#3
Get Specific About Needs and Goals
Recruiters — whether they’re in-house or working for an agency — face a two-part dilemma when it comes to sourcing candidates. While you need to provide hiring managers with a solid list of professionals, these professionals also need to be relevant, qualified and interested in the opportunity being offered — otherwise, they’re likely to drop out during the interview process because the job isn’t right for them, or they won’t respond at all. Getting alignment from hiring managers on the specific needs and goals for the open position is a great way to mitigate this problem.
Intake meetings with hiring managers are the best way to get the alignment needed to avoid uninterested and unqualified candidates. These meetings can help both the recruiter and the hiring manager focus on exactly what’s needed before the recruiter even begins drafting a list of potential candidates. In addition to understanding the hiring stages, candidate touch points and basics like the job title and salary range, it’s important to align on the ideal candidate profile, understand what soft and technical skills are necessary for the role and, above all, be realistic.
The bulk of your intake meeting should focus on understanding the hiring manager’s ideal candidate profile (and managing their expectations around it). Separate from a job description, a candidate profile focuses on characteristics and soft skills. It’s how a recruiter will evaluate if a candidate is a cultural fit and gives recruiters ideas of where to look for candidates.
Here are some questions you can ask the hiring manager to start the sourcing process out on the right foot:
- What are the potential growth opportunities for the successful candidate?
- What specific company values or behaviors are essential for success in this role and team?
- Are there specific technical skills or industry knowledge areas that are particularly challenging to find in the market?
- What aspects of the job description are most important to you?
- Beyond technical skills, what are the top three soft skills essential for success in this role?
- How will the success of this role be measured in the first three, six, and twelve months?
- What is the team's working style? Are they highly collaborative, independent, or a mix?
- How would you describe the team's personality?
- Are there specific communication challenges this role might face?
- Can you elaborate on the three most critical responsibilities for this role that aren't explicitly mentioned in the job description?
- What is the leadership style of the team lead? How does this impact the team's dynamics and the role's expectations?
There is some overlap between the ideal candidate profile and job description when it comes to soft skills; they can be listed on both. Knowing what intangible characteristics (those that can’t be taught) the hiring manager is looking for will be critical to finding the right hire. If the candidate needs to be self-motivated because they will be joining a team where their manager already has a lot on their plate, you as a recruiter know to ask about experience with learning quickly on the go and pose questions that evaluate resourcefulness.
Technical “hard” skills also need to be determined and added to the job description. Be as specific as you can in your questions with the hiring manager and how you communicate to tech professionals. Listing technical skills broadly may widen your reach, but it will also likely deter technologists looking for opportunities to work in specific programming languages or develop specific cloud computing skills.
Remember that it is critical to understand the specifics of the role yourself. Be able to speak and write using the terms, the skills, and the acronyms that are used in the industry. This way you can have clearer communication with both the hiring manager and the candidate. Understanding deeper aspects of the role you are sourcing is key to knowing the difference between a good candidate and a great candidate. Knowing specifics will also help you sell a role better. Technologists want to know about the day-to-day work they will be doing — what programming languages or frameworks they will be working on, how quickly they will get to see their work in action and what new tech skills they’ll have the opportunity to learn or build on. The better you understand the answers to these questions, the more effectively you will be able to move qualified candidates through your pipeline.
Throughout the entire intake meeting, focus on keeping expectations realistic. While it’s worth discussing all of the things wanted in an ideal candidate, asking the right questions will help the hiring manager narrow down their needs and most important skills. A job posting with an excessively long list of requirements, while potentially describing the ideal candidate, likely won’t attract many candidates. Reminding the hiring manager to keep in mind a balance of what’s needed versus what’s available will help everyone in the long run, candidates included!
Tips for More Productive Intake Meetings
Ask the hiring manager to rank the importance of their list of soft skills so you know what’s non-negotiable (you can do this with hard skills, too).
Ask the hiring manager to give you three characteristics of the top-performing employees on their team to understand what traits the team values most.
Ask whether generalists could excel in the position, or if it would benefit more from a candidate who is extremely specialized.