hiring works best when you plan for it.
Most of my recent senior placements have gone to offer stage within 5 weeks. That’s just 5 weeks from me being given the green light, to offering the role to an ideal candidate that fits the brief.
These results aren’t easy to achieve in a tricky market. It helps that I have a strong senior candidate network who trust me, but success is possible because of the planning I put in with my clients and the commitment to that plan.
It’s a bit of a myth that hiring falls apart because there aren’t good people out there. There absolutely are great hires in the market – I speak with them every day. Hiring can fail because the planning and process isn’t there.
I’ve already written about the stages in the hiring process that matter most here but this piece is about the crucial importance of planning, and how the commitment to a timed plan will pay you back in outcomes.
Here’s my advice...
plan to succeed.
Most of the delays in a hiring process can be prevented before the search even begins, by forward planning. It’s surprising how often employers skip the planning stage, but it’s essential for a positive outcome.
Your planning should include:
Giving thought to the scope of the role – and blocking time out for that scoping.
Aligning all stakeholders on outcomes
Setting deadlines for decisions including offer stage.
Clearing time in diaries for shortlisting and interview stages.
Treating your hiring process like a project, with roles and deadlines assigned, means you can avoid the pitfalls that often upend hiring success:
Protracted conversations and confused decision making between stakeholders
Failure to feedback to candidates, giving them a poor impression of your brand
Bumpy sign off processes that haven’t been agreed in advance
Interviews that take weeks to schedule
Long silences that lead to lost candidates
None of these problems are inevitable, and planning helps you avoid them.
creating a smooth process in advance.
The best approach is to block out time for the things that matter:
scoping the role: not just the job description but hiring criteria; what success looks like, and the skills, experience and culture add that the team needs.
planning the campaign: where we’ll source from, what the timeline is and milestones are, who needs to be involved and their roles and responsibilities
shortlisting sessions: with time locked into the diary for those involved, so that momentum isn’t lost
interview blocks: with dates agreed in advance, so candidates aren’t left waiting.
offer dates: based on the commitment that if we follow the plan, an offer can be made within a set timeframe.
When these commitments are made in advance, the whole hiring process moves at a steady, effective pace with no pauses, no crossed wires, and a result that delights everyone.
how planning benefits your business.
it saves money.
Every unfilled role has a cost that the business is acutely aware of. No hospitality business can afford the dips in productivity, team morale and lost revenue that open vacancies bring. A well planned, well executed, compact hiring process makes strong commercial sense.
it strengthens trust.
An efficient hiring process tells your teams you care about the pressure open roles can put on them, and that every employee matters to the business. It speaks of your efficiency, and your commitment to a positive culture. It builds trust that you can get things done.
it boosts your reputation.
Hospitality can be a small world, and applicants will tell others about the experience they have with you. Whether you progress a candidate or not, every interaction reflects your brand. Efficient, respectful, human hiring processes are becoming a rarer thing – but great employers commit to them.
can’t plan? let me help you.
If you’d like to see how a well-planned hiring process would benefit your business, please get in touch.