Trust the Process

“Trust the process” Mikel Arteta stated when questioned about Arsenal's poor form at the start of the season. Arsenal had lost 3 games against teams they were expected to beat. Many were calling for him to be sacked. Admirably though, Arteta's focus was not just on the immediate results, but on the small processes and underlying factors which drove the team’s performance and results in the long term.

Youth would be the defining element going forward. High-profile, high-wage underperforming players were marginalised and then sold as they did not conform to the "culture" and "non-negotiables" which were required to be successful. However, new long-term signings and young and hungry players were bedded in and started to contribute.

Fast-forward 8 months and it seems to have been folly to have even questioned Arteta. Arsenal sits fourth in the premier league table, in good form and in a strong position to achieve their stated goal of qualifying for the Champions League.??

Arsenal aren’t my team, but I am a football fan, and you might reasonably ask - what has this got to do with recruitment?

Well, recruitment is a process and a very challenging one in the current market. That being said, in order to maximise outcomes consistently, there are things we can do and commit to in the process which will improve our chances for success when hiring.

??What should your recruitment process look like step by step?

1. A company should be clear on its objectives in making the hire and how that role can enhance a prospective employee's career going forward.

2. A company should be clear on its unique value proposition over other businesses in the space it’s in, for its clients and its employees.

3. A company should develop a clear brief for the role and understand the key things the person in the role will be judged on as deliverables, in order for the role to be considered a success.?

4. A company should establish a timeline for making the hire and have clarity on their interview process/short-listing.

5. A company should prioritise timely communication to all candidates successful or otherwise in the process.

6. A company should ensure its values are reflected in the way the recruitment process is conducted.???

7. Sufficient time must be allocated by stakeholders in the process to review CVs, conduct the interview and then make decisions in a timely manner.?

8. A company should have a clear strategy to engage the right candidate pool which is appropriate for the role they are seeking to recruit - to be clear, the approach to find a Site Engineer won't be the same as finding a Commercial Director.?

There's quite a lot to unpack from this idealised process. You may have read some of the points and disagreed or thought “I'm not in a position to do that”, so let's look at some of the points in turn and think about how they can affect your results in hiring.

Clarity About the Opportunity

If a company can't clearly articulate what a potential employee can get out of joining a company career-wise, how can your job opportunity stand out when many others are seeking the same talent? How can you engage passive job-seekers (people who are not actively looking but will move for the right opportunity correctly presented to them)? Your role will probably attract either underperformers or no one at all.

Result: Lack of engagement with a large proportion of the potential talent pool.?

The solution: Sell your role and business properly to attract top-quality people.

The Importance of Timeliness

What happens to your best candidate for the role if your shortlisting process takes three weeks instead of one? At best, your prime candidate attends the interview but is unenthusiastic. The next best thing is they attend but has several other opportunities and the best window for securing them is already gone. At worst you can't even get to interview them as they've now accepted a job offer from one of your competitors.?????

?Result: Losing candidates from your process and potentially having to start again.?

The solution: Review CVs and come to decisions in a timely manner, coming back to candidates quickly to maximise your chances.

Spread Your Bets

What happens if you decide to interview only one of the candidates on your shortlist to see if you can secure that one saving yourself some time? Well - you're putting massive pressure on your ability to secure that one prime candidate. If you can't get that person, you've lost time with the other candidates and now may miss out on them also. What if the person who has the strongest CV isn't actually the strongest candidate (we put far too much emphasis on CVs in hiring)? You may miss out on this person who is actually the best candidate but doesn't have the best CV. “Good” and “best” are relative terms – they mean very little in the abstract. Get context to see what "good" actually is in the marketplace and to give you confidence in the decision being made by interviewing more than one person.

Result: Starting the process again having missed out on or not even identified the prime candidate

The solution: Shortlist and meet 3-4 candidates and don't try to “cheat” the process by just meeting the "best" one initially. You're future-proofing against losing even more time later in the process.

Protect Your Reputation

What happens if you don't get back to candidates after an interview? Are you really a “people-focussed” company if you can't be bothered to get back to someone after an interview. And just because someone isn't right for a role now doesn't mean they might not be in the future. Candidates have friends, work colleagues and acquaintances. If companies viewed every interaction they had with a candidate as them doing a presentation to the 50-60 industry contacts that person has about their business, maybe they'd think about the process differently. What happens when one of those 60 people in their network asks the candidate what they think of your company?????

Result: Reputational damage to your business with the candidate and their network of contacts - which may be larger than you think.

The solution: Give feedback with detail, if possible, and you'll improve the perception of your business by doing so.

There are good reasons why as Recruiters, we encourage clients to try to manage their recruitment process tightly. This is more important than ever in the current candidate-short marketplace.

Decide on how you're going to approach hiring and stick to it.

TRUST THE PROCESS

I'm keen to hear from companies who are recruiting or have recruited recently. Do you agree with our view of a model process????

What kind of culture do you have - is it reflected in your hiring process? What are your non-negotiables in your hiring process?