Part of the reason for the arrival of these new roles is due to the rapid evolution of the digital age and the integration of new technologies, but many companies are also becoming more “visionary” with their mission, more ambitious with what they want to achieve and, consequently, more creative with the roles they need in their organization. So these mushrooms are not just job titles.

Evolving companies

Fast-growing companies are necessarily more reckless, fearless and disruptive than ever before. They eat challenging business objectives for breakfast. Companies of this kind need a solid and innovative organizational model with new concepts. They cannot, therefore, replicate what has already been done in the past. Instead, they design new processes and policies tailored to their needs, which are constantly changing as they evolve. And that’s when those mushrooms pop up.

Let’s take a real example: “Chief People Officer (CPO)”. In this case, alongside the role of HR Director, it is likely that the CPO popped up on HR’s org chart because certain companies have realized that their People are fundamental to the success of the company. Hence the need to focus more on their development and retention rather than giving way to a “natural” attrition and then selecting (and training) new people. In this case the mushroom is due to the implementation of a whole new people strategy.

Recruiting the New Mushrooms

@Recruiters: How are you going to find the right candidates for roles that didn’t exist until recently? What will your key search words be? The good news is that the right candidates already exist on the market. They are mushrooms in disguise. Until these new professions become extremely common within organizations, the candidates you are searching for are likely to have more traditional job titles, but you should look for signs of “mushroom potential”. 

Here’s another example: It doesn’t matter what your candidates’ job titles are now for a Chief Internet of Things Officer opportunity. What does matter is that you recognize the signs for your candidates to comfortably become one. The ideal candidate is likely to have led and successfully delivered advanced digital projects, where new technologies and devices play a key role in driving company advancement and sophistication levels.

What an exciting Next Big Challenge (and a great sales pitch recruiters!). If you are having difficulty finding the right candidate, take 3 strategic steps to provide you with some inspiration.

And aside from the recruitability signs, let’s not forget that the most talented candidates are those who (also) have:

• an impressive ability to adapt 
• extraordinary curiosity 
• excellent learning skills

And the wisest companies are hiring more and more based on the above and the candidates’ soft skills, and not purely on the basis of those who tick all the boxes on technical skills.

The post New Professions Popping up like Mushrooms appeared first on The Kando Code.

When the position opened, you had so many ideas where to look, how to network, who to ask, what your strategy was, how to make progress, looking forward to hearing those sweet, final words: “yes this candidate is great, let’s make an offer!”

But after a few weeks or even months of searching, something is not right: sure, you’ve managed to move a good few candidates through the funnel, made some phone screens, carried out some interviews, you may have even reached a “near-offer” phase (they are the worst, don’t you think?). But you haven’t found The Candidate. Your Hiring Manager may have lost faith in you and is considering using alternative options to fill his or her ever-long, open position.

You feel that you’ve failed.

Failure is part of the recruiter’s learning curve and it has to happen in order to improve. Like most things really. This article aims to help you Resilient Recruiters bulldoze your way through that brick wall, when you feel the candidate you are searching for doesn’t actually exist. Before we jump into the plan, take a quick moment to make a mind-switch: move away from the conclusion that the hiring manager’s need is unrealistic and move towards the concept that in these situations, a solution can be found.

Now that you believe “I can do this”, provide yourself with the answers to the below 3 questions: 

1. What have I done so far?

If you are at an end with finding a solution, this part is likely to be nice and rich with information. Tick off all the actions you have already completed. 

Have you:

• Published the job posting on various job boards?
• Explored alternative job boards that may be more effective? 
• Modified the job description to attract more or different candidates?
• Used your own professional network? 
• Used your hiring manager’s network to identify candidates? 
• Dived back into previous search pipelines to recycle candidates? 
• Experimented with fuzzy logic and various groups of key words while searching in your available databases?
• Used your best headhunting techniques? If yes, what were they? (I’d love to hear about these!)
• Given enough feedback to your hiring manager on the challenges you are facing?
• Brainstormed with your hiring manager in the search for a solution?
• Sought alternative target companies to look into?
• Considered searching outside the country?
• Reviewed and changed the job description and experimented to attract a diverse candidate set?
• Encouraged, received and reviewed Employee Referrals?
• Reached out to Subject Matter Experts inside and outside the company, to gather potential candidate names?
• Participated in relevant events?
• Considered boomerang rehires?
• Used social media to drive awareness of the opportunity?
• Asked your Hiring Manager to post the job description on his/her personal LinkedIn page?
• Explored internal solutions to have a current, talented employee take on a new challenge and grow?
• Explored alternative contract types in order to find the right candidate (eg. a freelancer)?

I hope some of the above have already started to spark the start of your new strategic plan to fill your hard-to-find roles, but before you start to cover what you have not covered so far, I suggest you dive deeper into…

2. Why have the above attempts not worked?

Here comes the debrief, or analysis phase. Why have I not been able to close this position? What have been the main blockers? So here are some more questions I would invite you to provide answers to: 

• Is the role unattractive?
• Can I do, write or say anything else to make it more attractive?
• What has been the average number of active applicants (those who apply through job boards) each week?
• What are the reasons for the above number (eg. why so few? why so many? why not good quality?)
• Have the active applicants been relevant / aligned to the role? 
• How many phone screens have you made so far?
• What were their results?
• How many in-house interviews have been done so far?
• What were their results?
• Where have most candidates slipped up? In what phase?
• Has this position been a priority search for you?
• Have you and the hiring manager been effectively communicating?
• How have previous similar searches been solved?
• Is the hiring manager fully engaged in his/her search? 

