Creating Harmony with a Variety of Processes

Hiring can be a tricky endeavor, especially when there are multiple hiring managers and committees to deal with. With different expectations, timelines, and candidate pipelines, it can feel like an insurmountable task for HR and TA leaders. But there are ways to bring harmony to the process that will make your job much easier.

In Season 1 of The Speed to Hire Show, we talked with talent acquisition experts about some of the challenges they encounter when bringing different team members or departments together in the hiring process. From global hiring teams to specialized roles and more, we learned there are 3 basic elements every hiring team needs to collaborate and effectively contribute to hiring goals.

Here’s a peek at what the experts recommend to get everyone aligned no matter how complex or diverse your organization’s hiring needs or strategy:

Alignment

The first step is creating alignment. You need to ensure that everyone on the hiring team for a particular role is on the same page before you begin the process. This includes making sure everyone has a shared understanding of what success looks like concerning filling the position.

Quick Tips

1. Define key criteria for evaluating applicants. This will create consistency across the board and enable managers to objectively evaluate each applicant’s skillset and experience against the same criteria.
2. Create a standard process and timeline. Having a defined timeline for recruiting and assessing candidates will help ensure that all applicants receive fair treatment throughout the process, as well as keep everyone on track for achieving goals.
3. Foster communication between hiring managers and recruiters to ensure they are on the same page regarding desired skills, qualifications, and experience.

▶️ Establish internal alignment with your team early

▶️ Where to start to improve the hiring process

Accountability

Once alignment has been established, accountability comes into play. Each person and step of the process should have clearly defined expectations. These expectations should be communicated to everyone involved and tracked so progress can be monitored throughout the process. 

Quick Tips

1. Establish clear goals and expectations for the hiring process from the outset. Define key metrics that will be used to measure success throughout the process and identify areas where additional resources may be required.
2. Engage stakeholders at all levels of the organization in decision-making related to the hiring process by including them in recruiting events or providing regular updates on progress. This helps ensure that everyone is aware of their role and responsibilities.
3. Utilize technology to streamline processes wherever possible to reduce scheduling conflicts, track applicants, and share feedback on interviews.

▶️ How to maintain accountability in your hiring process

▶️ Align expectations to create a fast and accurate hiring process

Autonomy

Finally, autonomy must be granted for the process to run smoothly without constant oversight from HR or TA leaders. Hiring managers should have all of the tools they need at their disposal for them to work independently without needing nudging from above. 

Quick Tips

1. Make sure that hiring managers are properly trained and informed about how to conduct fair and equitable interviews.
2. Develop a structured interview process and regularly review the recruitment process to ensure it is fair and equitable for all candidates to help reduce bias.
3. Allow for flexibility in the interview process to accommodate the needs of potential candidates who are interested in pursuing the position.

▶️ Reduce bias during the hiring process

▶️ 2 tactics to make your hiring process more efficient

Explore the full Season 1 episode to learn ways to structure this seemingly chaotic process and gain valuable insight on how best to achieve alignment, accountability, and autonomy within your organization’s hiring practices.

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Video Transcript

What’s the culprit of the struggles you faced today with hiring? Now many of you would answer with something like I have a lot of jobs. I have a lot of candidates. I have too a few candidates.

I have a lot of hiring managers, and you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. 

But if you take a step back, the big challenge that most HR and Talent Acquisition leaders face is that they’re supporting a variety of hiring processes at any given time. 

So think about it. For every role, you have a different hiring committee, your manager, different levels of expertise on that hiring committee, different expectations for how the process should run, and timelines for when the position needs to be filled, and, of course, different candidate pipelines.

So with these things in mind, there are really three things that you need to bring to the hiring process in order to create harmony. And for simplicity’s sake, they all start with the letter A. 

Alignment
Accountability
Autonomy 

You need to get alignment with everyone involved in the hiring process as early as possible before you even start creating for the role.

You need to create accountability by defining clear expectations for everything that needs to be done, who needs to do it, and when it needs to be done by, and you need to empower hiring managers to work autonomously so you don’t need to nudge them along the journey. 

Now these are the three things that you need to do, but as far as how you go about doing them… I’ve compiled some video clips from some hiring experts who joined Season 1 of The Speed to Hire Show. I will drop the leaks below.

Enjoy

In case you missed it, The Speed to Hire Show Season 1 Episodes

▶️ Streamline Hiring with a Lean Team featuring Jennifer Howell

▶️ Hire for In-Demand Roles with Accuracy and Efficiency featuring Rita Kelly

▶️ Modernizing Hiring Processes in the Public Sector featuring Kristi Wong

▶️ Proactive Hiring Tips to Grow Your Team featuring Janae Daniels

▶️ Lean Into Your Unique Employer Brand for Faster Hiring featuring Eric Conway

▶️ Optimize High-Volume Hiring with a Structured Interview Process featuring Erica Mendelson

▶️ Build Relationships with Candidates for Better Hiring Outcomes featuring Josh Rock

▶️ Empower Everyone in the Process with Playbooks featuring Stephani Studebaker 

▶️ Screen for High-Potential and Transferable Skills to Widen Your Talent Pool featuring Lori DePace

▶️ Grease the Recruiting Machine to Facilitate a Smooth Hiring Process featuring JD Conway

▶️ Create a People-First Hiring Process to Optimize Hiring Outcomes featuring Samanth McCaul

▶️ Dial In a Strategy that Facilitates Clarity and Alignment in the Hiring Process featuring Gina Thompson

▶️ Routinely Evaluate and Streamline Processes to Maintain Manager and Candidate Buy-in featuring Amber Schwartz

▶️ Bring Harmony to a Distributed Talent Acquisition Team featuring Nicole Le Maire

▶️Build a Strong Platform for Internal Alignment to Identify High-Quality Hires featuring Alex Maas