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Eight essentials to building consensus between hiring manager and recruiter

Anthony Johnson 6 Stories

Friday April 28, 2017 , 3 min Read

Companies always look out for good candidates who are in high demand. Taking a long time to respond and making candidates wait is not going to work in your favor. The good candidates are always in demand, there is a fat chance the competition might recruit them before you do.

Having cleared how important speed in recruitment is for a company, the next crucial step is to have a crisp recruitment process in place with strict deadlines. This is one of the best hiring practices.

Well-defined processes, deadlines and consensus between the Hiring Manager and the Recruiter are crucial to speed up your recruitment. Achieve the first two and the latter will follow. Let’s take a look at how to make a harmonic recruitment possible.

1. Define the Processes

Are you one of those who think there is no need for a written document on steps to recruit a candidate? Here’s why you need to think again. Defining process of selection makes the whole recruitment transparent. Start by noting down every sub-process and task. Get the list cross-checked from all stakeholders.

2. Set Benchmarks

Get a specific set of questions prepared for the Hiring Manager. While drafting these questions, keep in mind that the evaluation of resumes will be based heavily on the answers to these questions. The answers provided will help the recruiter to analyze if the candidate has the skills required by the hiring manager. This will help avoid any miscommunication between them.

3. Have Clear Communication

Insist on a clear communication of the requirement from everyone involved in the recruitment process. Compare and circulate the responses to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

4. Assess skills comparatively

It is next to impossible to find the perfect candidate for every position. You need to assess the priority of the skills required by the candidate. Some qualities can always be learned on the job.

5. Set a Time Frame

Ask for a reasonable time frame from the respective in charge. Specified and measurable parameters will help you to keep a tab on the time taken at each step. Once you are sure you have everything noted down, it is easier to define timelines. Setting timelines is the key to effective resource planning.

6. Be flexible

Though the protocol needs to be followed as defined, always keep some scope for discrepancies. High priority tasks might pop up in between disrupting the deadlines. There are high chances of something like this happening with at least a single person in the team. Ask for an average buffer period required by the hiring manager, as well as inform him/her yours.

7. Exchange feedbacks

Taking feedback from the hiring manager for every candidate at each level of the process will help you understand each other better. Follow the same for every interviewer and communicate their feedbacks throughout the team. Sharing will help them understand each other’s expectations from the candidate. The clarity will help you speed up the complete recruitment process.

8. Acquire industry knowledge

Acquiring an overall knowledge about the industry and the job role will give you a better understanding of the requirement.

Following these steps will definitely improve your partnership with the hiring manager. Getting rid of the vagueness will help you understand the reason behind debunking deadlines. To have a better success rate, the hiring manager and recruiter, can together analyze and improvise the recruitment process.