The value of any Recruiter lies in his or her ability to find talent and help the hiring manager evaluate if the candidate is a fit for the role and company.
The Recruiter’s job is to attract the right candidates and make them want to begin the courtship recruiting process with your company.
On your Careers page, share what problem your company solves, your company’s culture, and the work environment.
Examples: Wistia & Mindvalley
Include case studies of your work with clients. Share your product or service roadmap...brag about the challenging work they’ll get to be a part of.
Example: Stripe
Have a company yearbook...give people a glimpse of who they’ll be working with.
(doesn’t have to be everyone, but include a variety of people and roles)
Highlight meaningful perks and benefits.
(don’t promote stuff most established companies offer - competitive salary, time off, health insurance - unless there’s something meaningful
about the benefit)
Example: Fog Creek
Most companies overlook their Careers Page as the opportunity it is to connect with candidates and make a good first impression.
Hold a kickoff meeting with the Hiring Manager...
1. Write the job description2. Design the candidate scorecard3. Establish the interview plan
In order to write a job description, spend time researching the role. When you understand the role, it’s easier to find the right person.
1
Job Description
The problem with most job descriptions is they are created by the hiring manager, whose perception/understanding may not reflect the reality of the role.
To prevent creating an inaccurate job description, interview existing employees who are currently in the role, and...
Conduct a DILO Interview (Day in the Life Of). Have the person describe a typical workday.
Ask interviewees to walk you through their day yesterday. Listen and ask clarification questions. Take notes of your observations.
During these DILO Interviews, note roles the position interacts with from other departments. Interview those positions for additional insights about the role.
The insights from all these interviews become your Recruiting Narrative, the 3-5 deliverables expected in the position.
Interview the hiring manager for his/her perspective. The manager will know the long term goals for the role.
Design the Candidate Scorecard.
2
Candidate Scorecard
The Candidate Scorecard helps the interview team evaluate whether or not the candidate in front of them can do the job.
It also gets the interview team to evaluate every candidate against the same same set of standards...
Top candidates gets scooped quickly; don’t miss out because your process is slow.
Designing a Candidate Scorecard...
Evaluation of “The Job Essentials”
● Key deliverables / Recruiting Narrative● Long-term projects/goals● Tools/programs/techniques● Essential experience ● Comparable job titles● Comparable portfolio work
(skills, traits, and attributes that will make someone successful in the role)
Evaluation of “The Icing”
● Character traits● Work style● Career desire● Soft skills
(refer to your DILO Interviews)
Click to download a pre-formatted Candidate Scorecard.
The interview plan outlines...
What you’re testing When to test it Who should test it
The items from the Candidate Scorecard (experience and technical abilities).
Culture fit.
Pick someone who is great at the skills or traits you’re assessing.
Early interviews: Screen for deal-breakers that are easy to “check the box on” and key - but easy - skills you can test for in a take-home exercise.
Later interviews: Test for things that require speaking to someone in person to understand fully.
Remove any “gender-coded” language from your ad that may discourage someone from applying.
Your search to find candidates will likely come from these mediums: (1) your network; (2) job boards; and (3) online searches.
Your network can be a great source of candidates. How do you build one if yours isn’t large and/or varied? Be the flame.
1
Your Network
Concept borrowed from a dating coach...
The Flame: Someone who creates a lifestyle that brings people into their world.
The “hub” is someone who always brings new people into their life because they gain energy from meeting new people and connecting them together.
Host things people want to attend, invite your interesting connections, request they bring interesting friends, and connect people there.
Common advice is to attend specialized meetups and events (e.g., a Meetup for Product Managers, Ruby programmers, illustrators, etc.)...
...yes, and attend events that will attract a variety of people/specialties.
Ways to support your network: connect people; support those you meet with resources or a kind word/check in; and promote their work to your network.
Your giving and goodwill establishes you as The Flame (“she knows everyone”) and you’ll attract more awesome people into your life.
Note their specialties and locations. When you have a need, ask:
“Who do you know would be well-suited to this, and interested in it, but may be too shy to apply?”
Know your company’s future goals. Discover future potential talent needs early, giving you a head-start on finding talent.
Places to post and promote your job include...
Traditional job boards
Sites that serve underrepresented
groupsSpecialized job boards
Fan / portfolio sites Social media
Places to search for candidates include...
3
Online Searches
Companies with strong people in that
area
Master Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice for finding candidates online.
If there’s a talent deficit in your city, consider having a distributed team. These companies do. (click logo for their lessons learned)
Let the Interviewer shine
Help them prepare good questions
Train them how to listen and probe for
specificity
Model how to value the candidate’s time
Teach them how to evaluate based on
facts: factualize their feelings
Let the Candidate shine
Make recruiting an act of qualification, not an act of disqualification.
Teach candidates how to prepare a winning application:
“[Samantha] Bee also pointed to Miller's willingness to help new writers structure their scripts correctly as a particularly novel way to help broaden their search. This was key, because an amateurish format can sink a script that is otherwise excellent.
‘Jo put together a packet that gave everybody the fundamentals of just how the script should look,’ Bee explained. ‘Regardless of your level of experience, you could [still] turn in a script that was polished-looking, that could be seen on the merits of the writing.’"
