By Melissa Hamilton-Reddy
There is more that goes into recruitment than just finding a person to fill a role. It’s about understanding the company, the position, and the “behind-the-scenes magic” of what makes them tick. It’s a matchmaking process, and anyone in recruitment will tell you they have their favorite clients to recruit for… and their not-so-favorite ones.
The reasoning behind this favoritism isn’t about the seniority of the positions or the dollar signs you stand to make from a placement. Rather, it’s about the recruitment process itself: predictability, simplicity, turnaround time, feedback, and the candidate experience. All the ingredients that make for a delicious recruitment experience.
I have a client I regularly recruit for; while they may be one of my most challenging clients in terms of requirements, they are actually one of my favourite clients to recruit for because they are honestly winning the game in good recruitment through simplicity and predictability.
Here is my view on why they are doing recruitment the right way:
General Background of the Client
Without breaking confidentiality, certain elements set this particular client apart. They are a US-based and founded company with a legal entity in South Africa, allowing them to employ South Africans on a legal and permanent basis. This already distinguishes them from many US companies currently recruiting South African talent. They are also a leader in the market research sector with niche services requiring unique skills. This talent pool is small in South Africa, which makes finding candidates challenging. However, based on feedback from candidates we’ve placed in the company – and even those who didn’t make it to the offer stage – they are winning at the recruitment game. At least, from our point of view!
Interview Methods
This client has a clear and uncomplicated recruitment structure implemented across all candidates applying for the role. While each role is unique and some have more technical requirements than others, the same outlook is applied to all: simple, fair and quick turnaround time.
The number of interviews are not excessive, and each one has a purpose:
Culture Interview: This is one of the most important factors. You can teach skill, but you can’t teach personality. If you want a good flow within your team, this is the time to assess congruency between the candidate and the culture you are trying to maintain and promote within the company.
Technical Interview: Does the candidate have the skills and experience to perform the job to the required standard? Where are they excelling? Where are their limitations, and is this detrimental to the hire, or can they be upskilled to overcome this?
Team Interview: Our client includes current team members in the process. While this has pros and cons, in this case, it’s a wonderful idea because it allows the candidate and team to assess compatibility. Since the team is “on the ground” doing the work, they have a better understanding of whether a candidate will succeed. It also gives employees input into the hiring process, which does wonders for motivation and longevity.
The process is not long or drawn out, and there are no surprise interviews. Simplicity is key.
Conscious Hiring
Another thing this client gets right is their approach to conscious hiring. While they may not be doing this “consciously” or actively, several markers showcase this approach. Let me start by explaining conscious hiring and the resulting benefits.
Put simply, conscious hiring is a practice where a company recruits the right candidate for the role regardless of gender, race, age, sexuality, ethnicity, or physical ability. This proactive decision allows a company to build a diverse, strong team that automatically leads to longevity and growth. This approach to hiring has been studied extensively in peer reviewed and published articles, and has been around for decades.
When recruiting for this client, there is only one personal characteristic they request: wonderful communication skills! This criteria is due to the role’s heavy client-facing and client-management focus. Beyond this, they have no preference for age, gender, race, or religion; even an accent isn’t a deterrent! For example, when hiring for multiple individuals in the same role, they hired one candidate in their 30s and another in their 50s, of different races and genders. Both candidates brought something new to the team through their varied experiences.
Onboarding
Some people think the recruitment process ends once an offer is accepted, but that isn’t the case at all. The onboarding process is crucial to a candidate’s success, and this client is absolutely winning in this regard.
Their onboarding begins before the candidate’s first day and includes consistent communication and check-ins. This highlights that the employer is organized and efficient, which inspires confidence.
Once the first day has come and gone, it is imperative that the new employee receives support through a streamlined but in-depth approach. Very rarely is too much information during onboarding a bad thing, but if there is too little information and support, this would be detrimental to the success of the role. It may require more time and hands-on training from the employer in the short-term, but in the long run this will be well worth the extra hours and effort, especially when it comes to retention and longevity.
This client has the best onboarding approach, and that’s not coming from me, I promise! One candidate with over a decade of experience called it the “best onboarding experience I’ve had to date”; a sentiment that has been echoed across almost every candidate that I’ve placed there over the last three years. From welcome emails, technical equipment set up assistance, and detailed first day programmes, to hands on training and upskilling, this client has it covered and these new employees are set up for success and set up to succeed. They’ve got the memo that if an employee is succeeding, then the team and company are succeeding. And since they are consistently hiring for new roles due to growth (not replacements!), they’re clearly doing something right!
Candidate Retention
Out of the 16+ candidates we have placed there over the last ±3 years, only two are no longer with the company. That is an 88% long-term success rate. One can contribute this, in part, to the success of their recruitment and onboarding process. But it’s also just because they’re an awesome client to work for. Again not my own words, but the sentiments of the candidates that I’ve placed there.
They care about the people they hire as humans, not just “cogs in the machine”. If they see someone is struggling, they step in to provide support, even from a mental health perspective. They allow employees time to heal and then structure workloads in a manageable and sustainable way. This level of care is rare, and it directly contributes to their high retention rates.
In conclusion, at the end of the day though, we’re trying to answer one small question that has a fairly large impact; Why is a successful recruitment process so valuable? The hiring process is the first interaction a candidate has with you; it forms their first impression of your company. Ensuring this experience is in tip-top shape does wonders for initial buy-in and brand reputation, and could also influence whether they recommend the company to their peers or contacts, regardless of whether the candidate gets the role. With a good recruitment process in place, you’d be surprised at how many candidates express their gratitude and respect for the client even when they don’t proceed to the offer stage with them.
After ±3 years and more than 18 successful hires, a deep partnership of trust has been established between this client and me. This success is a direct result of the intentionality beyond their recruitment process and feedback methods.
So in short, how do you dominate the hiring game? By choosing intentionality over urgency, conscious hiring over unilateral recruitment, and long-term vision over short-term inconvenience.
