I recently was working with a hiring manager on a search. As we were going over the job description, he chimed in “4+ years of commercial software experience should probably be removed from the description.”

In reality, it wasn’t the precise time frame that mattered, but rather the candidate’s proven ability to produce quality production software in a Ruby-based language. Whether that meant the candidate for that particular position had two years or 15 years experience wasn’t important.

To me as a recruiter, that makes sense.

In a line from his recent post for TLNT titled “Want a Candidate to Succeed? Define What It Takes to Be Successful,” Lou Adler, President of training and consulting firm The Adler Group explains that when asked how much experience he thinks a person needs to be successful his answer is, “enough to do the work; some people need more; some need less; and the best people need the least.”

Why Defining Performance Objectives Is Vital

Unfortunately, many job descriptions list the competencies and skills, but not specific performance objectives. As a recruiter, you need to turn those competencies and skills around on the hiring manager. It is vital to define performance objectives and expected outcomes. This is important for two reasons:

1. Those involved in the hiring process can interview and score candidates based on these performance objectives once they have been outlined.
2. Recruiters/hiring managers can set performance expectations for the candidates. If a candidate does not know the performance objectives and expected outcomes, how can he or she be successful in the role?

Turn Routine Position Requirements into Meaningful Performance Objectives

How do you turn requirements and qualifications to meaningful performance objectives? For each search, recruiters and hiring managers should work together to determine the competencies, skills, and profiles that a top performer will need to be successful in the position. While creating this guide for your search, do a deeper dive into why each competency and skill is necessary to be successful.

Ask hiring managers these two questions:

1. What specific performance objectives will a top performance achieve?
2. What are the competencies and skills that a successful candidate will have based on these objectives?

Examples:

• Candidate should be highly analytical, metrics-driven
• Performance Objective: Implement, manage, measure, and analyze marketing campaign performance and continuously refine programs for optimization and growth based on these results.

• Process-oriented and experienced in defining processes and measures for scalability
• Performance Objectives: Define and implement KPIs, and track trends on a monthly basis. Implement innovative operational models and enablement processes to ensure effective monitoring and management of sales process and operations.

• Highly self-motivated and driven
• Performance Objective: Make 75+ phone cold calls per day to major brands and retailers to build pipeline for the sales team. Meet/exceed quarterly individual metrics quota of 100K per month

The work that a person is responsible for in a specific role defines what skills and experience are necessary to succeed in the role. In recruiting, look beyond the work and into the successes that you expect this person to have in order to define the true skills, experience, and competencies for someone who will be successful in the role.

In order for a hire to be successful, clarify what successful means in your eyes.

Define these expectations with specific performance objectives that are expected to be achieved prior to beginning a talent search, and clarify these expectations with candidates throughout the hiring process.

Do you have any qualifications/requirements you need help turning into performance objectives? Let me know in the comments below.

How can you drive more quality traffic and top candidates to your careers site? SEO isn’t just for marketers, it’s for recruiters, too.

Think about it. Any piece of content that your talent acquisition function creates — whether is it is a careers page, a job description, or a blog — is used to market your company with the goal of reaching quality job candidates, whether they are passive or active seekers.

But is your talent acquisition team thinking about SEO when they create that content? Unless they are contributing to a blog or article, probably not. For career pages and job postings, we, as recruiters, are typically focusing on describing the company, position, responsibilities, and core skills required.

Encouraging your recruiters to develop a working knowledge of SEO can allow your careers page or job descriptions to stand out from the crowd in terms of organic search. Not only will it drive more targeted traffic to you site, it’s also free.

Below are a few simple tips to get started on your recruitment SEO strategy:

1. First, research SEO keywords and phrases specific to your industry, market, and target job seekers. It’s important to know what keywords and phrases will yield the best results. Put yourself in the mind of your target audience — the job seeker — when researching and writing content for the strongest results.
2. Incorporate the language you found in your research into your content. This should be your content on the careers page, job descriptions, and any other recruitment content. Please keep in mind that you need to strike a balance with SEO — don’t overwhelm the job description with high-yield SEO or buzzwords, because your recruitment content will be marked as spam and/or the content will sound unnatural to your audience. You also do not want a standard job description with buzzwords that won’t stand out to job seekers. Use SEO keywords in the description, while staying true to what exactly the job description should be. Check out these tips for developing high impact job descriptions.
3. Make use of the job title. If the internal title is funky — because, let’s be honest, some are — then be sure to list what the “normal” title for this type of position is, as well. More often than not, job seekers are searching via job title when they actively seek out new opportunities, so this is definitely important.
4. Add links to other pages. A job description or career page can link to a number of different pages while still being relevant. Use links that will give the job seeker a glimpse into who you are as a company — this can include links to awards, company news, industry news, company videos, etc.

It’s time to think about SEO in terms of your talent acquisition strategy. Want to learn more about SEO for recruiters? Check out these three expert blogs.

What other SEO tips do you have for recruiters?

On the other side of the coin, a good candidate will promote themselves. They will sell you on their ability, experience, knowledge, skillset, and personality throughout the interview process.

Some people are better at promoting themselves than others. Some are better at finding the connection that allows them and the interviewer to get comfortable in the interview; some are simply great at articulating; some are good actors who play the part well.

How long does it take to make a first impression? LESS THAN TEN SECONDS.

Research states that it takes between 1 second and 10 seconds for candidates to make a first impression in an interview. Forbes suggests the magic number is seven seconds.

Do we allow our first impressions to always impact our decisions for who is ultimately the best person for the position? No. At least, we like to think we don’t.

Are We Interviewers Seduced by Candidate First Impressions?

The truth is first impressions, subconsciously, may have more of an impact on our bias and the way we conduct the rest of the interview than want to believe.

For instance, if a candidate makes a solid first impression, research shows that the interviewer is more prone to ask questions and make assumptions with a positive spin. If, however, the first impression is negative, the interviewer may spend the remainder of the interview looking for ways to discount the candidate.

Two Tactics to Put First Impressions into Perspective

To overcome the potential of falling victim to a first impression be sure to utilize the approaches below:

1. Employ a behavioral-based interview strategy: As I’ve mentioned previously, the logic behind behavioral interviewing is that past behaviors will predict future behaviors and therefore future performance. Be sure to ask questions that allow you to focus on the candidate’s past performance in addition to his or her interview performance.
2. Use a structured approach to interviewing: All stakeholders involved should be aware of what competencies and behaviors they should be evaluating in the interview. All candidates interviewing for a particular role should be asked the same questions and evaluated on the same competencies. This puts everyone on the same page, as well as validates and verifies information gathered from each interview to ensure consistency of the candidate’s actions and responses. It also acts as a documented measure in regards to the legal issues that can stem from hiring.

Though it’s great when it appears that a candidate has it all, it is vital in quality hiring that you move past your first impression and dig into a candidate’s past behaviors and performance drivers. Doing so is the only way to truly make a valid judgment on whether they are the right person for a role.

Check back in for my next blog post, which will focus on important behavioral-interviewing tactics for hiring managers.

In the meantime, have you had experiences where your first impression in an interview paid off or didn’t? What other advice can you share to help interviews make sure they’re asking the right questions?

RIP, resumes? Many HR experts are saying their days as a relevant hiring tool are done, but is there life beyond the standard word document grave? These job application tips will help you set both your resume and your candidacy apart.

As with most work processes these days, hiring is rapidly evolving, and in this brave new innovative world some leaders in the recruiting industry are questioning whether the resume, a staple in the hiring process, is actually an outdated and unnecessary tool. Some have even gone so far as to argue that, with ability to use online profiles such as LinkedIn profiles, resumes may no longer be necessary.

I have to admit I totally disagree. Dare I say it, I don’t think the resume is even enough.

An Argument for the Resume+

While a bio is great to have, and your LinkedIn profile is a solid step forward in letting me know about your experience, as a recruiter I need to know more. I need to know your work history, what companies you have worked for, your tenure at each company – overall I want to see your story and understand how you have progressed (or stayed stagnant) throughout your career. In addition, I want to know your credentials, your numbers, and your successes — and the resume is where this information lives.

Of course, I already mentioned I believe a resume alone is no longer enough. With it, you may have told me what you can do and what you have done. But now I need you to show me.

Show, Don’t Tell: 4 Examples of How You Can Showcase Actual Examples of Your Skills & Experience

Candidates are responding to this call to action by showcasing the skills and accomplishments listed on their resume with actual examples of their work. Here are four examples I have seen recently:

1. Software engineers showcasing development work on GitHub or their own personal websites.
2. Marketing professionals with a portfolio of their work via a website, a PDF file with collateral, or links directly to the social accounts they have development/maintained/built.
3. Sales professionals are showcasing their skills through their numbers, setting up anything from a simple chart to a timeline listing their sales history through their numbers.
4. Operations folks are showcasing their skills with dashboards, models, or flow charts of their work.

So, the moral of this story? I love that candidates can provide real examples of their work, and showcasing your work can in fact get you in the door or move you to the head of the pack. But what it can’t do is take away from the need for you to provide a resume stating your credentials and accomplishments. Find creative ways to link these two experiences and you will have cracked the code for submitting an exceptional resume+.

