By Johnny Laurent
Look back to go forward. Take a look at your past procedures and practices as they relate to recruiting. Know what worked and what didn’t – understanding why. If you can’t fix a process throw it out. Developing a strategy based on tried and true techniques—as well as using those that are new but helpful (like social networking)—is the best approach.
Hire for attitude, train for skills. A resume will give you information on a person’s experiences and background so you can learn what skills they have. Companies have the ability to train for certain skills and do all the time. Software changes, protocols change but you can’t change a person’s attitude about life and approach to work. Hire people whose attitude fits your company culture; If need be, you can train them to acquire the skills your company needs. New hires should have the ability to learn but the willingness to do so is crucial.
Past performance does predict future behavior. Knowing how someone performed or behaved in the past is a strong indicator of what they are likely to do in the future, so questions for references should be based on behaviors. Unclear answers from former employers should not be accepted. Ask more questions until you are comfortable you know how the potential employee is likely to act in a given situation. Develop a recruiting strategy based on finding out who people are, not just what they can do.
Become the employer of choice – this is the No. 1 recruiting strategy. If an employer is the employer of choice, everyone wants to work for them and no one wants to leave. You can control your recruiting budget because word-of-mouth is your best advertising. Resumes come to you rather than you having to pay to get them from ads, online search engines, etc.
Put them in the book. A reference guide is a recruiter’s best tool. It has information about everyone in your organization, including people who work for you AND people who don’t but you wish they did. An employee’s, likes, dislikes are chronicled. What a current employee wants in their next job is noted. Who’s moving up, out—the list goes on. A good reference guide is a record of what’s happening inside your company and your competitors. It is a little black book to give the recruiter an edge on their competitors.
“Hire hard, manage easy.” This is a quote from Alan Davis and this quote says it all. If you spend your time and energy on recruiting, interviewing and hiring the best, managing them is a breeze.
Laurent is the general manager of Sage Employer Solutions.