A Project Management Approach to Talent Acquisition

Hey everyone!

So I found it quite easy to zero in on a first article topic, the umbrella idea of an empathy mindset as a starting point for recruiting, as I've seen that play out successfully too many times to doubt it's effectiveness. Follow this link if you missed the first one:

I was more undecided on the 2nd topic as there are multiple directions to go from here. But I think it might be good to go with an umbrella idea from a tactical perspective. So let's talk about a set of steps you can take to ensure you are set for success in a hiring search.

I firmly believe that each individual job opening or search should be set up as its own mini-project. Using some basic Project Management practices will make sure you have enough discipline in your process to dramatically increase your odds of success.

FIRST, let's assemble the team. Sound the Horn!

The direct Hiring Manager (HM) for the position obviously needs to be in there. HR or Talent Acquisition usually has someone involved to keep the rule-breakers in line (definitely some laws here you don't want to break!). Other members of the Hiring Manager's team, people from other departments in the company if they'll work closely with this new person, and perhaps someone from the executive level if it's appropriate. 

The most important thing here is to keep the team size DOWN to a number where you aren't hurting your own efforts. The larger the team, the more complicated scheduling and logistics become. You need this interview process to move quickly and expediently. It's meant to be a short-term project that goes away with the hire, so let's make sure it doesn't get dragged out unnecessarily.

With a large interview team, you also start to run into a 'too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen' situation. You want a consensus on the hire and that becomes exponentially more difficult if you have too many people involved. Ex. How hard is it for your whole family to agree on a place to eat?

I'd recommend a max team size of 4-8 people (and 7-8 is pushing it). Beyond that, you start to get the issues noted above more prominently.

SECOND, let's establish who the Project Manager (PM) is going to be. They don't have to have that title, it's just that this is the person who is going to herd the cats... and the rest of you are the cats.

Typically, it's the recruiter or HR person leading the search, and I'd honestly keep it that way. They're going to keep everyone else committed to timelines, feedback, and deliverables. They're going be the center point for communications amongst the team and between the company and the candidate. 

In smaller companies or start-ups, it's not uncommon for the direct Hiring Manager to be the PM.

If you are using a 3rd-party agency recruiter, let them be the PM. Let them handle scheduling. Let them track team members for feedback. Let them handle communication with the candidate. They are more motivated to herd the cats than any other person internally, I promise.

THIRD, establish a timeline. Start with the question, "how soon do you want the new hire to start?"

I meant realistically. "Yesterday" and "ASAP" are both incorrect answers.

Work backwards. The new hire is likely going to need to give two weeks notice, so start there. 

How long does it take for your company to get an offer together? A day, a week? Add that time in. 

What has your typical hiring process timeline looked like in the past? How long from the time you got the winning resume until you offered? A month? 90 days? Add that in. You can break this down further. How many rounds of interviews do you do? How long does it usually take to get feedback from the team at each interview step? Once you have feedback and make decisions, how long to schedule next steps? How long from when you launch a search until you start to see the first resumes? 

You can see where I'm going here. Your timeline is longer than you thought or hoped it was.

UGH.

But good news! Within the details of mapping out this timeline lie the opportunities to improve it... 

YAY!

…and the opportunities to practice an empathy mindset. If you are horrified by how long your process takes, how do you imagine candidates will view it? 

Part of the longer term benefits of this approach (empathy & process improvement) is that your company will be more favorably viewed in the labor marketplace; you'll have better word of mouth, even from candidates who didn't get the job but had a positive interviewing experience. That will lead to more and better candidates being interested down the road. 

FOURTH, establish goals and deliverables for the team. Here's where you can start to make some improvements. Have a meeting... 

…with the interview team. Two things you want to accomplish here:

1. Hear the team's input on what each wants in the hire, reach a compromise that everyone agrees to, and get everyone on the same page as to what to interview for in the hire. You need everyone interviewing to the same criteria or else different people will be disqualifying candidates for different reason. You'll never get consensus. HM shares what they need. Team shares what they want to see. Hash out the differences until everyone agrees. Only then do you proceed to interviews.

2. Get everyone to agree to a few ground rules regarding feedback turnaround on resumes and interviews.

I'd recommend the direct Hiring Manager be the sole person reviewing resumes and deciding who to interview. The candidate will report to them, after all, and the HM will be the person most directly responsible for the hire.

If it used to take a week for the HM to give resume feedback, can they EXPLICITLY agree now to do it in 48-72 hours? 24 hours? How long does it take to read a resume anyway? And yes, you really do need to read the darn thing - candidates put a lot of effort into it (sometimes).

I'd also recommend that the HM be the person doing the first phone interview. I imagine they have the heaviest vote in the final hiring decision, so we need their opinion first as it counts for the most. As the candidate will be working with and reporting to them, the HM also needs to be their first contact from a "selling the company and the role" perspective. Candidates have choice. Remember you are also selling to them as much as they are selling themselves to you.

Did the HM start blocking out spaces on their calendar for interviews right when the search started? So scheduling would be less of an issue? Can they also agree to 24-72 hour feedback on interviews? Can the whole team agree to that feedback turnaround for panel/onsite interviews? How are the PM and Hiring Manager going to get team feedback? One at a time or in a... meeting?

Are you currently doing more than three rounds of interviews? Is that REALLY necessary? Three at most people, seriously. Phone, video, onsite. Done.

These are concrete (and simple) steps to speed up your process. Just think about how sexy you're going to look compared to all the other dates that candidate has been on!

If you've been striking out lately, let's at least try to get you to 2nd base.