September 2005 Newsletter
Newsletter, September 2005
In this issue:
- Are Hiring Managers the weakest link in the recruitment chain?
- Gerry Crispin Australian Tour postponed until early May 2006
- Have your pictures displayed on our daily photo for the web
Are Hiring Managers the weakest link in the recruitment chain?
In his recent article 'IPods and the Weakest Link in the Hiring Chain', HR guru Lou Adler explains why he believes Hiring Managers are the weakest link in the recruitment process.
Adler recently conducted a number of interview training programs, and observed that only 25% of Hiring Managers involved were good at interviewing. A startling observation was that 75% of the hiring managers thought they were good interviewers.
Most Hiring Managers believe the problem is with sourcing, not interviewing. Could it be that companies are working too hard at solving the wrong problem? Even if HR departments are perfect at sourcing, recruiting and assessing candidates, overall the company's recruitment function can only be as good as its Hiring Managers.
Adler's findings established that most Hiring Managers and recruiters have different understandings of the job description. Regardless of the position, very few people agreed on the details, although a 100% of the people spoken to said they understood the job.
The real job depends on what the person needs to do on a daily basis. In order to know the real job, recruiters and hiring managers must understand the culture, resources, circumstances, management, other staff, territory, budget, restraints and so on.
Having a different measurement standard is the reason why everyone can have a different understanding of what is needed from the candidate. To make hiring a system, everyone must work with the same understanding.
Adler suggests a performance profile as a way to communicate the real job to everyone involved. A performance profile lists the 6 to 8 performance objectives of the job in priority order.
Once completed, this performance profile must be reviewed and agreed upon by everyone involved in the hiring process. This allows everyone to read from the same page, and therefore leaves little room for ambiguity.
Now you need to capture your audience. In this case, the audience is the top candidate you want to attract. If you?re not seeing enough top people it?s probably because you?re advertising to the wrong audience. Take a look at your online advertising. It?s probably describing what your company wants in terms of skill and experiences, not what a top person wants - a better job! If you want to hire better people, you need to offer a better job. Better candidates want to work for better managers.
The next step is making sure these jobs are easy to find. How do you make your jobs easy to find? Figure out how most good people look for work, they probably use SEEK, a few key words and a location. Does your job appear in the search result? Would it grab their attention?
In order to make your recruitment an integrated system start at the source: Hiring Managers. Get them to describe the compelling nature of the job. Teach them how to conduct a performance based interview, and then start advertising to the right audience. Before you know it, you'll have more than enough top candidates.
Interested in improving your current recruitment processes? Our recruitment skills workshops are designed to give Hiring Managers the vital recruitment skills they need. In the practical workshop managers work together to identify weaknesses and solutions in a team environment. Please contact Meray Azar, at meraya@pageup.com.au for further information.
Gerry Crispin presents:
CSI: Australia Core Staffing Innovations Attract and Retain Tomorrow's Workforce
Who should attend:
- Recruitment and Staffing Managers
- Organisational Development, HR and Training professionals.
- HR Directors.
- Anybody responsible for recruitment and staffing in their organisation.
Watch this space for further details!
Enter your pictures to be featured on our daily photo for the web banner
Calling all budding photographers and snap happy camera toters, would you like your pictures to be displayed on our website? Our photos for the web banner change daily. We invite you to enter your pictures and accompanying captions.
The photos can be funny, scenic, or feature your families and friends. The captions could be related to recruitment activities, a catchy phrase or about the PageUp People product. To have them placed on our website please forward your pictures and or captions in JPEG format to Meray Azar, Marketing Coordinator at meraya@pageup.com.au.