7 Things Every Hiring Manager should know before they interview anyone.

There are so many elements to getting hiring right, the following areas are things hiring managers should know and if they don’t should certainly be receiving training on.

1.     Do you understanding the economic impact of the hiring decisions you are making?

2.     Are you clear on your role and the roles of others during the recruitment process?

3.     Do you know how to write an effective job description that is enticing and anything but dull?

4.     Are you abreast on the latest employment laws and their implications in your jurisdiction?

5.     Do you know how to prepare for interviews, including assessment of CVs and applications?

6.     Do you know how to prepare and ask the right questions, understand answers and ask supplementary questions.

7.     Do you have the skills to evaluate genuine high performers and high potentials?

Once your hiring managers can genuinely answer these questions you will consistently hire far better people than you ever have before, reducing your recruitment budget and increasing your company’s productivity.  

You might have the best products, a great company image and amazing customers but if your interviewing team is not approaching the hiring process in a structured manner with clear objectives, you will not attract the best talent.

High performers and high potentials are more sensitive to who their line manager is than low performers are. Most need someone they can respect, trust and listen to, and want to know that they can expect the same in return. It is often said that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. By extension, people don’t turn down companies that interview them, they turn down interviewers.

It is still surprising to me how many hiring managers are expected to build teams but have never been given any formal training on how to recruit and hire.

As mentioned above, it is essential that hiring managers have “buy in” to the process but it can all go badly wrong if they do not have the first clue on how to actually conduct an interview and identify key indicators that would differentiate a ‘good to average’ candidate from High Performance Talent.

Hiring Managers have a critical job and just because they have the title ‘hiring manager’ it does not necessarily mean they have the skill set or ability to hire others. They have normally been promoted for some other reason, like technical expertise, or leadership potential for example.

Companies should provide anyone that is looking to bring in new talent to the organisation with the tools they need to conduct a thorough and effective recruitment process. They need to be able to see this function as a critical part of their role, not just something they have to do amongst all the other things they are juggling. It should be firmly in their top 3 priorities. If it is not a priority, it needs to be asked why are they in the job?

If you find yourself struggling to answer any of the questions highlighted in this article feel free to give me a call to discuss further +44 (0) 1223 550 860 or email [email protected].