How to hire effectively
When hiring new team members, or even promoting people, are you working to include the importance of talent acquisition in your onboarding process? For most organizations, they are not. Typically, there is time spent on what the organization does, such as focusing on programs and maybe financials, who the players are, the priorities or the strategic direction of where the organization is trying to go, and what the person’s deliverables are. However, little time is spent on insuring everyone is on the same page when it comes to assisting with recruiting the NEXT new hire.
Questions to ask yourself when hiring
It is important for people new to the organization or new to a position to understand their responsibilities when it comes to finding future stars to add to the organization or to promote from within.
- Do new would-be hiring managers have the skills to assess team dynamics, and understand what skills and competencies exist in their teams or need to be brought in?
- Have they been educated about the organization’s promotion process and how talent acquisition dovetails with a growing staff and augments existing skills?
- Do they understand what management tools are available to support or where to go if they have questions about how to align gaps, budget, and scope to the marketplace?
- Do they understand the hiring and promotion philosophy of the organization and how that informs performance, growth, and retention – all things to consider when sustaining or creating an enabling environment for success?
- Do they know how they should plan for new a project? Have they been trained on processing things like timelines, compensation bands, and other relevant information that is important baseline knowledge for those leading teams or who may take on that role in the future?
Don’t just go through the hiring motions
Most people do not know how to hire, or the elements involved. People that have just gone through the hiring process as a candidate may understand it from a candidate’s perspective, but not from a hiring manager’s perspective. They are focused on what it takes to get hired, not what it takes to hire.
Many new managers do not have experience with building a team. Team building is a skill that looks beyond the immediate needs of a company. It is an investment in the organization’s current and future success. Siloing hiring knowledge in a few individuals or within a talent acquisition or human resource function is a poor approach to hiring from a practical perspective – particularly in light of today’s highly mobile workforce – and can lead to a lack of consistency, compliance issues, and project delivery issues. Setting future hiring managers up for success in building and managing teams is professional development that should begin on day one.
Hiring the right people is the most critical component to mission success and a positive hiring experience is a vital marketing tool. Because of this, having your team members trained on how talent acquisition works within your organization is imperative. By doing this, you are creating a proactive culture and thinking about team building as opposed to a reactive culture that only thinks about it when someone leaves or when there is a situation that requires additional team members expeditiously.
Benjamin Freedman is the CEO of Weiser Innovations. Weiser is an innovative talent acquisition firm with deep roots in the nonprofit sector and partners with 501 to provide talent acquisition assistance to its 3,000 nonprofit clients. Contact us today for talent acquisition assistance.