How are you incorporating examples of your skills and experience into your job applications?

I have to agree to disagree. I think Dr. Sullivan takes an oversimplified look at the role of sourcing in talent acquisition, rather than a refreshing perspective.

First, he explains that the method of sourcing will die out because with the advances in technology — and the fact that many, many candidates are visible on the Internet — the process can be automated.

This, I agree with. Technological advances offer us an array of tools to find candidates. And, yes, the process of sourcing can be automated. I already have a form of this from my automated search alerts set up on sites such as LinkedIn, Talent Bin, Monster and Career Builder, among others alert me when new profiles match my targeting search criteria.

Limits of Automated Candidate Sourcing

Wouldn’t it be great if there were web crawlers that dropped awesome candidate profiles in my inbox? Yes. But, is that realistic? No.

Why? The outcome of a recruiter’s sourcing activity is not a data dump of profiles, and this is what an automated search gives you. This is why recruiting, and in turn sourcing, has become much more strategic. It is not simply locating talent; it involves a combination of planning, locating, evaluating, networking, and engaging. Say you get a dump of profiles from an automated search source; what now? You need to source through all the data to make sense of it.

How many of you already use these automated searches? I do. And guess what, they are hardly decent. Even when I source candidates for proactive outreach, I still need to sift through the list. Sometimes, depending on the level of the role, this list can have thousands upon thousands of results.

Even when I source candidates and come up with a list for proactive outreach, I am still sourcing through the list that I found myself. Now, you might ask why I don’t narrow my search. I do, I start narrow and work my way out.

Seeing the Full Picture: Why Strategic Candidate Sourcing Is Alive and Well

When recruiters source for talent, we are not just looking for a particular set of skills; we are looking for an overall picture or story of a candidate. This is even more important for higher-level positions.

For instance, I was recently recruiting for a position where a background in direct sales was key to success, though the standard career progression for the role was starting in finance and moving into operations. This is something that I needed to source on my own, because a keyword search cannot help me find this profile.

Or, as another example, I may be searching for a candidate with experience working in the marketing automation sector, but we may be targeting candidates who have showed a high level of commitment to their roles, and are by no means “jumpy” in terms of career moves. Can an automated search tell me this?

Strategic sourcing is not only alive, it’s thriving. I’m excited for more efficient, automated ways of locating top talent. At the same time, I don’t think we should oversimplify the role of sourcing to be only locating talent. It’s more than that.

Do you agree with Dr. Sullivan that The End of Sourcing Is Near, or do you believe it will continue to be an important and active part of a recruiter’s role?

photo: kennymatic

It’s super competitive and with engineers receiving a high volume of inquiries from recruiters and hiring managers, how can you set yourself apart and find talent that’s not already getting an email every hour?

First things first, if you are recruiting tech talent, you need to be thorough. Do not send out a generic blast. Instead, do a bit of detective work before your outreach. Dig in and read what the candidate has posted/shared socially — you will most likely be able to get a sense of their interests and can therefore contact them with an appropriate request.

But that’s a tip for outreach. How do you find these top tech candidates in the first place? 

This is what is great about top tech talent — they contribute. Whether it’s tweeting on Twitter, sharing open source code on GitHub, or posting questions on their own or community blogs, technical talent loves to contribute.

You need to go beyond LinkedIn. Check out a few examples of where to find tech talent:

1. Industry specific blogs: Don’t just do your research on hot topics, check out the comments section to find hidden gems.
2. Twitter: Twitter has amped up their search capabilities that make it easier to source top talent. Engineers are tweeting, so take advantage. If you are looking for engineers with specific framework or language experience — or engineers who are interested in a particular language — start with a hashtag search to see who is talking about it.
   For instance, type in the search bar any of the following: c++; #solr; #scheme; #python; #RoR; #hadoop. To focus a search even more, use Twitter’s advanced search where you can target more specific details such as location, topics, hashtags, etc. Additionally, use Twitter to drive traffic and interest in your job description. Post a link to it with specific tags attached so users contributing in these forums can see it.
3. GitHub: GitHub is awesome because you can actually look at work that someone has shared, as opposed to simply looking at a profile or resume.  Additionally, engineers may contribute and use technologies on the side that they are not using professionally to learn on their own. Many will share this work within their GitHub accounts. This will also provide you with a place to post the job description within a specified community.
4. Host codeathons, workshops, meetups, and internships: Engage those who are using the technologies/skills you need by hosting one of these events. If you can’t do an onsite event you can create an online one that’s more convenient.
5. Boolean searches: Use Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines to run specific Boolean searches. Engineers have websites, blogs, and other presence in social media platforms that can provide you with a glimpse into their interests and experience.
6. Create an outside referral program: use all of the above to advertise it.

These are just a few examples and I encourage you to take advantage. Trying new tactics will go a long way towards creating new opportunities in your ongoing search.

Where have you had success recruiting tech talent?

photo: Shermeee

Are your job descriptions big snoozers? Do they bore even you to tears? Well, don’t just sit there, do something about it! You could be missing out on top talent.

I was speaking with a hiring manager the other day about a search we were starting.

Me: “So I reviewed the job description and…”

Hiring Manager: [interrupts] “Yes, it’s just like ever other typical Engineering description out there…”

Problem #1: Many of the job descriptions out there are stale. And, yes, for certain positions they are often close to boilerplate. Does that mean you have to follow suite do the exact same thing? Not at all!

The conversation continued:

Hiring Manager: “I am in the process of changing that [job description], and making it more about us, what we are doing, and what one can expect to do should they join the team.”

Voila! The first step in recovery is always acknowledging the problem. 

Later, OpenView’s Director of Talent, Diana Martz, shared an article from HBS with the team about how specific wording in job descriptions is driving candidates away. Ex:

• “The selected candidate will have 8-10 years of experience”
• “The ideal candidate has experience selling XYZ”

WOW, REALLY? How do you know this if you haven’t hired them yet?

Problem #2: Many job descriptions are talking past candidates and are ruling potential rock stars out. 

If you are writing job descriptions or outreach emails for recruitment, take a hint from what marketing is doing — innovate, change things up. Drop those sayings about the ideal candidate because talking past a candidate is not necessary and will rule those “non ideal” candidates out before you even have the chance to vet them. Seriously, what if you find a rock star who has 6 years of experience instead of 8-10? Do you really want them disqualified before you have a chance to interview?

Now, this does not mean you can’t include requirements in your job descriptions — you absolutely need to list the requirements for a role (and it’s always good to add the nice-to-haves, as well). Otherwise, everyone under the sun will apply. But don’t write a description that will rule out candidates or bore them to tears.

So, to spice up your job descriptions, here’s what you can do:

1) Talk About Your Company and What You Do

But take care to do so in terms that candidates will understand. There is really nothing worse than reading a job description (or going to a company’s website, for that matter) and still having to ask yourself “what is it that they do?”

Ex: We are an expansion-stage startup that enables companies to XYZ by doing ABC. Some of our customers include…

2) Explain Why the Role is Important and What it Will Entail

Provide highlights of what the new hire will be working on and what the team they will join is currently doing. Be specific.

Ex: We are looking for [insert title] to [insert what this person will do, and why it’s important]. We [insert what the team does and be specific — we “build applications and then open source them” or “we track and analyze campaign data to measure success and develop new marketing strategies” or “we hunt for new business”].

3) Highlight the Qualities You Value Most in the Role

This should be in terms of what you are looking for from the new hire, and what intrinsic qualities will be important to helping them succeed.

Ex: The ability to bring new ideas to the table; excitement, energy, great communication skills, willingness to learn; comfortable working as part of a remote team, etc.

4) Point Out the Skills and/or Experience They’ll Need

What things should this person know and/or have had success with in order to excel in this role? This is where you should list the qualifications you are looking for.

Ex: Any technologies that are required for this role; experience selling enterprise SaaS solutions into F500 accounts; experience bringing on new logo; experience implementing marketing automation programs in a multi-touch engines; strong SEO campaign management experience; experience sourcing and cold calling new accounts, etc.

If you are an expansion-stage startup (and it meshes with your company culture) it’s okay to be more off-the-cuff and creative in your approach to writing job descriptions. It’s time for recruiting to catch up with marketing in this regard.

Have you written job descriptions that turn heads? Share the best/most creative examples you’ve written or come across in the comments below!

photo: CarbonNYC

Everyone involved in your company’s interview process needs to know there are certain questions that are off limits.

Recruiters and Human Resources professionals are likely trained on what they can and cannot ask candidates during an interview, but what about other stakeholders involved in the interview process?

At an expansion-stage company (or any company for that matter) it’s likely that hiring managers and other stakeholders within a company have not been provided with this type of training, and therefore have no idea what illegal interview questions they cannot ask. 

Various local, state, and federal laws regulate the questions a prospective employer can ask a candidate who is interviewing for a role. Many illegal interview questions are easy to steer clear of, but others may surprise you. For starters, an interviewer should not ask a candidate about their age, race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, marital or family status or disabilities.

