Top people are scarce - just ask any organization how tough
it is to attract the best, let alone select the best. At
the same time, I'm willing to bet that more top people -
the right people for the right jobs - slip through the
cracks in the selection process than anyone could imagine
or admit. After thousands of dollars in recruiting,
interviewing, travel and all the other assorted expenses in
time, effort and money associated with attracting top
candidates, organization after organization drops the ball
on top candidates. And they don't even know it!
Here are ten of the top, invisible ways those cracks occur:
Failure to understand that recruiting is as much a selling
process as it is an evaluating process. To get top people
requires as much selling as it does evaluating. And top
people are doing just as much evaluating as they do
selling. It's a two way street - but it's amazing how many
people don't realize that, and take a "I've got something
you want" approach. Top people slip right through the
cracks when they see that behavior.
Organization's don't know a top candidate when they see
one. That sounds funny, but it's not. It means time hasn't
been taken at the front end of the process to identify and
define what a top candidate will look like in terms of the
really important things.
Superficial knockout factors: A manager I know will not
hire a person who smokes cigars - period. I don't mean
someone who insists on smoking cigars at work. I mean
recreational cigar smoking - away from work. Apparently
this manager had a bad thing happen with a cigar smoker
early in his career. Everyone of us has biases about the
strangest things - they can and do get in the way of hiring
top people. The beard, the frayed collar, the wrong
college, speech patterns - you name it - they are knockout
factors in many organizations.
Poorly kept restrooms and break rooms and lunch/dining
/meeting rooms. Nothing says a poor environment like a
badly served public use area. Nothing can chase top people
away more than the appearance of a poorly kept facility.
Lack of preparation. Nothing speaks to this more than
unprepared interviewers, repetitive use of the same
questions/scenarios from multiple interviewers - the "tell
me about yourself" question. Holes in the interview
schedule. Lack of interviewing skills and preparation. Bad
choices of interviewers.
Secrecy. The " don't tell them anything that may tip them
off to what we are looking for." If you treat a candidate
as a mushroom, it speaks to how they will be treated as
employees.
Poor follow up and lack of feedback. "What you do shouts so
loudly I can't hear what you're saying." When that top
candidate leaves the facility, how long before contact is
made? It's amazing how often weeks can go by before a
follow up call is made to the candidate. The excuse is
often that the candidate - if truly interested - should get
back to the organization. True - but failure to keep that
communication door open on the part of the company lets top
people fall through the cracks - without a sound.
Relying on staff people to maintain contact. If you're a
candidate for a HR job, then a HR hiring manager should be
the key communication link. But HR people should not be the
key communication link for other functional areas. They can
coordinate and pester and cajole hiring managers, but the
Hiring Manager has to be the link.
Lack of respect for the candidate's time. I had the
misfortune to work with a manager who, as a matter of
practice, kept candidates waiting for hours beyond the time
set up for an interview. The worst case was a General
Manager candidate who waited four hours before finally
bowing out. We never saw him again - even though we tried
to reschedule him. What a waste - of everything.
Overly long process. There are so many pressing, proximate
things that can keep pushing selection to the back of the
line. Before anyone realizes it, months have gone by and no
decision has been made. I suspect in many cases a fear of
making a mistake in selection has a hand in this. In any
case, top people don't have to wait around. They slip
through the cracks - and then show up working for a
competitor.
Take the time to audit your own process. If you see any of
these ten invisible ways, take action to correct them. Top
people are tough enough to get in the first place, without
adding self inflicted conditions as a barrier.
----------------------------------------------------
Andy Cox is President of Cox Consulting Group LLC. He
founded his firm in 1995 after extensive experience in
leadership positions in Fortune 500 corporations. His focus
is on helping clients select, develop, retain and enhance
the performance of leaders and emerging leaders. He can be
reached at http://www.coxconsultgroup.com or contact him at
acox@coxconsultgroup.com
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