Do You Have a Hiring Game Plan?

An Effective Hiring Game Plan

Some of you will say, “Of course I have a plan to recruit, assess and hire new employees”. Others of you will say, “Well yes, kind of”. Our guess is that the extent of your hiring plan depends on how often you are in the market for new employees. Those of you who hire frequently we suspect have a well-defined process for recruiting, interviewing and selecting new employees. Those of you with less reoccurring demands may have a process, but one that may be less consistent. Regardless of the status or frequency of your hiring practices, there are certain questions that will make your “hiring game plan” more effective.

What’s your timetable for filling your open position?

Fast, slow, when we find the right person? Knowing how immediate the need is to fill open positions is important so that your HR managers can communicate the length of time the process may take to your candidates. So often this is not done and this can discourage good prospects if they feel there are long delays. This will lead to losing out on good candidates who take other job offers.

Have you defined the essential skill sets needed for the position?

Sounds like this should be the first thing on the list, but surprisingly, many hiring managers want to talk to candidates and trust their gut feelings as to whether a candidate fits their needs. Hiring based on cultural fit while downplaying a candidate’s skills will often lead to a bad job match. Defining the skills that are absolutely required needs to be done. With the many assessment tools available your core skill sets can be readily evaluated as part of your decision process.

Who is involved in the hiring decision?

Is it just the human relations department, a single hiring manager, a hiring evaluation team? Although recruiting is often left to the HR department, any successful hiring plan must include the hiring manager. A hiring manager engaged from start to finish will ensure that each candidate will match the requirements needed to be successful in the job.

Are you taking advantage of today’s technology and evaluation tools as you assess candidates?

There are online tools that will help you qualify basic skills, look at behavior tendencies and speed up the interviewing process. Using these assessments along with remote video interviewing can shorten the hiring process and provide useful insights to the hiring manager.

Does your plan ensure compliance?

For those who hire frequently, you are familiar with the government regulations that are meant to prevent discrimination against protected classes such as race, gender, and age. Firms that hire less frequently need to make sure their hiring plan takes into account these requirements so you avoid issues of non-compliance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Contact the Morales Group with questions on building your own “hiring game plan”. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.