According to a business survey by the European Commission labour shortages are so serious that they are limiting production more than ever in the eurozone. This market makes it crucial for recruitment departments to get buy-in and optimal collaboration from their hiring managers and departments. Sandhna Chintoe is head of client success manager at Cammio and therefore has a lot of experience in managing change with the various stakeholder in the hiring process. In this interview she shares tips and tricks to get hiring managers on board.
Yes, for sure. So a lot of my clients and then I’m speaking about big corporations but also the smaller agencies who are hired to deliver candidates in a very fast way, of course, towards their clients. And we see that especially in this labor market the time-to-hire needs to be as quick as possible, because otherwise you’re in the risk of losing candidates in the process.
Well, I think and also, I see in my experience that the recruitment process is most successful when you start at the beginning. So really shape the future candidate or the ideal candidate together with your hiring manager. Because when you do this together, you can also really connect and start the collaboration early-on in attracting candidates. Firstly, by sending maybe video messages when you do active sourcing. So, you have the actual manager of the potential candidate send video messages to potential candidates, which is very strong, I feel. Then afterwards, you can also create a video vacancy together with a complete team. So, a potential candidate can really see: ‘Ok, this is the team I will be landing in. This is where I see myself fitting. This looks like a great job and and a great team.” And then further on in the process, when you talk about screening, you can also have hiring managers ask already prerecorded questions, which you can send to candidates. The can also participate in the live interviews. And of course, in the end, in the face-to-face interviews where they make the decision. I see with my clients who have this collaborative process that the quality-of-hire is better, the time-to-hire is quicker, and the relationship between recruitment and hiring manager is so much better. Because when you involve them from the beginning, they also know what they can expect. And when you go in this journey together. Hiring managers can also change their expectations because they know what’s coming.
“I see with my clients who have this collaborative process that the quality-of-hire is better, the time-to-hire is quicker, and the relationship between recruitment and hiring manager is so much better.”
We spoke to our client Marie van der Kerckhoven, Head of Talent Acquisition at Galapagos about how she and her team engage hiring managers to create a truly collaborative process.
Exactly! Because hiring managers are not recruiters. They are just people who want to do their job and have the best team to deliver products or whatever business they’re in. So what they need is a team member. Having recruitment help them with with their hiring needs is something they really need.
Yeah, for sure. When someone leaves, this is of course a shock or the team needs to grow. Hiring is the not a priority but something that needs to be done. So time and priority is, first of all, a big hurdle that hiring managers have, and then also the experience in hiring. Sometimes they maybe have one role per year or two roles per year. So they’re really not used to having to hire people. So if there’s a collaboration between recruitment and the hiring managers this leads to far better results. And also what I said before, it’s the expectation management. So what are the must-haves and what are the nice-to-haves? Because often a hiring manager just tells the recruitment team, I need this, please deliver candidates. And then the recruitment team starts sourcing, delivers candidates. But then in the end, it’s not what the hiring manager expects.I think if you don’t have a good communication, what sometimes happens is that they have bad experience and then they say, well, the recruitment teams are not delivering. So, I rather do it myself or I rewrite the vacancy myself. But since this is not what they do, they really need to involve recruitment. And this is also a big challenge for recruiting to really help hiring managers in their recruitment and act like a coach.
When it comes to creating a collaborative strategy, what I would advise hiring teams is to start small. So think about the hiring managers who you have a great relationship with, where you think they are open to innovation and then create a success story. So you start small. You create a success story. You create internal ambassadors. And then you can build from there. Because with these success stories, you can also pitch it to other, more hesitant hiring managers. And they feel like: ‘Hey, this hiring manager is really benefiting from this new process. This is also something I really want to have.’ And then slowly and surely you’re changing the process and also the mindset in recruitment for a lot of hiring managers.
✓ Start small✓ Create a success story & internal ambassador✓ Build from there!
If you want to have better and more collaboration with your hiring manager, think about the people and the processes where it’s not going great at the moment. Where you feel that the candidates you are delivering are not really what the hiring manager is expecting. And you’re having some trouble with the whole process. Just invite them for a coffee. Just review the whole process and maybe start again. So really think about what are the. Nice-to-haves and what are the must-haves from both sides and really manage their expectations. I really think this is a tip you can start with today and additionally you also have a great relationship and hopefully a nice coffee.
A candidate led market requires a new hiring mindset.
TA vs. Hiring Managers:Time to end the feud!
What superpowers do your hiring managers bring to the table?
