<aside> 💡 Depending on the structure of your business, and the resources and team you have in place, you may be more hands on, or hands-off with the hiring process pre-interview. Below are a few pieces of guidance to bear in mind which may apply to you and your role.
1️⃣ Referrals & Social Shares 2️⃣ Sourcing 3️⃣ Recruitment Partners
These may not all apply to you, but let’s dive in below to key things to think about…
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Referrals can be an incredibly powerful way of finding great talent for your business & team. But beware..
⚠️ Don’t adapt or lower bar on hiring process because someones a referral. That can be very dangerous. Apply the same process as you would for anyone else. It’s very easy to become complacent if not careful. It also allows bias to creep in.
⚠️ Be careful not to over-index on referral hires. It’s really good practice to have a fair balance and distribution of ‘referrals : other applicants’;.
A few things you can do with your team though…
👉 Notify them about the new role. And when live, post it on LinkedIn and ask them to do the same, or at least engage with your post. It will help reach across their networks. Try to do this a few times throughout the process. 👉 Talk to them about the hire. Ask them to think about whether they know anyone (friends, ex-colleagues) who they think could be a good fit. Crucial here again to think about the above warning. This is not about hiring friends. They have to be a good hire.
It’s unlikely you will be in a position where you are proactively having to get on LinkedIn and source people yourself, or do your own outreach. You’ll either have a Talent Partner to help you, or will possibly rely on inbound; sourcing can be very time intensive, so isn’t always the best use of time.
BUT… we have one idea which is sometimes worth trying..
🔍 Team Sourcing Sessions… Some companies practice this to good effect. TL;DR, this is getting your team together to source proactively on LinkedIn and their immediate network, with some outreach too.
High-Level Steps
⚠️ This won’t be something that everyone is comfortable with. So make it optional.
A bonus outcome from this time is that it’s time spent together as a team too. It can be social, fun, as much as you want to focus and maximise time, it’s a great chance to get together and build some connection.
If you don’t have a Talent team in-house, or you start to struggle with finding the right candidates your Plan B should be to look at utilising an agency or 3rd party partner to help find someone. Recruiters can get a bad rep, but honestly, that’s usually driven heavily by how companies themselves treat that relationship. Some tips that might be useful to you as you progress as a hiring manager…
👉 Try to over time identify 2-3 really excellent recruitment partners that you think you can rely on. This can take time (years sometimes), but the ideal is you have one individual, or company you know you can go to and rely on. If the relationship works, over time it will get more and more effective. If you do have a TA team, you should let them lead & manage the relationship there. 👉 Invest time meeting them, walk them through the business, role, team, and you. This is crucial. They need a deep understanding not just of the role, but your culture (how you communicate, feedback, run meetings..). They don’t know what they don’t know and that hour spent will save you a lot of time in the future. 👉 Treat them well, and 9/10 will reciprocate. Treat them transactionally, and keep them at arms length though, and you’ll get out what you put in. 👉 Not all recruiters will ask the right Q’s to get the information they need on the role. It’s useful to think about building out a briefing doc or something you can use to either share with them, or keep close by when you discuss the role to make sure they have everything they need. Some things it should include:
ℹ️ Company Information (Org structure, Headcount, Growth Plans) 🫶 Culture- (Purpose, Values, Mission, Founder story, How we get our best work done) 💰 Funding & Finances - How are you funded, how do you make money. People will ask this 📍 Where you work. Be explicit with what your team is required and expected to do ⏰ When you work - How do working hours work? Is there flex? If so how much 📅 How do meetings work? - high-meeting culture? Zero? 👎 Why might someone not thrive in this team? Why did the last 3 people leave? 💬 How do you communicate, as a team and a business? Async? Sync? 🧠 How do decisions get made, at IC, team and company level? ♻️ How do you feedback? 🪙 Compensation - Salary, Bonus, Comms, Equity - How is Salary calculated & benchmarked? 🎁 Key benefits - e.g. parental leave? 🎓 Promotion rates in your team? 🌱 How does growth work here? Is there a Career Development Framework? 🤝 Hiring Process ✈️ What does onboarding look like? 🙆 You. As a manager how do you manage? Do you have a Readme or User Manual? ⚙️ Tools you use in this role and team 🤞 3,6,12 month expectations … and of course information on the role itself!
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