Originally published on the TalentWise blog October 6, 2015.
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The Candidate Experience Symposium last week was full of awe-inspiring stories and great conversations. Thursday morning’s group discussion about hiring manager engagement brought together some powerful minds behind winning brands, all of which clinched a CandE award (see the full list of 2015 winners). The consensus throughout was clear: hiring managers need to be more engaged in the hiring process to create a better candidate experience.
Ultimately, no one knows the needs of their team better than a hiring manager, so why not begin building that valuable relationship earlier in the candidate’s journey? Part of the challenge when it comes to hiring managers’ involvement in the recruiting process might be that hiring managers can’t always effectively “sell” the brand, which requires a degree of thinking and behaving like sales or marketing. For recruiters it’s a different story; it’s second nature. Recruiting sells the company’s culture and benefits while sales and marketing sell the company’s product, but the end goal is the same: convert the candidate (or customer) into a believer.
Facilitating a change in your hiring managers from their current as-needed involvement to an engaged, brand-advocating enthusiast has to start with an understanding and accountability for their share in the process. (Shout out to part one—recruiting and hiring managers need to be on the same page with their expectations!) The discussion leaders at the CandEs had some great examples of ways their organizations are engaging their hiring managers in the hiring process, empowering them increased ownership in the candidate experience.
Susan Monaghan, TA Special Programs and Operations at Sonos, demonstrated her organization’s dedication to the candidate experience with several policies in place that help ensure hiring managers are engaged and encouraging an awesome candidate experience:
- Newly-hired managers have 100 days to immerse in the company’s culture before they’re allowed to hire employees.
- Hiring managers cannot hire for more than two positions at the same time, so candidates always receive the attention they deserve.
- A red-yellow-green rating system for hiring managers assesses hiring plans and quality of past hires to determine whether or not they need more training before they continue to hire.
Danelle DiLibero, Director of People Strategy at Risk Management Solutions (RMS), also shared some of the great policies her company has enacted to help hiring managers deepen engagement with their candidates:
- When a candidate accepts an offer, an educational video and checklist is triggered to the hiring manager, so they clearly understand their role and responsibilities.
- HR establishes an up-front SLA with hiring managers, and if turnaround time isn’t met for reviewing resumes, they’ll close the requisition.
With expectations clarified, programs in place for accountability and improvement, and every touch point with a candidate treated as an opportunity to engage and build brand equity, you could be on your way to the CandEs. Stay tuned for more this month on the candidate experience!
Spencer Czapiewski 