To keep your team up-to-snuff — and your company out of legal trouble — check out the list of illegal interview questions to avoid, and some helpful, legal substitution questions below:

You’ve probably heard about Facebook’s new search platform, Graph Search. There are articles going around about its potentially enormous impact on everything from SEO to online dating. Of course, what I’m really interested in is its potential impact on recruiting, and it looks like I’m not alone. Forbes recently wrote that Zuckerberg himself announced recruiting is one of his favorite queries.

Though Facebook Graph Search components do sound really cool, are they going transform the recruiting industry?  I’m skeptical. 

Here are four reasons why:

1) My Friends Are Qualified to Offer Advice on Many Things, But Recruiting?

Think about it: Do you trust your Facebook friends to give you great restaurant recommendations? Yes. Will you trust those same Facebook friends to give you great candidate recommendations? Not so sure about that. This overlaps with Reason #2…

2) Facebook Isn’t LinkedIn

For Graph Search to be relevant, users will need to fill out their profiles as completely as possible including career titles, current company, professional interests, etc. How many people actually have a fully-updated Facebook profile with all of their professional work experience and interests?

3) Information is Limited

With Graph Search you will only be privy to information that is:

1. Public
2. Belongs to a friend in your network

As with LinkedIn (unless you have the full Recruiter tool), it’s all about who you know/who is in your network. Are people going to start sending friend requests to “network,” similar to how they do on LinkedIn? Would you accept this type of request? Or is Facebook going to change their privacy rules and start charging for accounts? Are they considering a premium, higher-level account that could allow you to see certain degrees of connections, or certain pieces of a person’s profile? That’s one of the only ways I can see Graph Search being truly useful to a recruiter.

4) The Big Issue: Facebook Is Personal, Not Professional

Facebook’s intent thus far has been social networking in a personal regard. I’d argue that the majority of users are in a totally “outside-of-work” mindset when they use it – posting pictures of family, friends, travels, updates on where they are, what they ate, meme’s etc. It’s all about posting and sharing personal information.

On the other end of the spectrum, LinkedIn is specifically a social networking site geared toward the professional. That’s why it is successful as a recruiting tool. Users are in a “work” mindset when they use LinkedIn and therefore they specifically showcase their professional experience, achievements and interests in their profile.

If users turn around and change their profiles to reflect their professional image, will that totally change how they use Facebook? I would think it would, unless you had the option of creating a “professional” and a “personal” profile — and that just seems like quicksand to me.

Verdict

In my opinion, the success of Facebook Graph Search in reference to the recruiting industry will depend entirely on the users. Will users buy-in to Facebook as a professional tool? Will they change their profiles and the way they use the platform when they likely already have professional profiles on LinkedIn? If they don’t, the Graph Search tool is not going to be helpful for companies to use as a recruiting tool, because it won’t be able to provide insightful recommendations.

What do you think? Will Facebook Graph Search transform recruiting?

photo: nan palmero

Think you can get away with a generic or shoddy LinkedIn Company Page? If you want to recruit better candidates, think again.

As Lisa Jones, Director at Barclay Jones, writes in a post for the Undercover Recruiter, as far as talent acquisition goes, your LinkedIn company and careers page is even more important than your company website. I recently read this article. Here’s why:

As of earlier this month, LinkedIn reported more than 200 million registered users. If we are being honest it is the top sourcing and networking site for generalist recruiters to target potential candidates, and for candidates to target potential employers, as well.

In recruiting, the first thing I do when I hear/see a new company, or a new contact/candidate is Google “COMPANY XYZ LinkedIn” OR “John Smith LinkedIn.”

Why don’t I go directly to the company website in my initial research? Because the LinkedIn Company site can give me a quick snapshot of information that I would most likely have to dig for on the company’s website.

And let’s be honest, how many times have you gone to a company’s website directly and after looking around said to yourself “I still don’t understand what they do”?

So, think about it — as recruiters, we use LinkedIn as one of our top recruiting tools. We source for candidates and often engage them directly through the LinkedIn portal via InMails.

From there, the candidate checks out the recruiter’s profile (you should make sure yours is specialized and detailed, as well), and then checks out the LinkedIn Company Page next. If your LinkedIn Company Page is not filled out or engaging, candidates will simply pass on by without even taking the time to go to your direct website that you most likely paid big bucks to have fancied up.

So, what should you include on your LinkedIn Company Page? The standard pages list the following:

• Industry
• Size (number of employees)
• Location (Headquarters)
• Specialties
• About (overview)
• Recent Updates (activity such as postings, blogs, etc.)
• Careers/Job Postings
• People
• Products and Services
• Link to website
• Popularity (# followers)

And it’s all easy to find. Ex:

To better help your talent acquisition function, be sure your LinkedIn Company Page is active, detailed, and attractive to prospective candidates. And update it often! In order to be successful with your LinkedIn Company Page you need to have the company page active and up-to-date.

Is your LinkedIn page really more important than your company website? Which one do engage with recruiting candidates through more?

By using behavioral interviewing techniques to dig into candidate backgrounds you can get the real scoop regarding their experience.

The logic behind behavioral interviewing is that past behaviors will predict future behaviors, and therefore future performance. The goal of a behavioral interview is to probe. As the interviewer, you should ask specific questions to find out how a candidate has handled a situation in past.

Behavioral interview questions generally start with the following phrases:

• Tell me about a time when…
• Describe a circumstance in which…
• Give me an example of…

Behavioral interviewing is used to evaluate specific competencies you have determined as fundamental to success in the position you are hiring for. These are not a generic set of questions that you ask every candidate no matter the position. Rather, they are a set of pre-determined questions developed with a specific requisition and competencies in mind.

Here is a List of Popular Competencies:

• Accountability
• Agility
• Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Decision Making
• Efficiency
• Impact
• Integrity
• Listening skills
• Motivation
• Motivation to Develop
• Organization Skills
• Persistence
• Team Work
• Time Management Skills

When developing your own list of behavioral interview questions, first select the core competencies that are important for the opening. This list should be between 4-6 competencies.

Once selected, develop interview questions that pertain to each selected competency. Keep in mind that one question can pertain to multiple competencies. You should ask multiple questions for each competency to ensure consistency. Click here for a quick guide on core competencies and related interview questions.

Below are examples of popular behavioral interview questions for each of the common competencies listed above:

Accountability, Organizational Skills, Decision Making

• Please describe in detail a project that you were responsible for. How did you carry out the project and what were the end results?

Agility

• Tell me about a time when you had to take on a new role, or new tasks. Describe the situation and what you did.
• Tell me about a project that did not go according to plan. What corrections did you make and what were the results?

Communication

• Tell me about a time when you had to introduce a new idea. How did you do it?
• Describe a time when you received information about a project or work related item that was critical to success. How did you share the information with the team? When did you share the information?

Critical Thinking/Decision Making

• Provide me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
• Tell me about a difficult decision you’ve made in the last year.
• Describe the steps you go through to make an important decision. Please provide an example.

Efficiency/Organizational Skills

• What is your process of prioritizing your responsibilities? Provide an example. What should you do to be more efficient?
• Everyone procrastinated at some point. What are the kinds of things that you procrastinate on?

Persistence

• Tell me about a time when you got results when others tried and failed.
• Tell me about a time when you were the first to take on a tough issue.
• Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.

What other examples of behavioral interviewing techniques am I missing?

1) Time is of the Essence: Make Sure Yours is Planned Wisely

Time management is a key factor in project management. Take advantage of the new year to create a planning strategy that works for you. When you plan (whether it’s at the beginning or end of the day) and how you plan (to-do lists, calendar blocks) is your prerogative. Just be sure to plan out both your week and your individual days to help you stay organized and on task.

At the end of each week, plan for the next week. Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish next week?” and, “How much time do I have to accomplish each task?” Then create a plan for yourself.

• Ex: I’m planning to focus on the Sales Manager search next week, and I’ll need eight hours to source, interview, and send candidates to the hiring manager.

Next, plan your day.  Ask yourself the same questions, “What do I want to accomplish today?” and, “How much time do I have to accomplish this?” Then, create a plan for yourself.

• Ex: Today, I will spend 3 hours on the Sales Manager search, 2.5 hours sourcing, and .5 hours for a scheduled phone interview.

Piece of advice: Stick to your plan. Sure, things come up and you need to be agile in order to accommodate changes, but having a written-out plan and knowing what comes next will help you stay focused and cut down on distractions.

2) Take Advantage of Social Media

Having a real-time social media presence is incredibly important to talent acquisition. Check out these blogs on tips how to develop a social presence for your recruitment function and how leveraging your employees’ social networks to increase your reach in talent acquisition. 

3. Set Timelines and Deadlines to Stop Wasting Time

Setting timelines and deadlines will significantly decrease the time you spend waiting, emailing, and calling back-and-forth to find out answers.

• Ensure hiring managers and stakeholders involved in the interview process agree to a 48-hour timeline for feedback.
• If a candidate is updating their resume and will get it back to you, set a specific timeline. Ex: “Can you have it to me by Friday?”
• When you extend an offer, make sure you clarify a timeline for responding, as well. Let the candidate know he or she has until a particular day and time to get back to you.
• Instead of simply asking for availability when you schedule an interview ask whether the candidate is available at specific times and give a list of options that work for the interviewer.

