When you become a manager or supervisor for the first time, it’s exciting. It’s a significant milestone in your career. There is a lot to figure out in the first few weeks and months. One of these things is likely to be the recruitment process at your company. Maybe you are now responsible for a team of employees, and you are under pressure to fill critical roles or to grow your team.
Regardless of the job that needs filling, there are a few things that new managers need to understand about their role in hiring.
1. Employee resigns – tell HR
The typical notice period is between two and four weeks. It can approximately four weeks to fill certain roles. If you inform HR about a resignation when it happens, then you’re only reducing the amount of time that the role will be empty. If you only tell HR on the employee’s last day, then you are potentially looking at a gap on your team for four weeks.
2. Update the job description
Take the opportunity to review and update the job description, whatever is written in the job description needs to reflect what the employee will be doing. This is also an excellent opportunity to change the scope of the role, take the time to sit down and review the job description and update it so that it reflects your team’s objectives.
3. Identify your backup plan
Assuming that it’s going to take four weeks to fill a role, if you already know that you can’t operate without someone in that job, then you need a contingency plan. Temporary staff may be available through a recruitment agency or overtime for existing staff might be available.
4. Employee referral program
Is there an employee referral program? The first step in looking for new candidates is to approach your employees, ask them to refer friends or family members for the role. The chances are that someone on your team will know someone who is an excellent fit for the job. Share all the information about the role and encourage them to post the position on social media.
5. Look at your existing talent pool.
If you have an employee referral program, look through the CVs and see who might be a good fit. You always want to be filling that pool with quality potential candidates, even if you don’t have a job opening. Use your employee referral program to build up a pool of potential candidates so that when an opportunity does come up, you can hit the ground running.
6. Develop your interview skills.
You might have been successful at securing a job through an interview, that doesn’t mean you know HOW to interview someone else. Running an interview is not as easy as you would think. Find out what questions are illegal to ask for example age or religious beliefs. Find someone in your organisation that can guide you on how to interview, what you should ask and what are the questions that you should avoid.
7. Take lots of notes
During the interview stage, you could be meeting with 4+ candidates. Distinguishing between them will be difficult. Take extensive interview notes, check with your HR team to see if they have a preferred template or if there are any notes that they would advise you don’t take. Let your candidates know that you will be taking notes.
8. Communicate
Let the candidate know how your recruitment process works, what timeline you are working to and when you will be contacting them. Don’t let them walk out the door guessing when they will hear from you. Be clear with them.
9. The tough conversation
You have your shortlist that you want to continue with, now you need to let the unsuccessful candidates know. There are two ways of letting them know; pick up the phone or send them an email. If you are going to send an email, make sure you personalise it especially if the candidate has been in for more than one interview.
As a manager, you will ultimately work with the employee, so your involvement is crucial. When it comes to filling roles, everyone involved has the same objective – source the best available talent as quickly as possible in the most cost-effective way.
