When I receive a mandate for a search, most clients tell me it is urgent, to be completed by a certain [short] time and that the new hire needs to on board very soon. Few companies adhere to that time frame, but those that do make my job easier, although it requires much more speed–and stress.
The companies with the “hurry up and wait” behaviour in their corporate DNA are more common, unfortunately.
Many MNCs–surprisingly–do not have an interviewing process in place, which not only slows everything down, but for insightful candidates, shows that their potential new home is not well run, nor welcoming.
Some tips to companies when hiring:
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Make sure that someone has thought through where this role may likely be in a couple of years, directly or indirectly. The good jobs are the challenging ones, and someone within the company needs to be thinking about that all the time.
Keep all the cliches out of the job description, (“Our organisation wants bright, talented, hard-working and articulate leaders”, “ability to motivate and sell”.. etc etc) and think more of the qualifications–what are the “must haves”? A job description is a wish list, and as there is no perfect person, there is no perfect job, but make it shimmer.
Make 100% that the hiring person or team is in full agreement on the JD, and that you do not have too many cooks in the kitchen writing it up. One person, two at most.
Decide unequivocally who is involved in the interviewing process, and why. Do not have others suddenly raise their hand halfway through–or halfway around the world–and say they have a stake in the hire. Get it all sorted out and agreed upon beforehand.
Once agreed, have an interview template for everyone. People pride themselves on their interviewing techniques, but truth be said, most are crappy interviewers and think they can read someone in ten minutes (and some never even look at the CV until the candidate sits in front of them). Make the time well spent, and ensure there is consistency in questions asked of everyone.
After interviewing, thumbs up or down. If one person in the hiring process has a good hiring track record, let them do more, and incentivise them monetarily. If they make bad hiring choices, move them out of the process (and if it is the boss, you have a poorly run company..)
Keep to the interviewing schedule. Travel being what it is, and MNCs being what they are, travel precludes many face to face meetings, and can slow down the interviews for weeks or longer, with both candidates and companies. But finding people to hire is a top priority, no less, and must be treated as such, not a cavalier “I have 10 minutes to talk, and am running 35 minutes behind.” Would you work for a company that doesn’t welcome you, is not on time, and does not know your CV well enough? What signal does that send, other than overworked, disorganised and uninterested.
Give feedback. What is the point of interviewing people if you never tell anyone what you think, or a pithy “OK”. That is a problem with interviewing protocol, knowing what to ask, and understanding the role. Either train your interviewers or move them out. You want your evangelicals interviewing, not your lackadaisical ho-hums, regardless of title or prestige.
Move quickly with everything you have. When you do find someone who has the right strengths, right motivations, right reference checks, right cultural and functional fit for the role throw as much as you can to get them to join—not just money or perks, but a vision of how your company will change the world.
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Any company that can get most of the above in order is ahead of the curve for enticing and hiring who they want. Unfortunately, the hiring process has not changed much in 50 years. The internet has changed many things, but the same tired ways of hiring people in many companies yields the same results. Try my system above and see what happens.
