(1 of 4) Filling a Position or Solving a Business Problem?
What are the most common recruiting errors and how can they be fixed? (This is the first of a four-part answer.)
The hiring world is broken. The stakes are high and hiring the right talent can really deliver measurable value to the growth and success of an organization. On the other hand, the costs of a failed hire are very expensive and can move an organization backward while also damage the career path to the aspiring business professional who was the subject of the failed hire.
Best practice recruiting is a process that requires giving attention to multiple steps in succession. There are opportunities for errors along the way.
Regardless of the complexity of your company’s product or service, there is nothing more complicated and complex than the people who work in your organization and the people who you would like to add to your organization.
Does Your Recruiting Terminology Contribute to Recruiting Errors?
How does your organization communicate a recruitment? The words your company is using to describing hiring tells a lot about your organization. The choices of wording used to add critical talent to your organization broadcasts your company’s philosophical view and attitudes toward the people who run your company and to the people who you would like to attract to your company.
Is your company using:
- Filling a slot
- Placement
- Staffing
- Personel
- Position Spec
- Resume keyword searching
- Putting a warm body in a seat
OR ..Is your company using:
- Solving a business challenge/business problem
- Our structured and proven hiring process
- Making sure we get the right person with the technical skills who fits our culture
- Talent
- Business professionals
- Detailed position description
Define The Problem to Prevent Recruiting Errors
Shouldn’t best practice recruiting be the result of hiring a professional to solve a business challenge or business problem?
It is my experience that the process to hire the right talent must start from within the organization. First, the hiring manager needs to define and declare the business problem that newly hired talent would solve. Then, that problem must be outlined in a position description along with the required experience needed for someone to solve it.
Too many times in our broken hiring world, I see a business leader say something like, “We really need to add someone and I’ll know the right person when I see them”. Or ,”Our problem is that we need to hire someone”.
It is possible that in an earlier period of the history of business when things ran at a slower pace and the efficiency of an organization was less important, filling a position or putting a butt in a seat was fine.
Our business landscape is constantly changing. Nimble and agile are required today. If your company is using outdated recruiting terminology or an outdated approach, you may be finding that great talent is being hired by your direct competitors and you may also find that some of the best talent in your company is leaving to go work for your competitors.
Note: Part 2 of 4 “How to prevent recruiting errors” will be published next
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