We understand the stigma that surrounds appointing/instructing a recruitment consultant to find your next perfect hire. 

You may ask yourself, why can we not run this process internally? Why would a recruitment consultant be better placed to know which candidates/personalities would suit our organisation? What is the benefit of appointing a recruitment consultant? Why would we pay recruitment fees when we could do this ourselves? 

You can have the best technology, be the most heavily capitalised, but if you do not have the best people around you, how are you going to achieve your goals? It is, unquestionably, possible to commit to and run an effective internal recruitment process. However, it is crucial to understand the framework behind this process and the variables that you may uncover along the way. 

The imperative word here is commitment. Are you willing to commit as much time, resources, and effort that it takes to find that superstar candidate and once you have found said individual, are you willing to commit as much time and resources into encouraging them to join your company? 

If there is one element of the hiring process that should not be overlooked, it is that hiring the top talent takes time. Understanding the hiring dynamics in your own market takes time. Hiring talent is difficult and requires you to exert more energy into the search than just looking at who is in your immediate ‘talent pool’.  

If you are willing to commit time to the process, then great, you are off and running. However, you now have to look at the wider picture. Have you considered the numerous other elements/aspects of the recruitment process you must follow in order to achieve a positive result? 

You may not believe it, as to many it can sound extremely convoluted, but as a general standard, there are c.30 steps involved within the hiring process. We know what you are thinking; how on earth can there be 30 steps to find just one individual? 

We are not going to spell out all 30 steps for you, however, let’s first look at some elements of the recruitment process which you may not have initially considered. Where to start you might ask? 

Well, let’s ask ourselves a few initial questions: 

1. Have you had the new hire signed off internally? 

Are you the decision-maker of the company, or are you in a position where you are bound by budget constraints that may restrict your ability to get your recruitment process off the ground? 

Before embarking on your new hire, it is essential that you have full internal approval to undertake a recruitment process. There are a number of aspects to consider:

• Is what you think you want, what you really need? 
• What are your salary scales? Can you exceed these for the perfect candidate? What bonus could a candidate expect? 
• What additional benefits would the candidate expect to receive? 
• What level of experience does the candidate require? 
• What are the technical skills required? 
• Do you have a job description signed off? 
• What timescales have you agreed internally? Have you considered the length of a candidate’s notice period? 

2. Have you considered where you will find the top talent? 

Do you have a strategy in place for talent acquisition? LinkedIn, industry connections, families, friends, colleagues. These are all useful tools when wanting to bring in your next hire. However, when it comes to successful recruitment, throwing a job description up on LinkedIn and expecting the cream of the crop to apply will not suffice… most of the time at least. We suggest buying a lottery ticket that night if it does! You will more likely end up spending your valuable time, wading through hundreds of irrelevant and frankly, disappointing CV’s. 

If you want to get the best talent for your organisation, again it comes back to your willingness to commit time, effort, and resources to the process. You have to cast the net wider, create access to candidates who are not looking, you need to commit the time and sometimes take a long-term approach. 

3. What does the interview process entail? Ultimately, how do you intend on maintaining momentum in the process and keeping candidates engaged? 

Knowing how many interviews to undertake is a key component of the recruitment process. How many stages will there be? Of course, you want to assess an individual’s personality, experience, competence, passion, and find what really makes them tick! The main challenge here is to do this succinctly in order to maintain momentum and engagement whilst balancing numerous candidates throughout the process. One way of ensuring that the impetus is upheld throughout is to be organised in advance and block out interview slots in the diary. 

Have you been managing or considering the candidates’ expectations and their main drivers? Do you know where else the candidates are interviewing, and do you feel confident in giving them a professional talking to, should you feel that they are neglecting a fantastic opportunity over trivial matters?

4. How do you ensure that candidates have had a positive experience with you even if they are rejected from the process?

So, a candidate you interviewed didn’t fit the bill. Have you thought about the repercussions of not handling this situation professionally? 

5. What are the implications to you as a business if you make the wrong decision? 

Have you thought about the cost of a bad hire? Not only financial costs but also cultural (morale and well-being) and productivity! We have written a blog on Employee Lifetime Value.

• Financial – Employee salary, training, onboarding, social expenditure, ‘re-hiring costs’ (The ‘True Cost’)
• Cultural – High staff turnover could seriously affect employees and take its toll on morale. Leading to your employees questioning your ability to make a sound judgment.
• Productivity/Performance – A depressive culture and questionable morale can lead to lower productivity. If a new hire fails to reach the standards of the existing team it can become distracting and unsettling. 
  
  6. How can you ensure to get the perfect candidate across the line? 

One of the main reasons why people like YOU use recruiters LIKE US is to not only identify the right individual but to also deliver and get that person over the line. As a general rule, recruiters can soft-close candidates early, explain why it’s a good move and find out what drives them. All of this culminates in ensuring that this chosen individual hits the ground running from day one with a clear and identified trajectory for their career at your company. 

7. How are you keeping your proposed candidate engaged throughout their notice period? 

If the process has been handled correctly, you have managed your candidates’ expectations and you have closed them effectively, you should feel no vulnerability during this time. However, if the process lacks clarity and has been handled poorly, hours of hard work could be undone in minutes. Therefore, it is imperative to stay close to your candidate during this time. 

How do you stay close to your candidate? 

• Take time out of your day to meet up for a coffee or build a relationship over a few beers/bottles at the pub. 
• Regularly update them with the progress of any ongoing deals.
• Is there an onboarding process you can slowly introduce before their first day?
• Share/Involvement in quarterly investor presentations.
• Invite them to summer socials, team away days, Christmas parties (depending on the time of year).

 In order to aid this process, we have laid out the following which should, if respected, go some way to ensuring that your next hire is successful. Therefore, decreasing your cost per hire and reducing your employee turnover. Ultimately, by following the correct path you should be well on your way to building a more effective, efficient, and better business meaning that you can focus your energy on deploying raised capital and utilising your technology to its fullest potential. 

If you do not want to do all this and your time is more valuable working on your day job, maybe you need advice on the other 23 steps not mentioned above, you can always come to us for market insights, salary benchmarking, and an actively engaged talent pool that we could rapidly access, identify and deliver the ideal candidate.