Samantha Bee is the only woman with a late-night show. Here’s how she plans to make it count.
Give candidates more opportunities to show what makes them an asset, like a small assignment that shows their ability to do the actual job...
...during the on-site interview, have the candidate explain their process for completing the assignment, including why certain decisions were made.
Ditch the brain teasers during interviews:
"They don't predict anything. They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart." ~Laszlo Bock
Remove unknowns about interview day. Package it into an Interview Guide:
What’s the agenda? How long will the
interview last?
What’s the dress code?
Who will interview them?
Parking situation: garage, visitor
parking only, cost?
Let the Candidate shine...their potential:
Ask about what they’re excited about and look for potential for people to do more than exactly what
their resume says.
The Scorecard has a note-taking section, where the interviewers can record what led them to score the candidate for a given item.
The Candidate Scorecard is the antidote to interviewers rejecting candidates based on culture fit or their “gut feeling.”
If an interviewer uses culture fit as the reason for rejection, have them examine their real reasons why they don’t want to hire someone.
For culture fit rejections, question...
1. if your company culture has been explicitly communicated?
2. if it lines up with how existing employees describe the company culture?
Here are some good culture fit questions...
In your current role, what do you feel is your biggest waste of time, and why?
Tell me of a time you received feedback about your work that was difficult to hear. How did you react? Did you change anything as a result?
What are some of the things you’ve done in your current role that you’re proudest of?
Think of a time your team had to adapt to a big unforeseen change. Where did your team struggle? Where did you struggle? How did you adjust?
Why did you make that decision? What would you have done differently?
You’ll need courage to speak up and uphold standards for how recruiting and interviewing work at your company. You’ll also be teaching your interviewers how to be brave...
...train them how to leave nothing unsaid at the end of the interview, to never leave wondering what a candidate meant by something.
Know how to reject candidates with specific, actionable, and helpful feedback...without putting the company at risk.
Each interview is an opportunity to evaluate and improve your Recruiting process. How do you identify what areas need improvement?
Sites like Glassdoor allow for candidates to rate their interview experience with your company.
Feedback on Glassdoor is useful but they control what’s rated. Design your own survey and send it directly to your candidates.
What affects the candidate experience?
The recruiting process & who the candidate interacts with
Survey the candidate for insights
How quick your company makes hiring decisions
Calculate time between when candidate applies to when hiring decision is made
Identify what aspects of the recruiting process you want to measure and design questions to rate those touchpoints.Survey Example #1 ● Survey Example #2
The Net Promoter Score {NPS} measures the overall candidate experience. You can calculate the NPS by asking this question in your candidate survey...
“Based on your most recent application experience, how likely are you to recommend us as an employer to a friend or colleague?”
Send survey to candidate seven days after they’ve reached a certain stage of the recruiting process (e.g., onsite interview).
Meet weekly with talent team (Recruiters) to discuss the candidate experience:
Review new responses and reviews on Glassdoor
Examine what happened to create those good/bad experiences
Review new responses to candidate experience surveys
Time to hiring decisions matter...
57%most frustrating part of
job search is the long wait after interview to hear if they got the job
23%lose interest in the firm if they don't hear back within one week after the initial interview
46%lose interest if there's no
status update from one-to-two weeks
post-interview
32%Long process makes them question the
organization's ability to make other decisions
Source: Robert Half’s “Time to Hire” Survey, August 2016
To combat these stats, get ambitious! Set a goal to make hiring decisions within seven days of anyone on your team first hearing about a candidate.
Have the Hiring Manager give feedback on what made an applicant qualified/not qualified. You’ll become better at screening talent for them. Daily contact also keeps the Hiring Manager engaged and recruiting a priority.
Use tools like an online scheduler to eliminate back-and-forth emails when scheduling interviews.
Summary of hires Candidate Net Promoter Score
Summary of themes/quotes from candidates about their experience
Publish your results by sending monthly recaps to the company:
#AlwaysBePubliclyAccountable
The Total Package includes:
Salary, bonus, and equity numbers
Group benefits details
Time off information
Other flexible / fringe benefits
These are questions candidates likely have, and they will appreciate you being proactive and addressing those questions before they have to ask.
#MindReader
Questions about salary, bonuses, and equity:
1. How each is calculated.2. When each is paid/awarded.
Questions about group benefits:
1. What benefits are available?2. When eligible to join?3. How much they cost?
Questions about time off:
1. When is office closed for holidays?2. How much vacation/sick/personal
time off is awarded?3. Does it rollover?
Questions about other flexible/fringe benefits (e.g., parking, public transportation, on-site childcare):
1. What are available?2. Fee or free?
Someone’s salary shouldn’t be based on how well they negotiate. It should be based on the role. Period.
Make salary and equity as formulaic as possible. It should be easy to explain.
The formal offer to the candidate deserves more presentation than an offer letter. Get creative and present it with a package of company stuff.
How to shape how your company recruits and hires:
Show Your Feathers Do Your Research Be The Flame Let Them Shine
Be Brave Check-In & Tune-Up
Show The Total Package
Resources RoundupFor a list of all links and references in this presentation, click here.
All images used are attributed here.
I would love to hear from you.
I am a one-man agency dedicated to helping companies recruit and retain top talent. Contact me for
help incorporating these best practices within your
organization.