Knowledge Article

Ideal Prerequisites for Smooth Hiring

Introduction:

In today's business world, hiring the right talent is crucial for the success of any organization. Several times we come across a situation when searching/sourcing efforts and recruiting processes to identify a suitable candidate can be drawn over a period of several months or even a year, resulting into a lot of turnaround time, fatigue, effort loss, time loss, and sometimes, even business loss - directly or indirectly. By “indirect” loss, we basically mean, opportunity loss of someone due to not being available in the business at the right time.

Now, when we look at the problem, many a time, HR leaders, hiring managers, or Talent Acquisition professionals try to tackle this issue through more supply – which may be continual, but not continuous. However, continuously pumping out more CVs is not always the right solution. Hence, it becomes essential to understand the prevalent gaps, to ensure smooth hiring with minimum efforts, and maximum output in the shortest possible time.

In this article, we will discuss the prerequisites for a smooth hiring, which can minimize the turnaround time and maximize the output.

Hiring Manager's Expectations: The first and foremost factor that affects the hiring process is the expectation of the hiring manager. If they have inflated expectation or looking for a heavily customized resource, which is not in sync with the industry or talent ecosystem, it can create obstacles in the hiring process. It is imperative that the hiring expectations are set according to the talent availability, not based on desirability. Additionally, hiring managers may have some cognitive biases as well, due to a lack of awareness about the talent ecosystem. This is called having an inward approach, rather than a holistic approach which also takes outside factors into consideration. Therefore, it requires continuously advising and influencing the hiring manager, and negotiations based on the market intelligence to effectively manage hiring expectations.

Talent Attraction Power: The way countries have Gross National Power to attract certain kind of migrants and immigrants from different countries. For example, US has a good gross national power, due to which, it is able to attract some of the brightest and most innovative talent from across the globe. Similarly, organizations have Gross Talent Attraction Power (GTAP), which refers to an organization's ability to attract and retain the right set of talents. It depends on several factors such as the employer brand equity, quality of work, challenges, learning opportunities, people, culture, and environment. If any of these factors are disbalanced or not in equilibrium, no matter how high the compensation being offered is, it would still lead to long drawn-out search efforts with a lot of fatigue. And as we know, when even after putting a lot of efforts we don't get the desired results, it eventually leads to decision-fatigue and the recruiters end up making sub-optimal choices. Or, when the choices become very limited over a period, then also we end up making decisions based on the choices or choice architecture available to us. Therefore, it is essential to have a well-established employer brand equity, offer high-quality work with learning opportunities, and provide a good work culture and environment to attract the right set of talent.

Total Reward System: The total reward system does not refer to just the monetary compensation, but also the non-monetary factors including culture, environment, perks and other long-term benefits. If a company’s total reward system does not support the hiring manager's expectations, it could be an obstacle in attracting the right set of talent.

Talent Ecosystem: The talent ecosystem refers to the talent pool, its quality and availability in a particular geography or segment, supply expectations, culture, behavior, nature of work, and stability, etc. Without a clear understanding of the talent ecosystem, no company or hiring manager can successfully hire. For example, if an organization is looking for a specific talent, but if that talent is not available in that particular geography, segment or country, then even the search efforts carried out over months won’t yield any results and go in vain. Hence, it is important to have situational awareness and talent ecosystem knowledge to take the right approach towards hiring.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, successful hiring requires a holistic approach that takes into account the expectations of the hiring manager, the talent ecosystem, the organization's talent attraction power, and the total reward system. A clear understanding of these factors can minimize the turnaround time and maximize the output. Companies need to have market intelligence, situational awareness, and a well-established employer brand to attract and retain the right set of talents. By focusing on these requisites, companies can streamline their hiring process and gain a competitive edge in the business world.