iCIMS Hire Expectations™

About five years back, an old boss of mine accepted a new job opportunity and as a parting gift, presented my co-worker and I with books. So, what did we get? I was presented with The Big Sister’s Guide to the World of Work, by Marcelle DiFalco and Jocelyn Greenky Herz; my co-worker was given Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson.

So, over the summer of 2006 this was my beach reading. The cover looks like something that belongs in the young adult section in Barnes and Noble, but it’s what’s inside that counts. This tell-it-like-it-is book had some great advice for those trying to make their way in the corporate world. Based on the authors’ experience they dish tips on everything from interviewing to avoiding entanglement in office politics.

With one specific chapter focusing on interviewing tips – readers learn what to do and what not to do. Eat before an interview; you never know how long it might last. No sexy clothes. Study company culture. Don’t cross your arms in front of you or describe your ailments. When your interviewer caps her pen, time to stop. When he drums his fingers -- you're definitely talking too much. And assume the interviewer will be unprepared, so bring extra copies of your resume. While all of these pieces seem to be no-brainers, I’m a firm believer that these are the little things that can make a big difference in how you’re perceived in an interview. 


With all the focus on those being interviewed, Hiring Managers also deserve some attention. Back in 2005 ERE published tips for Hiring Managers about how to work with recruiters to find great candidates, with less effort, and less cost. While this goes back in date, the tips are still relevant today and correlate directly with important stats like Time-to-Fill and Cost-per-Hire. Of the five tips, it was 2, 4, and 5 that popped out for me:

• Get to know your recruiter. If your recruiter is new or has not worked with you before, it will be impossible for her to know what you are really looking for. Even an experienced recruiter who knows your specialty thoroughly will have to get to understand those subtle traits that you find compelling. Let the recruiter spend a day shadowing you, and discuss with them how you manage. Let them attend a staff meeting or a briefing. The better the recruiter and you know each other, the more likely you are to see great candidates.
• Working with your recruiters, develop an assessment process. One of the best ways to make sure that you and your recruiters are in sync on what kinds of people to look for is to put together a process for assessing candidates. You can work together with the recruiter to develop a series of questions or other assessment processes that will help you both decide on the traits, skills, and qualities you need. These can become interview questions and can also be used to measure how well the recruiting process is working.
• Work with your recruiter to develop some metrics that will show how well you both are doing in getting good people. There are many possible metrics, but the ones that are the most important are those that relate to the quality of the candidates you see and ultimately hire, and the speed in which you got to see them. Establish some measures with your recruiter around quality — maybe measuring how quickly a new employee hit the productivity level you want, or how well they became a part of your team. By doing this you prove to yourself that you are getting the best people and you help guide your recruiter to those people. By taking just a few minutes from your busy day, and by working with your recruiter as a partner, you can improve the quality of candidates and the speed you fill your open positions.

Takeaway? Hiring Managers must establish and develop a relationship with HR and develop processes for measuring success rates. Leverage technology options that will streamline your processes, help establish benchmarks, and track your success with robust reporting tools. While the spotlight will remain on tactics for candidates to improve interview skills, there’s always room on the flip side to establish best practices for Hiring Managers.