THE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANY - SmartRecruiters

THE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANYMaking the Right HireHire the Right Talent with 4 Proven Stepsby Natalia Baryshnikova and Caitlin RollaWhitepaper

WhitepaperTHE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANYExecutive SummaryWhy Do Companies Struggle WithMaking the Right Hire Consistently?OUCH! 80% OF EMPLOYEE TURNOVER ISATTRIBUTED TO POOR HIRING DECISIONS.The single most important differentiator when it comes toSOURCE: HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEWwinning in the talent economy is hiring the right people plain and simple. Yet, despite all the best recruiting efforts,hiring team collaboration, metrics tracking, etc. companiesand how to recruit them to their organizations.So, What’s the Secret Sauce to Makinga Great Hire?The primary reason companies find it difficult to define whatThe good news - and there is good news - is that there aremakes the right hire, is that they have a tough time recognizingrecruiting strategies you can take to empower your hiringthe right drivers of good performance - and then translateteam to make better hires more consistently for yourthem into structured criteria for hiring. Don’t leave yourorganization. The companies that successfully hire the bestsuccess to luck. The “right hire” varies between organizationtalent adhere to four essential steps when they open up abecause your business, your process, your culture are unique.new requisition:are still challenged with recognizing what makes a great hireEven more difficult is that many hiring teams simply lack theobjective historical and current performance data. Thesegaps make it difficult to set expectations for how long it4 Essential Stepsshould take to hire the right people. Consequently, mostorganizations settle for less - deciding on availability of acandidate, rather than using concrete data.Rushed hires can often equate to bad hires, and the impacton organizations is devastating. For example, it takes 2-5xthe annual salary to replace a bad hire. Further, according toHarvard Business Review, up to 80% of employee turnover isattributed to bad hires - which can result in prompting yourA-players to look elsewhere. Finally, marginally bad hires thatstay with your company are incredibly costly. Organizationspay for less dramatic mis-hires through bulging training1234DefineJob GoalsCreate JobDescriptionSet UpHiring TeamsSet TimelineGoalsFollowing these four steps will help your teams developconsistency for making the right hire in alignment with yourhiring process flow. Now, let’s dive into each one!budgets, which total over 140% of hiring budgets.2Making the Right Hire

WhitepaperTHE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANYDefine the Right JobThe first and most important step is defining the goals thecandidate needs to accomplish in the role and then workbackwards to identify the core skills that are necessary.The most common mistake in defining the right job is focusingon a list of skills that a candidate should have, as opposed tocustomer spotlightwhat goals and milestones they should hit. Working backwardsfrom the desired results will help you come up with a list of skillsand competencies that actually matter.Recruiters and hiring managers need to complete this steptogether. This creates a partnership, builds trust, sets clearexpectations up front and enables the recruiter to go out andEthan Medeiros, Senior Technicalget the high quality candidates the hiring manager expects.Recruiter at Pluralsight mandatesIn order to establish what it takes to be successful, you needthat when any requisition is createdthe voice of both the recruiters and hiring managers. Mostthe recruiter and hiring managerjobs have skills only a hiring manager would know becauseschedule a one hour meeting.they are closest to the day to day work. On other hand,recruiters are often experts in detecting soft skills, value orculture fit which are equally important. Remember, when itcomes to identifying goals and skills it takes two to tango.By making this meeting a deliberatestep in their hiring process, it fostersStep Onea partnership between recruiters andhiring managers from the start.In this meeting he sets an agenda forSmartTips: Agree On Goals & SkillsEnsure recruiter & hiring managers are partnersCo-define goals for the role3Define key skills needed to accomplish agreedupon goalsthe two partners- they must agreeon the goals for the role,core competencies neededand cultural fit.Making the Right Hire

WhitepaperTHE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANYCreate a Compelling Job DescriptionOnce your recruiter and hiring manager have agreed upon the setof goals & skills for the particular job, it’s time start building yourjob description together.The biggest mistakes often made when writing a jobdescription are using an obscure job title, a goal vs. skillcustomer spotlightbased description, and dry or uninspiring language.Job Titles Matter.In 2015, SmartRecruiters partnered with a group of studentsfrom Berkeley School of Information to research job listingsin the San Francisco Bay Area. One of the most interestingfindings of the Berkeley team was that out of job postings inthe San Francisco Bay Area in 2014-2015, 93% of job titleswere unique, and were never viewed more than once bypotential candidates. We also found was that over 90% ofAt Pluralsight, writing the jobdescription is a joint effort betweenrecruiters and hiring managers.This ensures that there is agreement onthe goals and skills needed.jobs listed, ‘years of experience needed’ were included in thejob requirements.The first finding tells us that organizations gravitate towardsusing obscure job titles. Otherwise, we’d get a lot more than7% of repetitive job titles. However, the attempt to promoteThey also agree on the languageused to describe the job. Once again,Ethan tries to a foster a spirit ofthe uniqueness of the company may cost you candidates.partnership so both parties areGiving an obscure job title to a common job reducescompletely on the same page todiscoverability, brings in fewer candidates (including goodavoid any future confusion orones!) and therefore increases time to hire. Remember to usemisinterpretation on the typedescriptive titles for job postings. Choose Product Managervs. Product Ninja. Adapt to what your candidates willof candidates to go after.respond to. Maybe you want to make your culture look coolor obfuscate the real level of the job, but candidates mostoften want to show clear career progression.4Making the Right Hire

