Always Be Recruiting
Finding and retaining top talent is the key to a successful enterprise, yet too often this vital task is performed in an ad hoc manner. Even when companies believe they have a formal recruitment process, it frequently involves a good deal of guesswork. In her new book THE RIGHT HIRE: Attract And Retain The Best People published by Sandler Training, executive coach Lisette Howlett takes the mystery out of hiring with a step-by-step approach for selecting the most qualified candidates.
Hiring the wrong person results in huge expenses in the form of direct and indirect costs, as well as lost opportunities. These costs can range between 1 and 2.5 times the annual salary, according to Howlett. “The cost of a bad hire is worrying,” says Howlett. “You are putting at risk the future of the organization and its growth.”
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An important aspect of hiring is to constantly be on the lookout for scarce talent and snapping it up wherever it can be found. A good hiring process leads to better retention. Howlett uses the acronym SEARCH to help recruiters identify and organize desired attributes:
Skills What specific skills must successful candidates possess?
Experience What specific activities, types of clients, areas of responsibility, work history, and backgrounds are relevant to the job?
Attitudes How do the candidates approach work, colleagues, and life? What guiding principles should they possess?
Results What success have they had in the past? Have these individuals outperformed others in a similar situation?
Cognitive skills What is their ability to learn the information and processes necessary to do the job well? What is their ability to think and learn relative to the demands of the job?
Habits What specific behaviors and approaches to accomplishing life tasks and getting work done are necessary to be successful in this position?
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“Recruitment needs to be a continuous, ongoing exercise,” says Howlett. “Prospecting and pipeline management are both critical elements of successful recruitment. To ensure the availability of top talent, a long-term approach needs to be adopted and the pipeline needs to be nurtured and managed.”
THE RIGHT HIRE provides actionable strategies that enable HR departments and hiring managers to develop the skills, behaviors and competence needed to bring excellence to all aspects of hiring and retention.
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