Setting timelines and deadlines will reduce unnecessary email/phone tag, and will give you specific times to know when it is OKAY to email/call/ask for what you need. When the deadline passes pick up the phone or shoot over an email. You will still experience delays and people will miss deadlines, but if you don’t set them in the first place you are wasting your own time.

4. Update and/or Implement Recruiting Metrics

In order to take a data-driven approach to decision making, implement a system of recruitment metrics. Monitoring metrics and critical results will allow for greater productivity and effectiveness of your talent team. Here’s my list of top ten recruitment metrics. you should be measuring.

5) Share

It’s as simple as that. Create an environment that encourages sharing as a simple, yet effective, learning tool. Your team should share ideas, scenarios, industry news, recruitment articles, etc. And don’t just share internally. Leverage and build your online presence by sharing these ideas through blogs.

Recruitment continues to evolve and your talent strategy should evolve along with it. Follow these tips to strengthen your talent acquisition team for a successful 2013!

If you’re not making efforts to put all that social activity and networking to your recruiting advantage, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to extend your talent acquisition.

In my post last week, I discussed the importance of developing your corporate brand to appeal to top talent. Your current employees play a huge part in that. After all, A players know (and attract) A players.

Think about it — sales people know sales people, marketers know marketers, engineers know engineers, recruiters know recruiters, and so on and so forth. Referrals are an important part of any strategic recruitment strategy, but using social media will help you to extend beyond direct referrals. Leveraging employee networks can allow you to get referrals from referrals.

How do you leverage employee social networks to your recruiting advantage? Simple: Ask.

In addition to informing your employees of internal job openings and reiterating that you have an internal referral program (which you should), ask your employees to share the job, whether it’s the job posting or simply a quick announcement. All it takes is a few clicks to share a LinkedIn posting, send out a quick tweet, or Facebook post, and the majority of employees will be happy to help. Doing so will vastly extend your reach.

Additionally, your talent team — as well as all internal employees — can help to build your company brand virally through social media. Have individual employees share ideas through blogging, networking, posting, and engaging their social networks. Doing so has solid benefits. For one, it will help to increase buzz, but wait, there’s more!

Possibly even more important, your team will learn about new practices and strategies because they will be reading up before they write. I personally can’t tell you how much I’ve learned this year by keeping up with what’s new in the recruitment space from industry examples, blogs, influencers, newsletters, etc.

Social media is a great way to share, so take advantage of your internal networks.

How should recruiters be developing an active social presence?

First, ensure that your talent team is clued in on corporate branding and messaging. Don’t take for granted that your talent team knows everything there is to know (old and new) about the organization. Instead, train them.

Create standardized messaging practices on how to pitch your company – what’s your company’s story and how did it get where it is today? This should include everything from the top-level vision, corporate structure, growth strategy, culture/environment, and benefits to new product rollouts, investments, great press, awards, etc. The more your team knows, the more they can help with the recruitment marketing.

Here are six tips for kicking your recruiting up a notch through outreach and developing an active social presence:

• Maintain an Up-to-Date Job Site: Be sure that your talent team is tracking inquiries and applications from the job site and responding in a timely manner.
• Give Candidates Easy Access to Your Talent Team: Post email addresses or other ways to get in touch with your internal recruiters to make it easy for candidates to engage.
• Utilize Your Social Media Presence for Networking and Recruiting: When top employees look into an opportunity, they do their their homework. Keep your social media presence current and engaging with blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to start. Additionally, be sure that your recruitment function is adding value to the social media presence with hot topics of discussion, tools for the trade, featured jobs, and overall great content.
• Host/Attend Networking Events: Get the buzz out about your company and network within the industry.
• Participate in Relevant Career Fairs: Because really, why wouldn’t you?
• Create Relationships with Universities/Colleges: Do your due diligence on what schools have programs that are relevant to your organization. Create relationships with stakeholders in these programs to drive top candidates to you.

So, you follow these tips, and you create an engaging social presence — now what? Measure it.

A great first step is to track the source of candidates — how did they hear about the company/opportunity? This will help you assess each avenue’s impact and tweak your recruitment marketing strategy based on actual results.

In additional to actively recruiting for open requisitions, creating a great social presence will help you build a talent pipeline with future prospects and warm leads. The more opportunities to create a touchpoint, the better.

Do you care about your corporate reputation when it comes to the job market? You should, because to build a great company, you need top talent.

According to a recent Fast Company article, three dimensions that drive reputation are:

• Vision and leadership
• Financial performance
• Perceptions of the workplace

Lets focus on that last one: perceptions of the workplace.

Perception, or how the market views your company, directly correlates to your employment brand. Your company can take steps to build this reputation in a variety of ways (marketing, education, etc). Internal employees, however, are vital to branding your organization.

Internal employees are the face of your company to the market. Internal recruiters take this up a level because of the volume of people they actively engage with — think of how sales is the face of your company to your customers.

In recruiting, reputations in the market are important. Recruiters often keep their ears to the ground to know what companies have good — or not so good– reputations for talent. The more information we have, the better we can tailor recruiting strategies when targeting talent. As the saying goes, great people know great people, and that’s who I want working with me.

Candidates are frequenting company review sites and checking with people both in and outside their network to get a sense of what it’s like to work at any particular company.

The way recruiters help maintain and build your company’s reputation is via the candidate experience. It’s important to keep this positive for all candidates. If a candidate has a negative experience, they are likely to talk about it, if not on sites such as Glassdoor, then at least with their network.

The fact is it’s likely to get around, and in expansion stage hiring it’s a small world. Marketers talk to marketers, engineers talk to engineers, sales talk to sales, etc.

A bad reputation will no doubt increase recruiting costs. And if your company has a bad reputation externally in the job market, it’s possible it could be an internal issue, as well. That’s potentially bad news for your employee retention.

Now, recruiters may be the gatekeepers and point of contact when recruiting talent, but they are not the only ones. All stakeholders involved in a search need to know that they are the face of the company, and that their actions matter.

Here are the three most common ways to lose a candidate:

1. Missed/constant rescheduling of interviews
2. Negative and/or indifferent attitudes of the interviewer
3. Sparse communication and follow up

What’s the take away? Make time to hire.

Train those involved in the interview process so they know what they can and can’t ask.

Enforce accountability. Take steps to prevent these three things to avoid damaging your company’s reputation and losing highly qualified candidates to competitors.

Managing candidate expectations should begin  during the initial stages of the recruiting process. That will ensure that both parties are on the same page, and time is not wasted with candidates whose expectations do not align with the company’s vision.

Expectations have two sides – candidate and company – and because of that it is impossible to completely eliminate 11th hour situations. However, unpredictability is not fun when it comes to hiring, so you must set your framework with the goal of minimizing these situations as much as possible. That can be accomplished by maintaining candidate expectations throughout the process.

In the initial stages, you should try to uncover a candidate’s:

• Current compensation
• Compensation expectation for this role
• Timeline
• Activity

Below, I’ll break down each of those bullets in greater detail. 

Compensation

What does a candidate currently make and what do they need/expect to make in a new position? Unfortunately, those two numbers are not always the same. To bridge this gap, make sure you seek the answer to both.

To cover all your bases, try to acquire a candidate’s total compensation breakdown (i.e. base, variable, options, etc.). If candidate expectations (or current earnings) do not match up, don’t drag them or your hiring managers along through the process and hope for the best. Have a conversation right away to let them know where you stand.

Timeline

This seems simple, but it’s oh-so-important. Ask all candidates what their timeframe for a search is. Keep in mind a large portion of a candidate’s decision to make a jump from one company to another is timing. Find out if there is anything keeping them at their current company until a certain date, and find out if there is anything else that would prevent them from starting by a particular date.

By asking these questions, you can dig into how invested a candidate is in making a move. The goal is to uncover things like a significant year-end bonus, a surprise 6-week trip around the world, etc.

Activity

It’s important to ask if the candidate is actively looking and where they are in the process with other opportunities. Do not take for granted that your company and opportunity is the best one out there.  Whether candidates are passive or active in their search, they can easily and actively be recruited.

Now, you have this information.  What expectations should you share with the candidate?

1. Full Disclosure: Provide full disclosure of job requirements and position responsibilities.
2. Compensation: Let candidates know if they are in the ballpark. If you have specific compensation targets for the hire, be sure to let candidates know and find out if they are comfortable with those targets.
3. Next steps: Inform candidates of where they stand in the hiring process and provide feedback when necessary.
4. Timeline: Give candidates your timeframe for hiring. Additionally,  proactively engage candidates if anything comes up that would change the timeline. Pinpoint when candidates should expect to hear back from you and reach out to them at those times.

In recruiting, things come up — timelines are extended, expectations change, etc. Be sure to keep candidates in the loop throughout the process. Though people are unpredictable, a solid recruiter will work to manage candidate expectations throughout the recruiting process. Ultimately, that will keep the candidate experience positive while minimizing unexpected outcomes.

