Build… a strong relationship with your Hiring Manager (part 1)
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Sorry … I know you probably all had already heard about that sentence from A.Lincoln which become more than trendy in the recruiting and especially sourcing world.
But … Means a lot
This week I really want to talk with you about one thing I had to improve myself (that’s why I do this in fact, kind of homework and personal challenge):
Relationship with Hiring Manager and especially: How to realize a hell good job brief/intake meeting! AKA: the most underrated part of our job.
In fact this step is more than important for at least 2 reasons:
The first is regarding to us and I’m gonna quote Tim: “We deserve respect”!
A developer need specifications, a sales data market and leads, us recruiter we need a proper and real job briefing to do our job. If someone send you a job description and tell you “I have an urgent opening…” you have to say NO ! Things doesn’t work like that.
“You get what you tolerate.” We have to set our expectations: a position will not be posted without an intake meeting!
The second is more linked to your relationship with him, to trust and effectiveness in the process.
The fear of making a mistake is very high among hiring managers, especially for their mission-critical hiring. We have to understand this and find ways to collaborate.
A robust intake session engages the hiring manager (I mean, he really feel closer, know you better, understand the difficulty of our job and will be ready to be supportive) and is the first step in driving hiring manager satisfaction. It’s the fundamental! You can’t build anything without.
I think you will find a lot of other good reasons but let’s start: How to realize a great job briefing?
1. Set up a call or even better a meeting to talk about the position!
If the manager decline, you have to find some support internally having your back and making some pressure on him: You need data you need information.
2. Prepare yourself to rock!
You better come to the meeting with:
- Market information to show your interest and support your case: competitors (products and company) / Industry / accurate and current trends / interest for the company/ talent offer vs talent demand …LinkedIn recruiter is great for that. Tools like Wanted Analytics, TalentStream, and others use job postings as a measure can provide a valuable picture of recruiting supply and demand.
- Some sample resumes (around 10 picked from basic searches): Ask what stands out. Find out why the manager likes or does not like the profiles. If the candidates don’t meet the needs ask what is lacking. If the manager likes the candidates then use those as a benchmark. You can also look for basic key-word and some Boolean strings to show.
Another technique gathering by the brilliant social talent blog : Bring your laptop and start the discussion with: What are you looking for?
Listen to the hiring manager and create a LinkedIn Advanced Search regarding his expectations and look at the results with him
If loads of search results pop up : spend time going through the search results with the HM, asking who from this search is suitable, who isn’t and why !
It will allow you to find the NOT in terms of k-words, company, level of seniority, university… Then remove these words from the search and perform new ones
Slowly but surely, you will start to build up a picture of the right candidate.
If no search results appear (or not enough) ask the Hiring Manager which of the requirements he mentioned aren’t as necessary for this candidate to have? Then remove those skills/requirements from your search and perform another. And continue to do so until you see some results popping up.
By showing the HM real examples of real candidates based on their requirements and involving them in a preliminary search, you will be able to gain an understanding of exactly who the Hiring Manager is looking for
3. Ask relevant questions
How, Who, Where, What, Why, When, How much/many?
I will not tell you all the questions you can ask, there is a lot and you probably have your secret weapons… Share please = )
Just as an insight, Glen Cathey (no need to ask if you know him) gave these 3 questions on the sourcecon website as the most important to fully succeed doing your intake meeting:
1. What can you tell me about the specific work this person/these people will be performing and who they would be working with?
What would you be able to tell people when they asked you, “Can you tell me a little bit about what I’d be doing?” You can NOT paraphrased the job description
2. What does the future look like for this role/opportunity?
What’s the typical career path for people in this role? What opportunities are there for advancement for people who perform very well? What does the future of the project/group/department/company look like in the next 1–5 years?
3. Why would someone who’s currently employed and doing a good job at another company consider leaving the comfort of their current employer and position to work for 1) you, 2) this role, and 3) this company?
Why should someone bother to respond to you when they don’t need or want to talk to a sourcer/recruiter? Why should they respond to you vs. all of the other people trying to recruit them?
Here are the 3 first points…But several will be added soon in my second article ( maybe you can guess/advice me)
Stay tuned my friends !
Sources:
https://www.eremedia.com/sourcecon/you-cant-be-an-effective-sourcer-if-you-dont-do-this-first/
http://www.socialtalent.co/blog/how-to-take-an-effective-job-briefing-from-your-hiring-manager
https://www.eremedia.com/sourcecon/mastering-the-intake-meeting-as-a-sourcer/
https://www.eremedia.com/ere/stop-coddling-hiring-managers-collaborate-and-listen/