WhitepaperTHE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANYUse Plain English(or Spanish, French, German, etc.)If your job posting does not tell a story, uses confusinglanguage or is not based on facts about the specific skillsneeded to be successful in the job, you will likely never seethe results you want. Ok, so a job ad has to tell a story.But why? Job ads that convert the very best candidates arecompelling. They are inspiring, exciting and paint a uniquevision. Treat your job ad how you would write any marketingmaterial - a clear structure and straightforward language thatpaints a picture of the possibilities the candidate mightencounter at your company. Get them excited!JOB ADS THAT CONVERT THE VERY BESTCANDIDATES ARE COMPELLING.Lastly, tap into your existing employee base. Interviewrecent hires about your job descriptions. What excited them?What about it made them feel like it was the right fit forthem? Were the expectations clear? Use this informationto optimize your future job ads.Step TwoSmartTips: Create a Compelling Job DescriptionDetermine a meaningful job title that will resonatewith candidateWrite goal vs skill based descriptionsSell in your job ad: it has to tell a story and use theright keywordsfeedback on job adInterview your recent successful hires for their5Making the Right Hire

WhitepaperTHE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANYSet Up Hiring TeamsNow that you have a shared vision between recruiters and hiringmanagers on the particular skills needed, a clear job description,and a compelling job ad that tells a story, you are ready to bringcandidates in to meet the hiring team!Here is where your recruiter and hiring managers’ hard workwill pay off. Based on the defined skills, craft a list of interviewcustomer spotlightcriteria that will help you determine the best fit. Consider whichskills matter most to your organization i.e, culture fit vs. hardskills. Remember, not all skills are created equal.Utilize Scorecards in Every InterviewEthan Medeiros has a few rules whenit comes to running interviews.Build your interview scorecard that sets your hiring team upfor success. It is critical to evaluate all candidates consistentlyto ensure you truly compare them equally to maximize yourchances of getting the best hire for your organization.1) As a hiring team, decide which criteria ismost important. For Pluralsight, culture standsout as the most important hiring criteria. Theybelieve they skills can be learned, but cultureNext, assemble your hiring team. As a best practice, hiringteams consist of a mix of executives, team members andcannot, so they weigh cultural fit heavily.non-team members. This approach enables you to get a2) Always assign interviewers a specific topic tosample size of interviewers to eliminate bias and optimize fordrill down on. Hiring managers go deep on coreall skills - both soft skills and hard skills. Assign your interviewskills and competencies, while Pluralsightteam members to focus on specific criteria and give them aplan to follow as they head into the interview. Create poolsexecutives always screen for culture.of interviewers who can screen for culture fit, coding skills,3) Use scorecards for every interview.marketing acumen, design chops, etc. Then you will be ableThis helps ensure consistency betweento tap into this resource without relying on the samefew interviewers.interviewers, but also allows them to comparecandidates based on number ranking aswell as quantitative feedback.6Making the Right Hire

WhitepaperTHE HIRING SUCCESS COMPANYTrain your hiring team to execute impactful interviews.Give them everything they need to be successful in theinterviews - interview scorecards with criteria, criteriadescriptions, and clear interview questions to ask. Traininterviewers on how to identify what a good answer lookslike vs. a not so good answer. This will allow you to zero inon the best hires possible.ASSIGN YOUR INTERVIEW TEAM MEMBERSTO FOCUS ON SPECIFIC CRITERIA AND GIVETHEM A PLAN TO FOLLOW AS THEY HEADINTO THE INTERVIEW.Finally, incorporate assessments into your hiring process.Automating assessments like aptitude tests or skills tests,will not only save you time and money, but will ensureconsistency of all results. And ensure that your hiring teamswho are taking time out of their day are only interviewingthe most qualified candidates.Step ThreeSmartTips: Define Right PersonChoose your best interviewers & create aninterviewer poolAgree on consistent way of screening using scorecardsEnsure interviewers understand their roles withinhiring teamsbest practicesProvide clear direction and tools for interviewing7Making the Right Hire