Strategy for Hiring the Best This Year
AJ Ray
Take a moment to visualize the scene. You receive an e-mail from one of the top managers within your company. The e-mail says “Urgent need for …”. What do you do? Do you place an ad in the local classifieds and place some ads on the web? Do you have a file with a stash of old, outdated resumes that you will thumb through? Or do you have a strategy that continues throughout the year?
If you choose the latter, you will have a list of candidates you want to hire, top guns, who are superior in your industry. If you placed the ad and waited for applicants to call you, read on!
Now, visualize yourself in the stands, watching a major sporting event. You are a scout, a talent scout, looking for the best of the best to add to your team. You want the best to create a winning team; the best and most competitive team ever!
The strategy I am referring to is a list of candidates that you and others in the company have been building relationships with for months. At the end of the last year you sat down with the managers and discussed the need for future employees. You made a list, it’s that time of year, and so you checked it twice. Once you had a moment to think about it in depth you started making the rounds, making some calls and finding out just who works within your industry and whom you would like to come to work for your company.
Once this list of names is developed you find out what association meetings they attend. You find out when you or one of the managers might have an opportunity to network with these individuals and you do. Think of it as a New Year’s resolution that will cost you your job if you don’t fulfill it!
Each “Superstar” is assigned to a manager, or someone in the company that can build a relationship with him or her. The process begins. You keep your eyes on the prize.
Now, when that urgent need for a new hire comes across your desk you have someone or several people already identified. You or someone in your company has a relationship with this “Future Employee”. Now you are hiring the best, you know their skills; have a good idea about their values and the contributions they can make to the organization.
I know what you are saying, “Whose perfect world do you live in?” Truthfully, I don’t live in such a perfect world, but this process does make the selection much simpler. By targeting a select group of candidates you reduce the number of candidates you must sift through. Now you have just reduced your risk of lawsuits and you will not have to track applicants for EEOC. Guess what, you also create a diverse group of employees and future employees. You can keep your goals in focus. Not everyone you choose will choose you too. So, you make adjustments, you remove potential employees from the list, you add new ones, life goes on.
In addition, you simultaneously create a referral program. Current staff begins to seek out individuals that would complement the organization and take them into the future, full force.
Keep in mind; you are doing something worthwhile for the company. You are creating “the” company to work with. Creating such an organization may very well be the overall goal of your strategic plan. We have all heard about branding your company and over time you will.
When December comes this year, make your list, check it twice and get ready to bring the best on board!
Articles
Finding Candidates
- 10 Reasons to Hire Vets
- Hire Older Workers
- Improving Candidate Quality
- Sourcing 101
- Sourcing Candidates Well
- Tips for Building Employment-Related Websites
- U.S. Employ of People with Disabilities: Free Workshops
- Virtual College Recruiting
Interviewing Basics
- 10 Commandments of Recruiting
- 5 Keys to Successful Hiring
- 7 Tips for Successful Phone Interviews
- Behavioral Interviewing Basics
- Contrary Evidence Questions
- Interview Questions: Do's and Don'ts
- Interviewing Opening and Closing Remarks
- Interviews: Common Weaknesses
- Mistakes Amateur Interviewers Make
- Phone Screen Interview Mistakes
- Probing Techniques Explained
- Screening Interviewing: Top 10 Red Flags
- Strengthen the Validity of Your Interviews
- Telephone Interviews: Basics
- Ten Bad Listening Habits of Interviewers
- Types of Interviews
- Typical Probes and Follow up Questions
- What Do Interviewers Need to Know to be Effective?
Interviewing Best Practices
- 7 Keys to Effective Selection Interviews
- A Closer Look at Behavior-Based Interviewing
- Advantages / Disadvantages of Interviewing
- Applying Core Competencies to Selection Interviews
- Are You Really a Behavior-Based Interviewer?