Here at OpenView Labs, we use Scrum and my colleague Katy Smigowski recently wrote a post about why and how Scrum can work for your talent team. To build off of that, I’d like to talk about why it’s vital in any type of project management to develop SMART goals.

In recruiting, SMART goals allow individual recruiters to truly track their work progress while also ensuring accountability. It also allows recruiters and management the ability to identify and evaluate tactical work, progress, impediments, etc., and re-evaluate how to improve goals for the next week.

What is a SMART goal?

Though there are variations, the acronym stands for goals that are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

How can your recruiters develop SMART goals?

They can start by answering these questions:

1. What are my priorities for the upcoming week?
2. How should those priorities be ranked and prioritized?
3. How much time do I have to allocate to each priority (this should be based on the answer to the second question)?

Once they understand their priority rankings and time, they need to ask questions that pertain to each priority, including:

1. What do I want to accomplish?
2. How much time to do I have available to allocate to this priority?
3. What tasks do I need to complete?
4. What amount of time do I have allocated to complete each task?

In the end, your tasks will be your SMART goals. Here are some examples:

• Goal: Source 25 new candidates for the Marketing Manager requisition.
• Goal: Send 2 candidates to hiring manager for the Sales Director requisition.
• Goal: Interview 6 candidates for Business Development Representative requisition.

Now, there is one fairly significant caveat. 

It is necessary to understand that, in recruiting, not everything is quantifiable or measureable.  Sometimes, recruiters will set goals that you cannot measure. For instance:

• Goal: Obtain feedback on candidates A and B from hiring manager.
• Goal: Follow up with candidates A-through-D that are in process for the Software Engineer role.
• Goal: Meet with hiring manager to kick-off the Research Specialist search

So, how do you track and re-evaluate SMART goals?

Using retrospect. At the end of each week, hold a meeting where recruiters can individually speak to what worked that week, which impediments they faced, and what they did or did not accomplish.  Additionally, each recruiter should look at the progress they did or did not make on each search, and adjust their planning tasks and hours for future efforts.

I recently read this article – and it definitely got me thinking. Previously, companies used agencies to do the headhunting and their internal human resources departments were more of an administrative function. This is no longer the case. Companies have moved recruiting factories in-house, creating strategic teams that have drastically reduced recruiting costs.

You might ask yourself – aren’t all recruiters headhunters? And the answer is no.

Let’s break it down into very generalized responsibilities:

• Researching
• Sourcing
• Screening
• Outreach
• Interviewing
• Guiding the hiring process
• Feedback
• Offers
• Onboarding

Depending on the company, position and hiring environment, a recruiter can be responsible for one, all, or a mix of those responsibilities depending on the company, position, and hiring environment.

When recruiting a recruiter, this is where the lines get blurred. Titles are interchangeable (recruiter, headhunter, talent acquisition, etc.) but it is vital to the success of your recruitment team to hire recruiters with the right experience for your company. If you are an expansion stage company you need a true headhunter as part of your team. 

This means you need a proactive outbound recruiter, not just a sourcer, not just a screener, not just someone to manage the hiring process, but a someone who is going to be both strategic and proactive in their approach.

This person will do due diligence on each requisition, source, screen, and interview candidates to ensure they are the right talent for the opportunity, and guide the process from beginning to end. This recruiter is someone who has experience going out and finding talent through outreach. Not someone who has only been responsible for inbound applications and referrals.

Why is this type of recruiter what you need?

1. They find the best talent because they build relationships: They connect with candidates (passive, active, etc.) and build on those relationships. They are pros at networking and probing for referrals.
2. They focus on the metrics: Many recruiters with headhunting qualities have recruiting agency backgrounds and therefore are very familiar with metrics, what they mean, and why they are important. But with companies investing in internal strategic recruiting functions, recruiters/headhunters will now also have corporate backgrounds. Either way, these recruiters understand recruitment metrics and use them to continuously tweak searches and improve their skills.
3. They create relationships with hiring managers: A good recruiter will know that the relationship with the hiring manager is the key to feedback and to hiring for the requisition. The recruiter will learn what the hiring manager wants, what they don’t want, and what processes/strategy will work to find top talent. He or she takes a partnered approach with hiring managers and relies on honest feedback to improve tactics for searches.
4. They know how important the candidate experience is: Part of their approach is ensuring a positive candidate experience. As I mentioned in my last blog, with all candidates, it is important to keep the lines of communication open for future opportunities, networking, and run-ins. It’s also important to your company’s reputation.

So, if you are implementing a talent factory in your expansion-stage company, be sure to have a recruiter with headhunting skills on your team.

HRM recently authored an article outlining these changes, but I have to say I disagree. Yes, new recruiting metrics have come into the field, but that does not mean we should stray away from the old ones.

Instead, we should keep the foundation that’s already been built and add new recruiting metrics to it for better results.

Recruiting metrics allow us to take a more analytical approach to hiring. Tracking day-to-day details are what eventually make up the big picture. Measuring what we do creates focus and accountability.  It helps us to target efficiency, headcount, cost and the more tactical pieces that make up the effectiveness of a recruiting function.

Simply put, metric tracking should be used to measure and improve recruiting effectiveness and efficiency.  Keep in mind with some quality-based metrics this can be difficult to track due to timelines and subjectivity.  However, while quality is a huge driver in hiring, those in the trenches of recruiting need to rely on the number driven metrics for their own productivity and efficiency. So, while you should take in account the facts, do not for one minute discount quality.

Ultimately, identifying the right recruiting metrics for your business should boil down to two steps:

Open requisitions by recruiter: Know what the team is working on. This will keep everyone on the same page and allow management to see the capacity for taking on new searches.

Closed searches and the reason for the close: Not all searches close because of an acceptance. In some cases, there is restructuring, reprioritizing, and other factors that lead to closing a search. It is necessary to have answers to why each search closed, and to track the frequency. These details will allow you to see if there is a breakdown in the selection process when taking on a search.

Recruiting metrics by requisitions: This will allow you see the intricacies of recruiting behind a search, and will help to track efficiencies, impediments and productivity. It will give you the opportunity to look objectively at each search and change tactics for improvement. It will also help you to track important ratios such as the number of candidates sourced to interviewed, interviewed to offered, offered to accepted.

For example, if it takes you 10 first interviews to move one candidate along in the process, look at what’s wrong. It’s possible you are not screening thoroughly enough, or you may be looking for specific traits that are not “requirements.”  Have three offers extended and no acceptances? Time to look at your offers and ensure they are competitive in the market.

Time-to-hire: You should track this in three ways:

• The date the search opened to the date of an accepted offer.
• The number of hours spend on each requisition. Why? This will help you compare the length of the search with other factors such as the workload of the recruiter, and will allow you to find an ideal workload balance.  For instance, spending five hours versus twelve hours per week on a search with heavily impact these numbers.
• The breakdown of time-to-hire. This will help you also measure time from source to first interview and then interview to offer.  This will show you a breakdown of the hiring process, specifically the timeline of your internal interviewing schedule.

Source of hire: Track the number of successful hires from targeted sources to measure the effectiveness of those sources (referrals, LinkedIn,internal and external job boards, sourcing tools and college fairs are the main sources of candidates). Tracking the candidate source over time will help you to modify the list of sourcing resources you are using based on the effectiveness and cost.

Retention rate: Making the wrong hire is costly and so is needing to replace a strong employee who leaves. Watch the retention rate for new hires and use it to improve both recruiting and retention policies within your company.

Quality/productivity of hire: This can be difficult to accurately measure because it may be based on subjective feedback as well as time within a role. Still, it is important to keep track of candidate success once they are on-boarded.

Cost-per-hire: This is probably the most talked about metric. It measures the amount of financial investment your company makes to attract and recruit new hires.  It can be argued that the productivity of the hire offsets the recruiting cost, but I won’t go there in this post.

To measure accurately, narrow the focus of the metric to track the cost-per-hire only as reflected in the hiring process. The number will fluctuate based on the volume of searches because of fixed recruiting costs (mainly subscriptions for sourcing and job postings).

Manager satisfaction:  Get feedback on each search from hiring managers. This will help you to see what worked, what didn’t and what you can improve internally for the next search.

Applicant satisfaction: In other words, how is your candidate experience? Create a standardized survey that measures the candidate’s experience based on their impression of the selection process. Feedback will help to improve future candidate experience, which is key in recruiting for all applicants whether selected or not.

One of the biggest complaints and frustrations from job seekers is that they often never hear back in regards to their application status.

If I am being honest, candidate rejections are probably the least favorite part of any search. When I started  out as a recruiting coordinator I sometimes (all the time?) thought of them as the bane of my existence, especially when applications came in droves. But guess what – rejections are important. They’re a large part of the recruiting cycle, specifically vital in maintaining a positive candidate experience. So don’t sit on them, keep the communication open.

Here are some quick tips on how to both streamline and standardize the candidate rejections process.

