Advantages of Including Senior Leadership in Your Hiring Process
Identifying and hiring the right job candidate can be a struggle. There are several ways you may be able to improve your process, one that may be as easy as asking the person in the office next door.
Often, when a candidate interviews for a new job, they only speak to a few people within the company. This usually consists of their hiring manager, other members of the department they’ll be working with, human resources, and perhaps the owner. Why not take it one step further?
A great way to improve upon your hiring process is to make sure members of your senior leadership team are included in the experience. Here’s a look at some of the advantages this can provide.
Improve job posts.
Members of upper management can help enhance the job description you plan to post for your open role. They could recommend certain skills you may have missed, or even help you round out the position to make sure it is enticing to top talent in your area.
They can also act like company influencers by circulating the job posting throughout their own network to help you build your candidate pipeline.
Gain valued input.
When you begin receiving applications, senior leadership can assist with narrowing down the pool to only the most qualified applicants. This gives you a perspective outside your own department, which may affirm the direction you are looking to take with the position or make you more open minded toward candidates you may not have initially considered.
Assuming everyone agrees on the final hiring choice, other members of the team will feel like they were stakeholders in the decision-making process, which may set that new hire up for greater long-term success as well.
Identify other areas of opportunity.
If you were sorting through applicants on your own, you may not be aware of other open positions within your company. Members of the leadership team could look at the applicants from another lense, directing them to other departments or opportunities for which they could be better suited.
This is another way for your business to secure top talent, even when your open role has been filed.
Develop rapport between new hire and leadership.
Inviting the senior members of your company to be a part of your interview and hiring process also provides the opportunity for your top candidate to have developed a relationship or camaraderie with them before they are even hired.
Having first-hand knowledge of the new hire from the interview experience may make them more top of mind to be recommend for sub-committees, subject matter experts or pairings for mentorships.
The hiring process is a challenge in today’s market. In addition to adding senior leadership to the search process, consider working with a professional staffing agency like The Reserves Network. We can help you streamline your hiring process by recruiting for your open roles and only presenting you with the ones we deem fit for the position. Subscribe to our blog for more workforce management advice!