- Assessing Speaking and Listening Skills
- Best Practices in Interviewing Candidates
- Deadly Interview Mistakes
- Death by Interview
- Ensure Hiring Success in Every Situation
- Executive Assessment Should Be Mandatory
- Generational Interviewing
- Hiring Interview + Strategic Applicant Management
- Hold Evening and Off-Time Interviews
- How to Interview a Top Performer
- Improve your Interviewing Techniques
- Interview Questions to Assess Soft Skills
- Interviewing for Ethics
- Interviewing Millennials
- Interviewing: Business or Psychology
- Metrics Interview
- Peeling Back the Onion
- The Positives of Panel Interviews
- Time for Candidate Advocacy?
- Tips for Conducting Successful Interviews
- Two Critical Interviewing Questions
Laws & Documentation
- Applicant Reference Release
- At Will Employment Release
- Avoid Negligent Hiring Mistakes
- Employee Referral Program Metrics
- Fair Labor Standards Act Information
- Four Interview Questions Never to Ask
- Giving Employee References
- Hiring Compliance Guidelines
- Hiring for Small Business
- Interviewing People with Disabilities
- Job Denial Letter
- Legal Issues in Interviewing
- Minimize Employment Risks: Document
- SAMPLE Employment Policy
- SAMPLE Letter: Educational Records Check
- SAMPLE Letter: Reference Check
- Ten Safe Hiring Tools
- What is Negligent Hiring
Line Manager / Recruiting Partnership
- Defending Candidates to Hiring Managers
- Interlocking Core Competency Interviews
- Internal Application Process
- Making Internships Work for You
- Making the Case for Behavioral Interviewing
- Non-Traditional Merit Pay Alternatives
- OFCCP Definition of an Internet Applicant
- Why Managers Shouldn't Do Most Hiring
- Workforce Planning: Strategic Staffing Strategy
Post-Interview
Pre-Planning & Retention
- Bonus or Incentive?
- Brand-Building on a Budget
- Build a First-Rate Hiring Process
- Closing the Deal
- Compensation Plans: An Overview
- Conducting an Exit Interview
- Good Hiring Starts with a Good Job Profile
- Improve the Quality of the Employment Function
- Interview Process Problems
- Interview the Job Before the Candidates
- Job Description Template-Link Pay to Performance
- Linking Pay to Company Performance
- Selecting and Using Salary Surveys
- Succession Planning
- Succession Planning: Identifying Top Performers
- Using a Pre-Interviewing Questionnaire
- Winning the War for Talent
- Worker Shortage by 2010: Preparation
Reading the Candidate
- Beware of Those Who Boast
- Blind Man's Bluff
- Decision, Decisions: Choosing the Better Applicant
- Detecting Deceit in Interviews
- Little White Lies on Resumes
- Suspend Judgment Until the Interview is Over
Recruiting Basics
- College Recruiting Basics
- College Recruiting Essentials
- Cut Down on Interview No Shows
- Discouraging Low Quality Applicants
- Don't Hold Too Many Interviews
- Job Descriptions: Why are they Important?
- New Strategies for Screening Job Candidates
- Preventing Resume Overload with Questionnaires
- Resume Review Basics
- Test Validation Explained
- The Value of Person-Organization Fit
- Three Companies Cut Turnover with Tests
Recruiting Best Practices
- 25 Telltale Signs of the Wrong Candidate
- 5 Overlooked Ways to Hire Winners
- Asking the Right Recruitment Questions
- Attracting Your Competitor's Employees
- BPR.......for Recruiters!
- Candidate Engagement
- Cloud Recruiting
- Evaluate Your Capture Strategy
- Hiring Best Practices
- How Do You Attract and Retain the Best People?
- How to Attract Applicants to Undesirable Jobs
- How to Attract, Develop and Retain Best People
- How to Find and Keep Valued Employees
- Ignorance and the Human Condition
- Onboarding Success Secrets
- Secrets to Non-Profit Hiring
- Selecting Top Management Talent
- Semi-Active Candidates are Best Bets
- Six Core Selling Principles
- Skills Based Recruiting: When, not How
- Smart Choices: How to Hire the Best
- Strategy for Hiring the Best This Year
- The Uses and Misuses of Personality Tests
- Top 10 Employee Selection Mistakes & Solutions
- Treat Candidates with the Carbon Rule