Let’s start by breaking it down into three categories:

1. Candidate applications that do not meet specified requirements
2. Candidates who have interviewed
3. Candidates who participate in final round interviews

1) Candidate applications that do not meet specified requirements   

Every job posting receives applications from candidates who do not meet the minimum requirements for the position. If you have clearly stated the requirements in the job description (and you should), it is okay to have a standard template to use for rejections. These templates can be straightforward. Ex:

• “Thank you for your application to the ABC  position at Company X. We have reviewed your application, but have decided to move forward with other candidates for the role at this time.”

2) Candidates who have completed the first interview and are not moved forward in the process.

These rejections, while still straightforward, should be personalized and detailed. Let candidates know that you appreciate the time they spent preparing the application and interviewing. Below are a few examples from my colleague Meghan Maher’s blog:

• “Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today in regards to the ABC position at Company X.  We have decided not to move forward in the process as we are seeking candidates with five or more years of experience selling at the enterprise level.“

• “Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today about the ABC opening at Company X. After our conversation we have decided not to move forward. This is due to your lack of expertise with Salesforce.com, which is required for this role.”

• “Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today about the ABC opening at Company X. Unfortunately, we have decided to move forward with another candidate who had more experience within the Z industry.”

3) Candidates who have completed final rounds of interviews but are not selected.

For these candidates, I would recommend two options:

If you have had a reasonable level of contact throughout the entire interview process, I would give the candidate the courtesy of a call. This should only be the case when you are comfortable speaking with the candidate and confident it would not be awkward or uncomfortable. The call should be brief and to the point. If you cannot get the candidate live, go straight to the email route.

If you have not had a comfortable level of contact throughout the interview process, or it is a short interview process, I would simply send a personalized email. This email should be detailed in its explanation, highlighting the positives of the candidate. Many times, at this stage in the selection process the decision is not due to lack of experience or skills, but rather a stronger candidate in process.

• “Thank you for your interest in Company X and your time during the interview process. Though the team was impressed with your [add specific details about what you were impressed by here], we have decided to move forward with another candidate at this time. We will certainly let you know if another positions opens that may be of interest. Thank you again for your time during this process.  Best of luck to you in your job search and please stay in touch. “

Whatever rejection you decide is appropriate, it is important to maintain a positive candidate experience. Complete and accurate feedback is the best way to go. If a candidate has taken the time to speak with, or come onsite for interviews, they deserve a personalized response with direct feedback as to why they were not chosen to move forward. Though candidates are sure to be disappointed, it’s important to keep lines of communication open for future opportunities, networking, and run-ins.

Hiring is a competition for all those involved. Companies compete against one another to attract the top talent, and candidates compete against each other to obtain the best position. As the saying goes “the early bird gets the worm,” so moving the process forward is key.

In establishing a feedback loop for a search, each stakeholder should be informed and committed to their place in the hiring process and what is expected of them. To do this, specify a reasonable time frame for the hiring manager to be expected to provide feedback. Typically, we allot a 48-hour period. This way the feedback is still fresh in the hiring manager’s mind. At this same time, it allows hiring managers time to process the feedback before making a decision whether or not to move forward.

It is also important to establish a feedback loop with candidates in order to set expectations on when they will find out whether they are being progressing through to the next steps or being taken out of the process. Recruiters base this time frame on both the process and the feedback loop that has been established with hiring managers. My colleague Lindsey Gurian recently blogged about the benefits of establishing a feedback loop with candidates. The major benefit is that an established feedback loop increases your chances of not losing a candidate, and helps provide them with a positive candidate experience whether they are the chosen one or not.

Now, let’s get real. The feedback loop sometimes needs to be adjusted. If the hiring manager is going to be out of the office for any reason – travel, a conference, vacation – the recruiter needs to know so they can set the expectation with candidates that they may not hear back for a specified amount of time.

Another major benefit of an established feedback loop is process improvement — hiring managers’ feedback helps to develop the search. As a search progresses, it becomes much more involved from the beginning to the end. With feedback from hiring managers, recruiters constantly change bits and pieces of the search to target (or stay away from) specific traits and backgrounds. Feedback loops allow for continuous fine-tuning of the process to improve the search incrementally.

Think about it – say the hiring manager is impressed with qualities A and B in the candidates, and decides that C is no longer a necessity. If you do not have this feedback in a timely planner, you continue to target your search on C and both time and resources are wasted. Lesson learned – before you start a search, establish a feedback loop with hiring managers to keep the search moving and improving.

In fact, there have been a variety of studies, articles, and blog posts written recently (click here, here, and here for a glimpse) arguing that physical attractiveness is a significant influencer of success. My colleague, Katy Smigowski, has even jumped aboard that train. On her blog, Katy suggests that being a neck-breaker can boost your chances of influencing hiring decisions.

To be honest, it got me thinking. Does physical attractiveness really influence hiring decisions, and do attractive candidates have a significant advantage over their less glitzy counterparts?

In my opinion, it depends. In some industries (use your imagination), attractiveness is absolutely an advantage. However, in an office or corproate setting, I do not think the suggestion that attractive people are more attractive candidates holds the same merit. The reason is simple. Whether you are a hottie or not, what’s important in hiring is fundamental qualities such as personality, integrity, motivation, communication, and interpersonal skills.  And let’s not forget about the technical skills needed to succeed in most roles.

So, the question I think hiring managers really need to ask is this: What, outside of physical attributes, really makes a candidate attractive?

It should have less to do with physical looks and more to do with the fundamental qualities I mentioned above. After all, those fundamental qualities typically shine through in an interview process, telling the candidate’s story and illustrating their personality. A study by Viren Swami, Ph.D., in fact, finds that personality has a great affect on attraction. When given information about personality before viewing photos, subjects tested by Dr. Swami were attracted to a wider range of body sizes when their personality traits were positive, and a narrower range when personality traits were negative.

To further prove that point, let’s look, for example, at a client-facing role such as an outside sales professional. Generally speaking, popular opinion seems to suggest that beauty reigns supreme in that role. I disagree with that sentiment, however. Success in that role has very little to do with a handsome face, so why should hiring managers be focusing on physical attractiveness? Instead, they should look for a candidate’s instinctive ability to create, build, and nurture relationships.

This is not to say that a candidate’s appearance has no influence on hiring decisions, of course. Presentation — which includes appearance among other aspects — is absolutely a factor in hiring. In terms of physical appearance, candidates are often judged based on whether they possess a professional/polished look and good personal hygiene. In HR, however, we are trained to look past certain characteristics — namely race, sex, religion, and disability (hello employment discrimination). Some U.S. cities (including San Francisco and Washington D.C.) are taking things one step further, expanding employment laws to forbid “attractiveness discrimination.”  Based on those actions and many employment lawsuits based on appearance discrimination, biases based on attractiveness do appear to exist, even if they shouldn’t.

And while that might not change any time soon, I’d argue that it is possible — and advisable — to look beyond someone’s physical attributes.  

Yes, it may be human nature to judge people by their looks (cue the Halo Effect that suggests “what is beautiful is good”) and, yes, candidates who are physically attractive are often perceived as more sociable and successful than those who are physically less attractive. But hiring managers need to go beyond those perceptions and stereotypes, and not rush to judgement when they’re interviewing for a role and making critical hiring decisions.

Hiring is a strategic process that encompasses a variety decision makers, as well as a number of steps in the process. The bottom line is that if physical attractiveness is one of the primary drivers of your hiring decisions, then you’re probably overlooking your top candidates’ fundamental, intrinsic qualities — you know, the actual skills, capabilities, and personality types that more significantly indicate long-term success.  And if you’re a recruiter that is looking beyond physical attractiveness, then I’m sure you have found (as I have), that in hiring, all that glitters is not gold.

Click here to read Katy Smigowski’s counterpoint to this post.

As a recruiter I am not interviewing you for the heck of it — I am actually evaluating you. So candidates, no matter if the interview is with a recruiter or a hiring manager, it’s your chance to make an impression, get into detail about your experience, and ask questions.

You may think that the experience listed on your resume speaks for itself, but I have news for you: your experience is only one piece of the puzzle.

In expansion stage companies, hiring the right candidates is essential to success and growth – and it’s not something that simply requires a particular skill set. In addition to your tangible experience, I am assessing fundamental qualities such as:

• Motivation
• Integrity
• Dependability
• Interpersonal Skills
• Dedication
• Initiative
• Potential

I am asking questions to find out whether you did your research, gauge your knowledge of the industry, how you present yourself, what is important to you, behavioral patterns, reasons behind your career progression, and your follow up (among others things) in order to evaluate whether you have the attributes that are necessary to fit and succeed in this particular position and company.

Candidates, when you are speaking with HR, be professional and be detailed when talking about your experience, even when you think we may not totally “get it.” Focusing on skills and job responsibilities is not necessarily our approach, because there is so much more to hiring than technical skills.

Now, let’s get real. These intangible qualities are not easy to evaluate in an interview, but initial contacts are definitely a starting point. From the very first interaction with a potential candidate, a story starts. And we are keeping a record. Your story continues to be written as the hiring process moves forward, not only through your answers and actions, but also through the feedback from interviewers and references. Once we know your story, we evaluate whether or not it’s a fit.

So candidates, if you think the first round interview with HR/recruiting is simply an unnecessary or unproductive step, think again.

Know the talent you already have.

