Securing Talent in a Tight Market
If you find yourself up at night worrying about securing your next great leader, you’re not alone. Recruiting talent tops the list of nearly every executive I speak with these days. With recruiting at an all-time high, how do you make sure that you’re going to reach, attract, and ultimately hire top candidates?
Prioritize Transparency
Candidates hear about an organization’s culture—and its challenges—before they Zoom into a first interview. Former staff, industry chatter, and Glassdoor reviews inform a candidate’s early opinion. Own your organization’s narrative – successes, warts and all. Be transparent about your successes and the challenges your organization has faced, as well as the opportunities these may present. Candidates will appreciate your candor, as well as your ability to speak frankly about what lies ahead. Those who present a relentlessly rosy image may lose candidates later in the search, or worse, 1-2 months into their employment.
Refine your Process
Every step you take makes an impression with a candidate. From the first call through the offer, each phase of a search builds a candidate’s understanding of an organization, and its interest in making a good hire.
I never want to encourage anyone to shortchange a search process, but you don’t want to interview a candidate to the point of exhaustion. The market for talent moves quickly. When a recent search was delayed because the client added two new decision makers to the process, we agreed to combine two new meetings, and to include the client, who stayed after the meeting to answer questions and provide time for informal engagement.
Establish a plan for interviews early on and reserve blocks of time well in advance. If interviews get delayed, keep your top candidates close: check in, acknowledge delays, and provide a sense of what you’re working to push forward.
Prioritize Communication
Guess who my number one referrers of new business are? Prior candidates (especially those who didn’t get the job.) The reason: I treat them well.
The most frequently heard frustration I hear from candidates is poor communication – I’ve heard of candidates who invested in multiple rounds with a CEO who were ghosted or sent terse email rejections from the individuals leading the search. Every candidate I meet knows when they should expect to hear from me, and they know that if they don’t, they can contact me. Informal updates and quick check-ins—even when no substantive updates are available to share—show respect and appreciation for the candidate’s investment of time and acknowledge the vulnerable position candidates are in as they await news.
Understand the Market
Be aware of the value associated with the qualities or skills you seek. In today’s market, management and diversity are paramount (read more in “5 Hiring Insights”). If you’re looking for a leader capable of deftly managing a sizable virtual team, or someone who brings diversity to your organization, know that you aren’t alone. These two qualities alone can have a significant impact on what you will need to offer candidates – whether flexible working arrangements or increased comp, which I’ve seen go as much as 30% higher. Compounding the situation are the outsized overall demand for labor and shrinking size of the working-age labor force (which shrank for the first time in history in 2020.)
Making the changes I’ve suggested involves a commitment of time (it’s one of the drivers for hiring search consultants) but simple adjustments can make a significant impact in the success of your searches in a fast-moving market.
Happy hiring.
Learn more about what consultants at DHR are seeing and hearing this year in 2021 Hiring Trends.
Learn more about my background, services and prior clients.
