Urgency Without Compromise: Winning in a Candidate's Market
If you’ve been involved in hiring people for any length of time, you know that things have changed. In cooler labour markets, companies had the luxury of time. Candidates were willing to participate in any number of steps in the hiring process, and they’d generally wait for as long as the process took. Now, companies must act with urgency, or risk losing their top choice candidates to other companies who move more quickly.
This doesn’t mean that the hiring process should be rushed or hasty. The decision to hire should never be taken lightly; the cost of a bad hire is too high, for everyone involved. It just means that in today’s market, companies who want their choice of candidates must make their internal hiring process as streamlined and efficient as possible.
Happily, this isn’t so complicated. It all begins with a sound strategy which makes three things clear: who’s involved, how the interviews take place, and how the decision is made.
The Players
There are two important questions to answer at the beginning of every recruitment: who needs to be involved, and who doesn’t? All too often, people are included in the hiring process just for the sake of another pair of ears and eyes (or, worse, to avoid offending someone who might feel left out). This ultimately leads to unnecessary and redundant steps in the process. Whether they’re managers, senior leaders, peers of or direct reports to the new employee, or Human Resources staff, anyone involved should have a true ownership stake in the decision.
Another decision to make at this stage is who will act as the primary point of contact. Ideally, all the candidates under consideration for hire should have a single person acting as a ‘relationship manager’. This results in an improved candidate experience, but there’s also benefit for the hiring company. One person consistently in touch with the candidates provides better visibility into any changes in their situation, meaning fewer unforeseen drop-offs. We work closely with our clients to be that point of contact with candidates, keeping on top of the process on our clients’ behalf.
The Interviews
Generally speaking, there should be as few interviews as possible to reach the desired result: gathering enough information to make the decision to either hire or pass. Mapping this out ahead of time is an important step, and one often overlooked. How many interviews are needed? Which interviews need to be one-on-one, and which might be group interviews? Could any interviews be just as effective held virtually? If individual interviews are needed, scheduling them as a series of back-to-back meetings can be more efficient for the interviewers, and also for the candidates who then only have to make one trip in.
The other consideration at this stage is the questioning strategy. There’s always some overlap in interview questions, naturally. If the same questions are asked in every interview, however, the process feels redundant to the candidate, and leaves the impression that none of the interviewers are speaking to each other. Plan ahead to decide what information you need from each candidate, what questions should be asked to elicit that information, and who’s best to capture and assess the answers to those questions. Each of those people, then, are responsible for sharing their feedback with the others in debrief meetings after the interviews.
The Decision
The decision to hire is, presumably, the objective of any hiring process. Strangely, this is the point at which many companies lose momentum and drag their heels. This is usually because the criteria for making the decision, and the person or people ultimately responsible for making it, haven’t been clearly outlined ahead of time.
In terms of the criteria, consider what factors are most critical to success in the role. Is technical proficiency on day one paramount, for example, or could some skills be trained and developed if a candidate is perceived to be a better fit with the rest of the team? If two candidates are seen as equal, what factors might be considered to resolve an ‘apples-to-apples’ dilemma?
An equally important consideration is who has the final say. Does one person have the unilateral authority to make the final decision to hire, or should there be a more democratic process with each person casting a vote? If there are strongly conflicting opinions among those involved, how will those be resolved?
Moving with greater efficiency and urgency means securing more of your top-choice candidates, and it doesn’t mean short cutting the hiring process or making hasty decisions. When the right strategy is developed ahead of time, and rolled out well, the process can be streamlined without compromising the quality of the decision.
Competing In Complex Times
Market conditions
The employment landscape for candidates has always been a moving target, but never more so than over the past several years. The job market in the mid 2010s was at least fairly clear: demand consistently outstripped supply by a wide margin. When the COVID pandemic first hit, things got muddier. The industry shed jobs, and many people – including engineers – were furloughed or made redundant. Postings vanished as the number of vacancies fell off a cliff. The demand for talented professionals rebounded fairly quickly, even as global uncertainty continued, and that trend continues to this day.
Today, the market is strong, but it’s complex. Usually, there’s either high demand on the employer side, or relatively plentiful supply of candidates. At the moment, it’s a combination of the two. There are still many people on the job market, a significant number of those since the onset of the pandemic. Unlike in a typical recession, however, vacancies exist and there is demand for high-performing talent. Compounding the normal dynamics of supply and demand is the so-called ‘Great Resignation’. Turnover rates are higher than usual, particularly amongst younger employees, as more people seek new jobs and in some cases even shift careers.
What to make of this complexity, then? In short, it’s critical for candidates to differentiate themselves. To land your next role and progress in your career, you must stand apart from the competition in a market that is ‘noisy’ and crowded.
Setting Yourself Apart
The first step is to sharpen your tools. In this market, your CV and cover letter must be top-notch to stand out. If you’re unsure, get some feedback from people around you. Friends and connections in hiring positions can help, and so can we. Connect with us at any time if you’d like some guidance and support in improving your documents.
When you’re applying for vacancies, it’s more important than ever to tailor your application to those specific roles. Read postings carefully for the skills the company is seeking, and take the time and effort to connect aspects of your experience and background to those specific skills. This can be done throughout your CV, of course, but your cover letters are a great opportunity to highlight those connections. We can’t stress this enough: there’s a lot of competition, so a ‘cookie-cutter’ application isn’t enough. Hiring managers and HR people are swamped with applications, so yours must stand out, making it as clear as possible why you should be interviewed and hired.
In today’s complex market, job postings can’t be the end of your search. Networking is critical. Whether you’re currently employed or not, it’s more important than ever to build and nurture your network of industry contacts. Of course, nothing is simple in the context of COVID, and networking is no exception. There are fewer opportunities for professionals to attend events and conferences, of course. This means using other tools at your disposal, such as LinkedIn and other networking sites. Industry associations have, in many cases, replaced in-person initiatives with virtual proxies. If you’re actively on the market – between jobs, for example – seek out these opportunities to get involved and connect with others. And, of course, don’t overlook the value of going ‘old school’. Email or pick up the phone, and just have conversations. Whether it’s an informal chat to catch up with a long-time colleague, or a more formal informational interview with a new connection, these conversations are a rich source of information that can lead you to your next opportunity.
There’s an important part of networking that is often overlooked. If you approach conversations thinking first about what’s in it for you, you’ll end up with less in the end. Instead, think about gathering information and learning, and about helping others. Networking is reciprocal, there’s give and take. Learning will give you insights and information you can pass on, and thinking about helping others gives you the opportunity to connect with even more new people.
In Closing ...
Today’s market is a complicated one. To succeed, make sure your tools are as sharp as they can be, then find – and create – opportunities to put them to work for you. Finally, one of the best ways to set yourself apart is to be well-represented. To have an advocate at your side, helping to connect you with opportunities. That’s where we come in. If you’re on the market, get in touch with us and we would be happy to discuss current opportunities.