Probably the single most inefficient step in most recruitment processes is when the recruiters submit candidates to hiring managers for consideration.
Does this sound like your organizations process or any you have worked for?
- Requisition gets approved
- Recruiter does intake session with hiring manager to qualify the need
- Position is posted internally/externally
- Recruiter sources candidates if necessary
- Recruiter Pre-screens candidates
- Recruiter send qualified slate of candidates to hiring manager for review
- Hiring manager decides which candidates they want to interview
- Recruiter coordinates interview…
Why do we submit candidates for consideration?? …
Let’s think about this logically:
- If we are the experts in recruiting
- And if we defined the position thoroughly during the intake session
- And if we sourced/pre-screened a candidate we feel are qualified to interview for the position
Then why would we submit the candidate to the hiring manager and ask them what they think?
Shouldn’t we just set up an interview between the candidate and the hiring manager?
Think of all the wasted time associated with this step in the hiring process:
- Waiting for the hiring manager to review candidate(s) credentials.
- Field calls from candidates asking for status.
- Having to source more candidates because the hiring manager nixed good candidates because they didn’t like something on their resume.
If we perform the first three steps in the recruitment process (intake session, sourcing, pre-screen) correctly and if our hiring managers see us as the expert in recruitment, there is no logical reason for hiring managers to review resumes prior to interviewing the candidate.
When a good candidate is identified and pre-screened, you should contact them and say “when are you available to meet ______? Better yet, if they use a calendar tool like Outlook . . . just go ahead and put the interview on their schedule!
End of story.
Now of course there are sometimes exceptions (new recruiter, new position you have never recruited for, new hiring manager). But for most situations, you can completely remove this step in the process!
If this is your current recruitment process, I would change it immediately!
With that said, recognize it might take some managers a little while to buy into the new process. But by educating them about the time they will save (reviewing resumes, coordinating schedules, etc.), you should be able to convert over to the new process relatively easily.
If they strongly resist this change, it is probably because:
- They have had bad experiences in the past with recruiters that didn’t perform the Intake session, sourcing, pre-screen well. They received resumes of unqualified candidates for review.
- And/or they don’t see you as the expert in the recruitment process.
Stop asking “what do you think about this candidate?” rather . . . “when are you available to interview”!