Seems simple, right? But so often it’s a critical forgotten step in the recruiting process. Think about it — do you really know your team? If not, it’s time to start learning. I don’t mean you need to know all the ins-and-outs of everyone’s life, but you do need to start paying attention. Knowing your employees’ skills, demonstrated accomplishments, areas of improvement, and attitudes will aid you in nurturing employee potential, retention, and development — both professionally and personally. All these things together will in turn help your company succeed by saving time, money, and resources.

For my blog today, let’s focus on how knowing your talent can have specific impact when it comes to hiring.

Recruiters/Hiring Managers: How many times have you been in the midst of a search and an internal hire steps up to be considered for the role? This is a common occurrence, and a good one at that. But at the same time, when an employee steps up while you are in final rounds or even mid-way through the recruiting process and gets the job, think about the time and resources you could have spent on another search. This cannot be rectified all the time, but knowing your employees can help.

If you know a current employee has the potential and skills to step into a role, take the time to let the employee know about the opening, and gauge his or her interest. Since internal hires are already familiar with company culture and engaged in company processes they usually greatly reduce ramp-up time, recruiting time and cost, additional training costs, and overall risk. It’s also great for company culture and moral. Let it be known that the company is open to hiring/promoting within to motivate employees. Additionally, if your employees are aware of internal openings, they are more prone to offer referrals. As the saying goes, “good people know good people,” and referrals are a great way to fill a role.

Knowing your talent also rings true for employees who want to transition into a new field, not necessarily congruent with their current one. This also happens often. Employees make lateral moves to new teams, or even to completely new positions where they need to learn a new skill set.

Another advantage and important piece of knowing your talent is knowing enough to realize when it’s necessary to bring in new blood.

For example, many individual contributors are terrible managers and vice versa. To avoid awkwardness (and the potential of losing an employee should they not be the best fit for an opening), be honest. If an employee steps up and voices his or her interest but is not the strongest candidate for the role, be honest in your assessment and give the internal employee feedback. An advantage of knowing your employees and their mindsets is the ability to work with them to nurture and help guide them to where they strive to be.

Next time you open up a role, think about your current talent first, and spread the word.

In recruiting, job descriptions are highly underestimated.

Hiring managers, recruiters, and candidates alike should know that the job description is not just something you send over for fluff, it’s a tool that has the potential to make and break prospect interest.

In a sense, a job description is your sales collateral — one of the first pieces of information prospective candidates receive.  It should be relevant and realistic. Know what will target and entice qualified candidates, what stands out about the company and the opening, and craft the message with honest detail, accordingly.

Broad or generic job descriptions can be even more menacing to a search than those with unrealistic ones. Here’s why:

First things first, when a job description is too broad, applicants will come flooding in. Some may think bringing in more candidates is positive for a search — think again. A broad job description will increase the number of inbound unqualified resumes. Though not the hardest part of recruiting by any means, screening incoming resumes is a time suck that can be compared to searching for a needle in a haystack.

More importantly, a broad job description may dissuade qualified candidates from being interested in the opportunity. If your job description does not have the meat of responsibilities/requirements listed, it’s impossible for candidates to understand what the expectations truly are. Many times, a broad job description can make a position seem less challenging, which is often a turnoff for those who want to continue to learn, grow, and make an impact – all qualities we look for in expansion stage hiring.

A broad job description also raises more questions regarding the position. Recruiters likely have the answers to those questions, but why wait until the first live call to instill clarity? Make your life easier – jot down the realistic responsibilities and requirements you are talking about in these conversations and use those to write up a new draft.

Job descriptions usually consist of three sections:

1. Company Information
2. Position Responsibilities
3. Applicant Qualifications.

Let candidates know what the expectations are by outlining both the strategic and tactical responsibilities, and be both detailed and direct in the messaging. At the same time, craft the messaging in a way that allows the company culture and team dynamic shine through. This will help make the description unique to the company, and less generic/mundane. It’s key to get these job descriptions right, and to update them for each and every search.

Your initial recruiting note may spark candidate curiosity, but the exploratory call is a way to grab their attention. 

Additionally, exploratory calls allow you to get a sense of the candidate from a vantage point outside of a formal interview. So, before you schedule an interview, take 10-20 minutes for an exploratory call. You will see more results, both short term and long term. Here’s how:

• Engaging more people allows you to expand your knowledge of the market. Conversations can turn into to leads that you may not have gotten elsewhere.
• Networking is the key to success as a recruiter. It’s always important to keep building your network and engaging candidates and connectors alike. These calls will assist in expanding your network, as well as your rapport with connectors.
• Exploratory calls provide you with the advantage of asking questions in a more casual conversation and allow you to ask first. If you tell a candidate all about the company, position, and culture and then ask what they are looking for, a good interviewee is going to match what they want to what you have. The exploratory call can help to prevent this. Introduce yourself, give a broad view of the company/position and then have a conversation about what the candidate is looking for. If it seems like a match, now is the time to get into the details and sell the job.
• Referrals. If a candidate is not interested or is not a fit for the company/position do not hesitate to ask for referrals. If they don’t know anyone off the top of their head, they still have a better overview of the position to pass along to their networks.
• Titles, job descriptions, and written content do not always do a company/position justice. As a recruiter, you know the true value of the position and you should use the exploratory call to talk about the intangibles (as well as the tangibles), enticing the candidate to want more. 
• Both parties want to move forward? Now it’s time to talk about the candidate’s background.

In my opinion, the exploratory call should be the first step of the interview process. If you work the call with the tips above you will leave the conversation with more than you started with.

In recruiting, over-communication is typical (and critical) because there are so many moving parts — multiple searches, interview processes, internal stakeholders, candidates, hiring managers, and the list goes on.

Recruiters are juggling multiple searches while simultaneously juggling those individuals who need to be kept abreast of the process and progress of each search. Our job is to keep the process moving smoothly for internal stakeholders, while providing a high candidate experience. Our goal is to find the best talent for each position.

As a recruiter, you may sometimes feel you don’t have a hold on the search. Maybe the hiring manager has taken the reigns; maybe you are struggling to get timely feedback. Here are a few recruiting tips to keep things moving:

Secure Buy-In

At the initial stage of the search, create a recruiting strategy and have everyone involved review, agree, and sign off on it. This will allow all parties to see and agree on the ideal timeline and necessary deliverables in each stage of the process. It is always helpful to have a documented strategy to refer back to should things not go as planned.

Be Direct with Internal Stakeholders

You have a strategy and everyone agrees. Now what?  Set up-front guidelines and expectations of what you will need from the hiring manager and those involved in the interview process. Secure hiring managers’ availability to interview and a timeline for expected feedback. If the job is a priority, it is important for all parties to buy-in to the sense of urgency.

Keep the Ball in your Court (as much as possible)

In recruiting, this is difficult because there are a variety of decision makers involved. Take change of the simple things to make your life easier. For instance, send out specific interview times to candidates — “Are you available to interview Thursday at 2:00pm or Friday at 10:30am?” — as opposed to general requests — “what is your availability for Thursday or Friday this week?” It eliminates much of the back-and-forth that goes along with scheduling.

Internally, set up a scheduled weekly call with the hiring manager. Having this on the schedule allows you to go through all of the questions that may arise each week, discuss any candidates and feedback, and the overall progress of the search. It is also a great time for recruiters to let hiring managers know what they have been seeing in the market and let the hiring manager decide on whether there is flexibility on certain search requirements.

Be Direct and Open with Candidates

Once a candidate is in process, give him or her a timeline in terms of both feedback and next steps. This will help to avoid the weekly check-in email that pops up in your inbox. If the search has slowed down or something else has taken priority, don’t leave candidates hanging. Send a quick note to let them know that they are still in process and you will be in touch once things pick up.

Move Quickly

For top talent, the market is always competitive. If you know you have a candidate who could possibly be “the one” then set things in motion. Ask for references and start putting a potential package together. This does not mean that you should stop interviewing other candidates in process or stop engaging new candidates. Always be ready for things to change, because clearly in recruiting that’s what often happens. Positions get put on hold, internal stakeholders have demanding schedules, priorities change. The important thing is to do what you can to keep things moving, and be sure to keep everyone involved in the know.

You’ve seen it

In expansion-stage recruiting is job-hopping simply a side effect of working in the startup space?

I’m torn. On one hand, I get it. You don’t want to take a chance by hiring someone at such a vital time who is going to move on in a year. On the other hand, has the perceived job-hopper had good reasons for moving around, or even a choice?

In startups, change happens. That’s why agility is a characteristic that recruiters and hiring managers so often look for in new hires. Companies transform when they make the transition from the initial seed stage to the expansion stage and beyond. These changes can be anything from management transition, acquisition, IPO, funding, or a change in the long-term (or short-term) vision of the company. Employees are not always decision makers in these strategic changes, so they may have good reason to move on. Usually, candidates are open with recruiters and hiring managers about why they moved on, but it is still important to get references to check.

On the other hand, if you do your research and talk to the candidate about his or her career path up to present day and the reasons are either not clear or seem futile, it’s time to make a decision on whether you should move them forward in the hiring process.

