Have you ever felt stressed when a hiring manager comes to your desk and tells you that you need to hire someone, like yesterday, for a position within your organization?  If so, you are not alone.  Hiring people can be time consuming, frustrating and a difficult period of time for a recruiter, especially in tough economic times.  A depressed economy places even more stress on hiring managers. 

There are a few components that recruiters should focus their time and energy that will assist in hiring the most qualified and competent candidate for your organization. First and foremost is the job description. This crucial component needs to be written to create a WOW factor.  You don’t want to use germane language and descriptions that every other company uses.  Craft your description so that it stands out by using specific components of the job, the current and\or future opportunities, or even something about the organization that differentiates it from other companies, such as a unique benefit or a flexible schedule, etc.  For example, I once worked for a company that offered $1,000 for each referral who was hired and stayed at the company for a year. This incentive was an overwhelming success and reinforced the idea that your organization’s productive employees are one of your best resources for hires.

Another critical piece of the hiring puzzle is to make sure the candidate sells you as to why they are the best suited for the position.  What makes them stand out from all the hundreds of candidates/resumes that come across your desk?  What can they offer not just today, but for the future success of the organization?  Unfortunately, at times it’s easy to get caught up in hiring metrics such as getting a job filled within a certain timeframe. As a recruiter or hiring manager, one must always keep in mind that if you don’t hire the right person, it can come back to haunt you.

Lou Adler, a noted industry expert, speaker and columnist for SHRM, ERE, RCSA and President of The Adler Group, has come up with 10 things a recruiter/hiring manager can do to improve the overall level of candidate quality, both in good economic times and bad.

  1. Forget active vs. passive as a measure of quality.
  2. Implement a “Day One” sourcing strategy to find the best active candidates.
  3. Create WOW job descriptions.
  4. Make your offers visible.
  5. Forget the money, sell the opportunity.
  6. Don’t sell the job, sell the next step.
  7. Implement “just looking” opportunities.
  8. Overcome early resistance with preplanned rebuttals.
  9. Get the candidate to sell you.
  10. Get two to three prequalified referrals per call.

I highly encourage you to read Lou’s article in-depth, it’s full of great insights and provides useful guidance for hiring managers. In the end, the one rule of thumb that I use is to always hire the best people you can and never compromise.