Concerning this last point on Hiring Manager’s full engagement and focus; if the answer is no, it might help if you share with them these 6 Essentials to Successfully Hiring in your Team.

3. What is my plan?

Based on the above 2 fields, I hope you are feeling energized about what you can do to finally stop that dreaded Time-to-Hire clock ticking. For any of the boxes you have not ticked in question 1 (What have I done so far?), include them as a new action you will take, and once you have completed your analysis (Why have my attempts not worked?) you are likely to come up with further actionable items that will complete your strategic plan. 

One last piece of advice: before you start: share your new plan, as a proposal, with your hiring manager. This will not only demonstrate that you are being clever and mindful about how you are approaching this tough challenge, convincing him/her that you are capable and ready to drive it to success, but (s)he may give you some useful input that will enrich your plan even further.

If you have your own creative ideas or success stories related to this topic I would love to hear about them!

The post Hiring the Impossible made Possible in 3 strategic steps appeared first on The Kando Code.

1. I have an external head-hunter supporting me in my search
2. I have an in-house recruiter (or HR) supporting me in my search
3. I am alone

In all of the above cases, note that You are the Key Player in the game. Not the Recruiter. Sure, the Recruiter is there to source the right candidate for the role, and he or she is probably very skilled at doing so, therefore having recruiter support is extremely valuable. But without the Hiring Manager sitting in the driving seat, leading the orchestra, the recruiter alone is set up to be slow, unsure, misaligned, misinformed, demotivated (after a while), developing the wrong network, or lost… 

So Orchestra Director, we have established you are 100% liable for successfully hiring the right person for your team. To optimize every possibility of hiring success (on time), here are 6 essentials that guarantee speed and uncompromising quality:

1. YOUR OWN MINDSET – Have a Healthy, Responsible Hiring Manager attitude: As said, although you may have a recruiter sourcing for you, do not operate with the conviction that they will be the cause of your hiring success or failure. Also make sure you build into your busy agenda the necessary time it takes to search, interview, debrief etc. (I suggest min. 6 hours per week).
2. YOUR OWN APPROACH – Be Clear and True to yourself (and your recruiter). Know what you are looking for and make sure you are realistic about your need and the seniority that fits the role. Gather your thoughts and jot the answers to the following questions:
   • Do I have a Job Description for the role? If no, where can I find one?
   • What will be their business goals?
   • What are the top 3 hard and soft skills needed for the role (vs the nice-to-haves)?
   • What is the seniority level and who could be my internal benchmark comparison? 
   • How can I help the Recruiter “sell the role” to the candidates. What is great about it?
   • What do my target profiles look like? (companies and types of roles the candidates could be in now).
   • What would make my new hire successful in their job?
3. YOUR RECRUITER INTERACTION – Kick-off and Hit the ground running from Day 1: Once you’ve gathered your thoughts (point 2 above), make sure you share them in a structured way with your recruiter. The Kick-off meeting is essential and without one you risk losing time and/or pointing your recruiter in the wrong direction. Once point 2’s information has been covered, be sure to set your recruiter up for operational success by:
   • Defining an effective sourcing channel strategy (Internal / Active Applicants / Head Hunting / Referrals / MBA / Campus / Events / previous pipelines etc.)
   • Walking through the optimal recruitment process (phone screening and interviewing responsibilities, whether to include a subject matter expert to help you interview the candidates, who else will interview, and so on)
   • Establishing the Questions each interviewer will ask, to guarantee to get the most out of your interview answers, without overlapping and at the same time guaranteeing a great candidate experience
   • Deciding your Recruiter/Hiring-Manager best practice: Time and Day for weekly follow-up meetings, building an evaluation template etc. 
4. YOUR OWN NETWORK – Begin to build your network inside and outside your company to identify viable candidates. Ask others if they know someone -who knows someone- who may be good for the role, or you may already know someone you want to reach out to. You are not required to approach them yourself, if you have a recruiter supporting you, but by providing names you are: 
   • Guiding your recruiter towards who you consider a great candidate,
   • Building great Team Spirit with your recruiter, 
   • Developing a potentially stronger shortlist in less time,
   • Adding a new sourcing channel. 
5. DO NOT SHORTLIST – Do not compare candidates nor settle for the best candidate on a shortlist. You may be lucky in your search and find the right candidate for the role on the first interview. If you do, great! Stop searching and make an offer! If not, however, considering you have done all of the above correctly (including having a very clear idea on the ideal candidate) you do not need to follow hiring traditions by interviewing 2-3 “finalists” and picking from a shortlist. What if the shortlist consists of 3 apples and you are searching for an orange? Would you pick the apple that looks most like an orange? And be aware of your unconscious biases.
6. KEEP THE MOMENTUM – Stay true to the above 5 points and do not lose faith nor energy until you hire your star

Done! Now you are fully aware of what it will take from your side. Also your Recruiter has a clear direction and is perfectly informed on how to help you find the best candidate. Take a quick step back (to Essential #1), to the Best Hiring Manager Mentality you can have: if your recruiter ticks all the boxes on your above tasks, consider this a plus (most recruiters know what they are doing), but make sure you do not lose sight of Your Primary Responsibilities as a Hiring Manager, as it is precisely that, that makes the difference, guaranteeing your present and future success.

The post 6 Essentials to Successfully Hiring in your Team appeared first on The Kando Code.