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The Hunt Recruitment Handbook, by Andrew Crommelin1. Background & author's introductionI first started thinking seriously about the impact for a business of whether recruitment was handled well or poorly in my student days when I was working part-time in a suburban restaurant as a waiter. I can clearly remember how angry I felt when an applicant had come in for a job and the Manager, David, left them waiting for almost an hour before gracing the candidate with a ten minute interview. It wasn’t as though David was all that busy – he had been enjoying a leisurely lunch. He was quite surprised when I had a crack at him saying “what do you think that person will say about this place when they get asked how their interview went?” It seemed funny to me that we spent all our time at work focussing on outstanding table service so people would go away singing the praises of our restaurant, but that we could have so little respect for someone for whom this interview was probably the most important thing they were doing that week. David didn’t really get it, but then people skills weren’t really his thing anyway. I vowed that if I was ever in charge of hiring, I would make sure that the process was done better than this.
As it turned out, my work history has involved a pretty heavy recruitment component over the years. I ended up running a different franchise in the same restaurant chain for a couple of years and managed all hiring before moving into a Human Resources role with a Telecommunications company. In this job I oversaw recruitment and also undertook inductions and company training for new starters. After this I spent the next six years of my career working with a global Recruitment and Human Resources consulting firm recruiting executive staff across Sales, Marketing and Communication, Human Resources, Legal, Supply Chain, Property and Engineering and for General Management and CEO appointments. I ultimately managed large teams of executive recruiters for this group and more recently have established my own boutique recruitment and consulting firm.
Spending a lot of time out in the market talking to numerous companies and potential clients, I have noticed a quite dramatic shift in behaviours in recent times. It’s understandable. During 2008 and early 2009 we have seen the sharpest slide in the global economy since The Great Depression. Stocks have taken a beating and corporations are enduring extremely difficult economic headwinds. From a recruitment perspective this hasn’t halted all hiring, but there is a shift towards large numbers of companies handling hiring themselves where this previously would have been outsourced. This is a smart move. Recruiters like me have done well over the years out of what are widely regarded as quite exorbitant fees. But as is the often the case when we find a way to save ourselves large amounts of money, there can sometimes be a catch. Whilst I usually begrudge the hundreds of dollars I pay my mechanic to fix my car, there is some solace in knowing that there are likely to be fewer major problems and my car has been tuned properly. I know it seems like a stretch, but the automotive repairs industry does have a lot of the hallmarks of the recruitment game. In both cases, a thorough process, attention to detail and people who know what they are doing all bring higher chances of a positive outcome, and prevent greater problems and cost down the track. The beauty of recruitment is that it is significantly easier to learn how to do it well than servicing your own car (in my view anyway).
This book is designed to give you a simple and effective framework to manage end to end recruitment processes for your business. The book has been written for anyone who might manage a recruitment process on behalf of the company they work for. It could be utilised by internal recruiters or business unit managers, right up to General Managers, CEOs and MDs. Quite often when you are running an internal recruitment process you will be doing so on behalf of someone else who will make the ultimate hiring decision. With this in mind I have made references to hiring managers, line managers and key stakeholders to whom you may be presenting shortlists of candidates. If you are the ultimate decision maker, the key processes remain the same other than the requirement to present your shortlist of applicants to the hiring manager.
By carefully following this process and the steps laid out you will not only attract and retain the best candidates in the market who are the closest fit for your company but more so they will be delighted to be coming on board. The unsuccessful applicants who aren’t so lucky will walk away speaking highly of your organisation and with the feeling that they have been dealing with a professional outfit. There will be no situations like the one that happened back at my restaurant job and consequently ‘going to market’ will be a positive exercise that strengthens your company brand and image. I hope you enjoy and get plenty of use and cost benefits out of The Recruitment Handbook.
Published courtesy of The Hunt Recruitment, the sales recruitment specialists in Melbourne, Australia. |
