3 Changes to Make Now to Rev up your hiring 

Recently, I heard the CEO of blazing-hot start-up Upwork say “the employment path is broken”. Her company provides a portal to the “independent economy”. Have you taken the impact of this narrative into consideration regarding your recruiting process?

If your well-established hiring and on-boarding model is leaving you swirling without direction, read on. 

In my last message I stated this time is different.

COVID has accelerated changes affecting the mindset and plight of the global workforce on a fundamental level. Demand for skilled software engineers and SaaS sales professionals is unprecedented ( using the term we're all nauseated by now ).

The bottom line is if you and your employer do not adapt, you'll be left without sufficient talent to compete.

Some companies are embracing meaningful change but I'm not sure it's enough.

For example, I received a call from the VP HR of an innovative client on Friday letting me know her company had changed their in-office requirement for Sales hires. They're now, for the 1st time, open to the right resumes of candidates that choose to be 100% remote.

We will expand our search parameters for them at pinnaclesource.com and embrace their bold move. This client is leading edge and yet I doubt they will receive enough “qualified” candidates to hit their hiring goal this quarter. Why? Because the key words are qualified and the right resumes. 

LET YOUR GUT BE YOUR GUIDE

Are you willing to give up control of your outdated, outmoded hiring standards? Are you willing to relax into the new marketplace realities?  I feel that it's time to allow and trust a new way of looking for and at personnel requirements? 

So  here are the 3 things to consider right now to improve your chances of hiring a great employee ASAP.

1. Lose your job description.‍

2. Change your interviewing process.

3. Embrace the new numbers game 

Personal Footnote… It's very trendy to talk about letting go and trusting life. Personally, I'm struggling with turning these enlightened themes into practice. When it comes to caring for my 97 year old Mom it's one thing to say she's in God's hands. it's another to let go of the variables controlling her day to day predicament. 

No one promised this journey would be easy, or graceful. 

In my life, the lie I've been living is to believe I can control outcomes. That everything's going to go my way because I'll work so hard at analyzing the problem I'll figure it all out. I've exhausted myself trying to fix everything and everyone – mostly my loved ones- by convincing myself I'm in control.  

That's the opposite of trusting life. 

I see this same pattern playing itself out in the workplace. We all know deep down that best hiring practices are based upon human connections not credentials. Yet we're relying on the same old, tired playbook over and over. 

I believe we've gotten so engrained in a pre-ordained system of how to hire that we've lost sight of our goal; ie identifying desirable and eligible talent. My clients were trained by their bosses to assess resumes and interviews via methods that no longer apply to the volume and pace of hiring decisions fast -growth tech/SaaS companies are faced with. Unless we unlearn and eschew these limitations, we'll be held back, stuck in neutral at best.

It's time to wake up and see the world through a different lens. And as simple as this concept may be to grasp, it's not easy to implement. So as I am consciously practicing giving up control in my personal life, you may wish to consider changing your recruiting habits to effect change.

New Hiring Habits To Effect Change 

1. Lose your job description!

It's not the vital responsibilities that need to be assigned and executed that you may need to change. It's your perspective regarding whom can accomplish these tasks. If you are fixated on credentials this market will beat you to the punch time after time. Too many employers are focused on the same set of homogeneous looking resumes. Take it from me, companies you've never heard of that have as much passion for their apps are seeking the same profile you are!

Instead of trying to out-hustle them, choose a creative path. Start by considering candidates with similar interests or academic backgrounds or upbringings as you or your customers. Don't lock yourself into overrated numbers like years of experience. 

Focus on intangible traits, presence and current life circumstances. How engaged and dynamic is your applicant? Why are they interested? What's underlying their motivation to meet with you? 

How does this person make you feel?

Weigh your interpersonal connection not just their credentials! 

2. Change your interviewing process.

Last month I placed a Director of Channels Sales despite her unwillingness to go through with my clients' traditional final interview step. She was confident she'd proven herself, had 2 other competitive offers, and was willing to walk away. Instead of starting the search over, my brilliant client listened to her carefully, got beyond their fixation and hired her. Both parties are thrilled with one another presently. 

We need more of this creative thinking and acting in today's candidate-driven environment. Be flexible and expeditious without sacrificing thoroughness. Be willing to trust your interactions, not your old model.

3. “The most important part of winning is to be ok with losing” ( attributed to Jack Nicklaus ).

In other words, give up on the idea of hiring a perfect human being who will lead your company to prominence and stay with you for the next 5 to 10 years. The business world we both work in is moving too fast to entertain long-term outcomes. 

Jobseekers signaled these changes 5 plus years ago. All my clients started complaining about the lack of employment stability showing up on resumes. That trend continues to gain momentum and speed despite employers' opposition. Top earners and others doing quite well don't care what we think about their job-hopping.

Be willing to experiment or be very patient. A frustrated client said to me yesterday that they're not desperate and are willing to wait for Mrs. Right to walk through the door. That's an acceptable approach for them. 

The other alternative is be open to interviewing hard-working, well-motivated and talented professionals that can do your job, want your job and are available. They just don’t “look’ like the future employee you've been programmed and trained you to be looking for.

After spending most of 2021 seeking ideally credentialed Sales/Sales Management candidates for SaaS companies in Colorado my team is here to tell you how hard it is to engage with those you all want to screen. They are receiving too many offers and are mostly content with currently employed.

Today's recruitment process is more of a 2-way street then in all my 40 years of experience.

This road is bumpier and moving like an autobahn. 

The job market has changed forever. Candidates are in control. You can fight it. You can try to force or imagine resumes into being. Or you can accept the variables we're faced with and embrace wonderfully gifted people we and other search partners can introduce you to. 

Like my personal life, your hiring process may not be consistently comfortable. And it is time for both to evolve!

If you'd would like to discuss how pinnaclesource.com helps you adapt to the rapidly moving stream of events shaping our hiring landscape email me today at jordan@pinnso.com for a free organizational consult.