Are you a company looking to recruit for one or more senior positions this year?
If ‘yes’, then first things first: well done! Despite the challenging economic conditions countless businesses face, many are bucking the trend and achieving growth – and it sounds like you’re among them! And guess what? You can only expect to continue doing so with great people in the right roles from bottom to top.
If you’ve ever recruited for senior positions in the past, you’ll be aware it’s no walk in the park. Whether you’re a company owner, HR professional or recruiter, you’ve likely found placing senior hires a somewhat tricky task. Even as experienced recruiters, believe us, we understand your pain!
Yet the business plan doesn’t lie, and you know it’s somebody senior you need in the company to keep smashing those sales targets. What do you do?
You start with the basics.
First stop: Planning
What do you need most in a new senior recruit? You might be looking for the following:
Someone who has a background in that type of role. Someone with experience scaling a company quickly. Someone with leadership skills – disruptive or conformist.
In an ideal world, you’d probably like someone with all these attributes and perhaps a few more too! Yet we’re currently operating in particularly tough times a million light years from what we might call ‘ideal’ - and if that role needs a fillin’, you’ll need to get your creative on!
Start by mapping out the ideal persona to suit the need. First, what is your absolute must-have in your new senior hire to enable their (and your) success? Note it down, and work backwards from there. Before you know it, you’ll have your list of needs and nice-to-haves ready to help you get started.
And prepare for flexibility! Like with any placement, it’s unlikely you’ll tick all the boxes, and it’s best to keep your options open during the planning stage.
Next comes searching
Now comes the fun bit! The search.
Let’s face it; most senior leaders are happy right where they are today, meaning they rarely go hunting for a role. On the contrary, roles go hunting THEM – or, should we say, a recruiter does!
If it’s all sounding a bit ‘needle in a haystack’, don’t feel the need to take on such a big job yourself. This is precisely where an experienced professional with bags of experience hunting and placing people into senior roles is worth their weight in gold. Using their contacts, advanced search systems, exceptional communication-come-negotiation skills and a whole heap of discretion (and perhaps a metal detector, since it’s treasure they’re after…), they’ll have a short-list of senior candidates ready for you to view quick-smart.
Some recruiters will even hang around and help with the next step in the process if you want them to!
And lastly, interviewing
So, here you are, armed with a list of select people who look close-to-perfect on paper. Time to pick your chosen few to interview.
At this point, it’s essential you don’t feel the fear and hastily whittle further to a final list of only a few candidates. Unlike middle managers or junior hires, senior roles take much longer to source and hire successfully. If you feel the need for a first-phase chat with every candidate the search uncovered, go for it! It’s far better you spend that time exploring every candidate in full rather than risk ruling out a genuine contender to save yourself half an hour in your day.
When the initial chats are done, and you’re happy with your phase 2 candidates, involve all your key stakeholders in the interview process. After everything you’ve been through so far to make your senior hire a success, you don’t want to let your guard down now! Use your face-to-face interview as the ultimate opportunity to see which of your candidates is suitable for your business and the task at hand.
Of course, you know your business best, and your involvement during the final round of interviews is absolutely critical. But remember to use your friendly-neighbourhood recruiter for extra support if you need to – particularly if they’ve been involved in your senior hire recruiting process from the beginning. They have already invested themselves in the process and ‘know’ your candidates; having them join or even lead the interviews will only save time and add value.
Our next blog will focus on getting the offer right, and ensuring that they are set up for success in their new role.
If you’re hiring senior people in 2023 and want help from an experienced, personable team who gets recruiting done despite the market conditions, book an appointment with 121 today: call 01904 769142.