, unhappy staff situations arise, making our go-to people susceptible to being scouted by a competitor.
These are the most common situations that come up. Only at this critical tipping point do we start recruiting — and then from scratch.
Here’s my advice: Always be interviewing.
Develop a plan to meet with a certain number of candidates for your key positions — those positions you know are hardest to fill and essential to the success of your company. Interviewing doesn’t mean you are committing to hire. It means that you can build your bench for future hires by meeting with the right people when they are willing to talk to you.
Don’t meet with just anyone. Define what makes a candidate interview-worthy in your workplace. Specific titles, companies, degrees, certifications, etc.
Decide how many interviews fit into your schedule and your general hiring plan. Mine is two weekly interviews; yours could be two monthly.
Stick to your plan. Create calendar items to review resumes and specific dates and times for the meetings to take place. Be somewhat flexible depending on the candidate’s schedule.
Don’t limit interviews to the work week. Come in on a Saturday if that works best for focus and real attention.
When they aren’t a match. It’s OK to say, “You’re not the one.” Don’t leave them hanging for an answer, wondering what went wrong. They can be a great source of future referrals when you treat them right.
Right Person, Wrong Timing. When you meet the right person, someone who is employed, they’ll wait for the opportunity with you. Keep in touch with them, keep them engaged, until you can make an offer and bring them onto your team. This is the exact goal of the interviewing plan.
Final thoughts on the valuable benefits to your organization when you are always interviewing:
• It gives you options you didn’t have before.
• You’ll know what a good hire looks like.
• You’ll get better at spotting real talent.
• You can top-grade mediocre performers more easily.
• You’ll be a better manager and hold your people to a higher standard.
• You can grow into a new market.
• You can seize opportunities you didn’t know were available to you.
• You’ll gain market intel you didn’t have access to before.
• You’ll get better performance from current staff because they know you have more options.
• You’ll develop a better interviewing style.
• You can improve your systems based on what you learn.
• There will be less pressure to pay outside your comp range.
• You’ll never be a hostage to poor performance.
• Staff morale will improve.
Happy hiring!
Peg Newman is the managing partner at Sanford Rose Associates-The Newman Group, an executive search firm in Salt Lake City specializing in business, technology, obstetrics and gynecology, construction and engineering, manufacturing, accounting, finance and accounting and insurance.