Working with a recruiting firm is a great way to improve your candidate pool and make your hiring process more efficient. Add an extra boost of effectiveness to your staffing partnership by setting and holding yourself to key deadlines in the hiring process.
Here are five deadlines to prioritize in your hiring calendar:
Define Your True Hiring Need
Who do you need to fill a particular position? Which skills and experience are essential for success, which are ideal, but not essential, and which can be learned on the job?
Set a deadline for defining your hiring needs for each position. Then, talk to supervisors and staff who have held that position to learn what its actual day-to-day demands are. On or before your deadline, send this information to your recruiter, who can help you craft a job posting that attracts exactly the type of professional you need.
Provide Feedback to Your Recruiter
Once your recruiter knows who you need on the job, they will likely recommend several potential candidates. Schedule time to review these candidates’ profiles when you receive them and set a deadline to let your recruiter know which ones you want to learn more about. Make this deadline short: Staffing firms often work with outstanding candidates who find themselves in demand from several competing employers.
Interview Week
Set aside a week during which you plan to interview top candidates. Communicate the dates for interviews to your recruiter as soon as possible.
If you plan to hold more than one interview round, set the dates for both rounds of interviews in advance. This way, you’ll be able to tell candidates what to expect before they leave the first interview. Doing so helps hold their attention, making it less likely they’ll drop out or accept another job offer before finishing the interview round.
Make a Hiring Decision
Once you’ve scheduled all the interviews, set a deadline for making a hiring decision. Consider the need to coordinate schedules; particularly if you’ve held panel interviews, you may need several people in the room to talk about and make the decision. The sooner you set this date, however, the easier it is to organize the rest of the hiring process and the more likely it is every decision maker will be present.
Provide Feedback to Your Recruiter (Again)
Congratulations, you’ve hired a new employee! Whether you found your new staff member through your recruiter or via another source, contact your recruiter promptly to let them know about the decision. Your recruiter can help you craft an offer letter or gather information about the new hire, helping ensure they recommend candidates that offer a closer fit to your needs in the future.
At THE RIGHT STAFF, LLC, our experienced Twin Cities recruiters can help you find the talent you need when you need it – especially when we know what your deadlines are. Contact us today to learn more.