Recruiting do's and don'ts for 2006

By Mary Helen Gillespie, 1/23/2006

Oh, it is soooo much easier to fire than to hire these days.

Truly, the most difficult job of all is finding one for someone else. Recruiters - whether full-time professionals, part-time HR folks or other employees within the organization - have to juggle people, places and things, then ensure the right dynamics bring it all to one big happy ending.

And with the hiring market still holding its own, luckily for all of us there's a lot of interviewing going on right now. But some of the intelligence from the field is pretty darn ugly. In the haste to make that perfect match, the Savvy Manager is hearing and seeing about some rather nasty behavior down in the trenches.

To be blunt, some among us need to clean up our acts. Literally. (More on that later.)

So here are some tips on how to make things work even better - especially ourselves - in the coming year:

• DO ensure that you understand what the position's roles and responsibilities are before discussing the job with a candidate. Even if it requires several conversations with the hiring manager, you cannot begin to solve the puzzle if you don't have all the pieces. Nothing is going to tick off a potential five-star hire more than if he or she has to explain the job to the recruiter. And the client is going to be none too thrilled, either, to learn time and money is being wasted this way. Sometimes, especially with junior staff, the recruiter will shy away from asking for further explanations about a job description for fear of appearing ignorant or incapable in front of the client or hiring manager. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially if the description is poorly worded, or so steeped in organization-friendly language that it reads like the Rosetta Stone to anyone outside that department.
• DO look and act professionally, just as you expect the candidates to. Chipped scarlet nail polish? Stained or dirty ties? A smart-mouth attitude? Need not apply. Telling a post-interview candidate, for example, "Well, you didn't exactly wow him," is not valuable feedback, just a smarmy bit of lip. Talent talks, too, you know. And negative buzz about yourself or your shop hits the streets sooner than you might think.
• DO remember that candidates are human beings. They may not be directly paying you or your firm a huge chunk of change but they are the means to that end. As such, discretion is required as well as respect. Stuff happens. But if the hiring managers have to reschedule an interview or require additional references, understand that this may be inconvenient and at times, impossible for the candidate to accommodate quickly. The out-of-town VP who decides in the morning to re-prioritize his or her day, and re-arranges the interview schedule is a selfish jerk. You still need to apologize to those candidates, and include the words "Please" and "Thank You" at the same time.
• DON'T interview a candidate prior to reading his or her resume. You can try bluffing but the applicant is going to know immediately that it's amateur night at the comedy club as you hem and haw your way through the interview.
• DON'T use applications and other documents that have not been updated since the days when disco was king. Your paper collateral should be just as sharp and snazzy as your website or other branded materials. And take a good look at whether the questions on these applications need freshening up as well. With identity theft and privacy both top of mind for many Americans, asking for an applicant's motor vehicle's make, model and license plate number is a tad over the top during a job interview.
• DON'T bully candidates into telling you the names of other search firms with whom they may be working, or revealing the other positions for which they may be applying. The only exclusivity you should assume would be found stated in the language in the contract with an employer.
• DON'T use code words like "overqualified" to potential candidates who all know this means: 1) Too old; 2) Too expensive; or 3) Too bad (for you because you probably just lost your best candidate when the "O" word popped out of your mouth).

Mary Helen Gillespie is president of Gillespie Interactive, a strategic management consulting firm. E-mail Savvy Manager thoughts at maryhelen@bostonworks.com.