Securing Hiring Manager Buy-in: 5 Steps to Successful Recruiting in Today’s Labor Market

Since you’re in the trenches of daily recruiting, you know that we can no longer “post and pray.” With the tight labor market, you’re spending more time sourcing to identify viable passive candidates. Once you find those candidates, you need to move them through the selection process quickly before they are snatched up by competitors. Meanwhile, your hiring managers want to compare several candidates before making a decision. How can you help them understand and react to the reality of today’s labor market? 

How recruiting is like house hunting – a new approach to gaining hiring manager buy-in

Have you ever noticed the similarities between the recruiting process and house hunting? Ask your hiring manager to recall how he/she approached house hunting, which often goes like this:

1. You start with a huge list of “must haves” that you simply cannot live without – just as we do when recruiting for an open position.
2. You see the houses currently available on the market, which may not be nearly as many as you had hoped for, nor do they have all of your desired features. (Where are the granite countertops?!) But you need to find a house, so you forge ahead!
3. You do some soul searching to refine and prioritize your “must haves” list to identify what’s truly most important to you and determine what you’re willing to live without or change/update yourself.
4. Act fast and call in your offer immediately before someone else snatches up your next soon-to-be dream home! (You learned this because it happened with the last two houses you tried to buy, but took too long to decide upon, and you lost them to other buyers.)

Learning from house hunting – five steps to successful recruiting in today’s labor market

Step 1: Be accurate in defining the role you’re looking to fill and the “must haves” versus “nice to haves.” Make sure your job descriptions are up to date too!

Step 2: Assess the current pool of potential candidates and connect with them quickly.

Step 3: Readjust expectations and “must haves” if the labor market doesn’t meet all of your criteria. Determine critical skills needed to start, and what could possibly be trained.

Step 4: Move fast on strong candidates; even if you don’t have several to compare. Don’t let your desire to shop around cause you to lose a fantastic potential employee.

Step 5: Celebrate knowing that you did your homework, understood the market and made a smart, fast new hire!

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