My opinion? Be open-minded about candidates who have jumpiness in their backgrounds. Pick up the phone, ask the questions, and dig in to find out the reason behind each move. Don’t initially rule out a candidate based solely on a jumpy resume.

“Recruiting is part science and part art.”

Let’s break down that statement:

Science: work skills and job experience

Art: motivation, attitude, and behaviors

The best employees need to have a balance of the science and the art, and that balance is dependent on the position and company. We know why the science is vital to be successful, but what about the art? Why do these attributes matter? The simple answer: Company culture.

Company culture is essentially how things are done in a company. It is built on a few components: values, relationships, attitudes, environments, and behaviors. In hiring, it’s important employees’ own art fit in with these intangibles. Employees need to buy-in to the company culture because their behaviors directly affect it.

In today’s competitive marketplace, company culture is a competitive advantage. We hear it from candidates and hiring managers alike: “What’s the culture like?” “We are passing because [insert candidate name] is not a cultural fit.”

As you scale your headcount you need to identify and outline your company culture. When hiring, be clear when describing your company culture and set the correct expectations. Illustrate the overall culture as well as specific team dynamics and management style. Different people excel in different types of cultures — don’t try to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Be sure to do your due diligence when recruiting to ensure candidates have proven success in both the science and the art. The science is straight-forward, the art takes a bit more digging. Attributes can be picked up on simply during the interview process, but that is often not enough. Hiring a candidate is a huge investment for an expansion-stage company, so be sure to do your homework. Ask both direct and behavioral interview questions to get a better understanding of the candidate’s behaviors. Also, don’t forget to use references to your advantage. A former manager and/or colleague can give you a clear picture of a candidate’s behaviors, motivations and attitude, so be sure to focus your reference checking on both the science and the art. 

One of the biggest enticements for taking a job at an expansion-stage company is the opportunity to make an impact. During my recent interviews of entry-to-senior level candidates, one of the top questions asked is what is the career path?  This is a key factor for both recruiting and retaining employees. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Having a career development plan in place demonstrates that you don’t want the employee for solely what they can do for the company NOW, but also potentially what they can offer the company long-term.
2. Talking about the career path and expectations illustrates to candidates that there is potential to move up (or to a different role) within an organization.
3. Candidates and employees know the next step (though it is always subject to change) and therefore expectations are already set.

In expansion stage companies, having solid career development paths in place may be difficult.

No one can predict where the company will be in the future.  If you  don’t necessarily have a career path in place for a position, be very aware of this in the recruiting process.

How to combat it? In your recruiting efforts, focus on what this position/company can offer each candidate.  This can be exposure to new things, developing specific skills- all things that can act as a stepping-stone for the candidate.

No matter the path, to keep employee retention high, you should continue to train and develop employees.  It doesn’t matter what role an employee is in, there is always something new to learn and skills to be improved.

In talent acquisition it is vital to understand the impact your recruiting strategy has on each search.

As we all know, referrals and outreach are the tickets to finding top talent — so what should you do if you are not getting traction on a particular search? Modify your recruiting strategy to get different results. Here’s how:

Revamp the job description

Does the description have enough detail on the Company? Position’s responsibilities? Requirements? Is the description too specific so you are screening candidates out (or too general so unqualified resumes are coming in)?  Rework the job description to address these possible concerns.

Re-post the job spec to particular groups

Recruiting for a software engineer? Sales Rep? Marketing Executive? Do research to find out forums and groups where these individuals hang virtually and post there.

Change your word track

If you’re outbound sourcing and not getting any traction, don’t continue using the same approach.  Change the word track when describing the company/position to further entice candidates.  Remember that your initial email/inmail should be specific to each individual, so be sure to do your research before reaching out.

Open up your outbound search

If you are not having luck using a very targeted search string, try sourcing with more general search.  It helps to network with those in the industry who are connectors – they may not be a fit for the position or interested in hearing about the opportunity for themselves, but may who know someone who would be.

Get a second opinion

Whether it is the hiring manager, team member or someone in a similar role, have another person take a look.  You may find they have a different way of describing the position or insight on where to post the job spec that you haven’t thought of.

Make these simple changes to your recruiting strategy to help to mix up the search and give you different results.

Before you start recruiting make sure you can answer these questions:

1. What is the search?
2. Who are the decision makers?
3. What are the constraints on the search?
4. What are the criteria for the search?
5. What is the recruiting strategy?
6. What is the projected outcome?

Next, create a recruiting plan for the hiring strategy:

In recruiting it’s reaching out to targeted individuals who may be a resource in finding talent for a search. Essentially, networking is finding someone who knows someone who knows someone who may be a fit, though typically a search is exponentially longer and includes many variations.

As a recruiter, networking may be more ingrained in me than your typical professional. Essentially, it’s my job. I network to match top talent with the best opportunities at OpenView’s portfolio companies. As my colleague pointed out in her recent blog post “Recruiting Insight: Where the Best Candidates Come From,” the best avenue to find top talent is 1) Referrals, and 2) LinkedIn. What’s the common factor here? You need to network to get to both.

Kevin Ryan, CEO of Gilt Group, talks about the importance of over investing in recruiting and HR to build your company with the best people. Whether it is finding talent or getting a reference checked, he stresses the importance of networking.

Let me tell you a story about myself and the power of networking that brought me to where I am today.

After college, I reached out to professionals in my field of interest (HR) to see if I could network with them. Now, a BIG POINT here is when networking I wasn’t asking for a job, just an opportunity to gain insight and see who they might know who could be a resource. I met with an awesome HR Director who gave me the scoop. This led to an interview, which turned into a job.

Fast forward a few years and I came across OpenView through a friend simply mentioning the firm. Curious, I checked it out and decided I was interested in learning more. I reached out to someone in my own network who knew someone who knew someone who worked at OpenView. Thus an introduction was made and here I am.

So, how can you improve your networking skills?  Two quick tips:

1. Never Stop: You should be building your network everyday to keep it current.
2. Share: Rather than reaching out solely when you need someone/something, get involved and share when you can. If someone reaches out and you can be a resource or can connect him/her with someone who can – do it. It takes less than 60 seconds to make an introduction and you never know when you’ll need to do the same.

As a recruiter, I have seen and heard a variety of interviews that can be described as bizarre, engaging, erratic, awesome, and even awful. In my opinion, preparation is key. I came across an article on TLNT.com, “Interview Like a Kid, Hire Like a Grown-up” that provides tips on how interviewers should take a step back and simplify the process to get more depth out of a candidate. Changing the perspective, here are some tips — with a few caveats — for the interviewee:

1. Always ask questions – with genuine interest: If you are simply going through the motions, maybe this isn’t the right opportunity for you. A key observation: If you’re not interested in learning more, the person interviewing you is most likely not going to be interested in learning more about you. In addition to specific questions related to the position and company, ask questions that are important to you in your search: What is the management style? Team dynamic?
2. Show and tell: The goal of an interview is to sell yourself while gaining knowledge around the position/company. When the interviewer describes an expectation or requirement, this is your time to shine. Tell him or her what you have done, but be specific; don’t rattle off a resume bullet. The goal is not to simply show that you can talk the talk, but to educate the interviewer on the fact that you can walk-the-walk.
3. Be detailed, but be concise: An Oxymoron? Not quite. In the TLNT.com article, the author writes, “Interviewing is as much about how an interviewee responds as it is about the content of that response.” Pay attention to how you articulate yourself, and be sure not to be long-winded about any particular topic. It is awesome to be passionate about what you do, but keep in mind this is an interview and cut to the chase. One way to solve this common issue is to go over general questions before the interview and determine the baseline of what you want to say.
4. Follow through: I can’t tell you how many candidates, at all levels, don’t ask questions like, “What are the next steps?” or, “When should I expect to hear from you?”  What is the point of putting something out there if you don’t follow through? Ask for next steps, and follow through with sending a thank you email to each person you interview with.

In interviews, you definitely have to juggle selling yourself with gaining more insight about the opportunity. Accomplish both by following the four steps above. If you have interviewed and not been moved forward, ask why. Constructive feedback will help you to improve your interview skills for the next one.

About Me:

I am passionate through and through, and always eager for more – which is what brought me to OpenView. What am I passionate about? I’d say travel, shoes, movies, my Kindle, and, of course, recruiting.

1. What excites you about working at OpenView?

I am so excited to work with OpenView’s innovative portfolio companies at such a vital time – the expansion stage. I am looking forward to digging in and finding the right talent for each individual company.

2. Why recruiting?

Easy: The best companies are built with the best people. I love constantly building on my network and matching top talent to the right opportunities. In recruiting there is nothing better than making a match where you know the recruit will add value by making a long lasting impact.

Another thing I’m crazy about – quotes. I’m known to chime in and tell everyone my new favorites (Cheesy? Usually). Right now, my favorite is from the opening line of The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí, the autobiography of artist Salvador Dalí, and I’d like to think it describes my personality – driven.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily since.” 

Each week, I will write about my interests, industry trends, what I see from “a day in the life” as a recruiter, and insights from OpenView Labs.

Stay tuned…