“Getting Back to Basics”

Written by Paula Santonocito in the HRWire publication 4-22-08

Personality assessments. Background checking. Cultural assessments. In the zeal to embrace the latest screening tools and trends, do organizations sometimes overlook the basics when recruiting and hiring?

A Basic Foundation

“There‘s really nothing like basics. We get caught up in the force. But good public relations is what it‘s all about,” says Ray Haley, proprietor of Peak Search Company, a recruitment firm based in Colorado Springs.

You need to treat a candidate like he or she is a valuable asset, he tells HRWire.

Haley says when he began his practice 20 years ago he put two stakes in the ground. The two stakes are actually two questions a recruiter or hiring company should build upon: Am I wowing this candidate and am I confusing this candidate.

Employers often attempt to wow a candidate by selling, and sometimes overselling, their organizations.

According to Haley, wowing is more personal than that.

The Human Element

“There really needs to be an objective of relationship development and trust,” he says.

In order to do this, Haley recommends beginning with the end in mind. At the very least, even if a candidate isn‘t right for the job, a company should make the person feel important.

Yet it doesn‘t usually happen. “People are in way too big a hurry, even recruiters,” Haley says.

Winning a candidate means you‘re being winsome, he says. And it requires relationship building on both sides. “It‘s like dating,” Haley tells HRWire.

What should a hiring organization do?

Show an interest, Haley says. Ask questions. Also, allow for the interview process to include both sides and mutual interest. And mind your manners, he says.

Relationships Take Time

Haley gives an example that illustrates why it‘s important to get to know a candidate. Several years ago he was charged with finding a chief engineer with a highly specific scientific background, as well as top secret government clearance.

He says he was thankful to find such a person, but the candidate was happy in his current environment, and initially relocation didn‘t seem likely. On a scale of one to 10, his level of interest was a one, Haley says.

Where others might have tried to hard sell the job and the hiring organization, Haley recognized it wasn‘t the right approach. “People at that level aren‘t going to be shoved and pushed or coerced,” he says.

Instead, Haley got to know the candidate and discovered one of the reasons he was reluctant to relocate was because he had a son with special needs. Once the candidate‘s personal situation could be discussed and potentially addressed he was more open to the position.

“This business of recruiting is nothing more or less than relationship building,” Haley says.

Where Confusion Comes In

Relationship building involves wowing a candidate by treating the person with respect and consideration. But it also involves not confusing the candidate.

You lose good people if you confuse them, Haley says.

To avoid confusion, companies should do what they say they‘re going to do. This includes following up after an interview.

Haley gives the example of a candidate who interviews by telephone, flies in for a series of face-to-face interviews, thinks he‘s gotten the job, and three months later still hasn‘t heard back from the company.

When you confuse a candidate, you create a public relations problem; you create a bad name for your company, Haley says.

Why Companies Misstep

Components that get in the way of wowing a candidate or lead to confusing a candidate include lack of preparation. “Most companies don‘t have a full-cycle plan that contains an accountability track,” Haley says.

There really needs to be a model, a flow chart, that says here‘s where we start, along with a written requisition with all the components and approvals, he says.

In addition, a detailed job description is a must. Haley says: “If you don‘t know what you‘re looking for, how are you going to find it?”

Without a detailed description, a candidate can‘t be wowed and is likely to be confused. It‘s so important that Haley equates working without an adequate job description to building a 50-story structure from a sketch on a cocktail napkin.

Another issue is that recruiters and hiring managers tend to think of people as products. “People think of candidates as candidates; they don‘t think of them as people. They should ask themselves, ‘would I be going to this company if I was treated like I‘m treating this candidate,‘” Haley says.

At the most basic level, it comes down to being nice, he tells HRWire. “If a candidate is a good candidate, move forward; and if they‘re not, let them know,” he says.

Making a Connection

Employee recruitment involves relationship building at every phase, according to Haley. And it should be a mutually built relationship.

There are many advantages to taking the time to build a relationship with a candidate, and one of them is money.

“When it comes down to money, if the candidate is really happy with the environment they‘re going to be working in, and the company is really happy, money isn‘t going to be that big a deal,” Haley says.

In other words, if the needs have been met in the interview process, money won‘t be the deciding factor.

Another advantage relationship building offers is that it allows for more thorough candidate screening. Recruiters that fail to bring in the family issue set themselves up for problems, Haley points out. For example, if junior is captain of the football team and it‘s his last year in high school the family won‘t be moving.

When Using Tools

Although Haley advocates relationship building above all else, he believes in using other resources. “Don‘t ignore all the great tools we have,” he says. “The tools are great; they‘re presented wrong.”

Once a relationship with a candidate exists it actually becomes easier to use tools like personality assessments, background checking, and cultural assessments, Haley says. There is an opportunity to explain them properly, and it becomes like a friend is asking.

Tools should be presented in the context of team building, fit, and self-discovery, he says.

However, tools should never be a substitute for the basics. “If the process doesn‘t start with the development of a relationship and good public relations, you might as well forget it,” Haley says.

“It‘s about the relationship. If the ‘r‘ word is missing on either side, then it‘s not going to work. Technology and skills don‘t mean a thing without the relationship.”

Contact Ray Haley today to make sure you’re hiring the best engineers for your company.

Click here for more hiring tips from Peak Search Company.