How to Improve the Recruitment Process

We’ve recently looked at the importance of recruitment and retention and we’ve dug into some key recruitment and retention strategies. Since much of that was focused on how much getting good at retaining great people can eliminate much of the pressure to fill a position with nearly anyone who has a pulse, we’ll change gears now to key in on how to improve our recruitment process so we’re reaching the right people; the ones who have the most potential to be a great, long term fit in the culture we’re so intentional about creating.

In a session that Cindy and I built called Building Buy-In Around a Clear Mission & Vision, we emphasize how important it is for the leaders in an organization to be extremely specific in detailing how the work that each team member is responsible for ties into to the end product or services the company provides, and just how much impact that has and everyone else it touches. (If you’ve not had a chance to catch that session, you’re welcome to check out when we’ll be offering that complimentary webinar again…) When we paint this kind of picture for our existing team members, we provide them clarity around the significance of what could otherwise seem like mundane tasks and we help them understand the true value they’re providing when they give everything they touch their best effort. It’s hard to beat a team that has clarity around their purpose! 

A friend recently shared a story with me about a steel company his team did some work for. They interviewed many of the most senior employees and heard stories of how those folks had taken their families on vacation to some of the largest cities in the country just to show them how the raw steel they helped manufacture had been used in creating such amazing structures. Understanding how the things they did on a daily basis has impacted so many others ever since gave them a genuine sense of pride in the work they do. Knowing they had a hand in creating a city’s skyline from hundreds or thousands of miles away gave them a passion for what they did that may have never come from just seeing a product go out the door…

My friend’s team had been hired by that company to create videos that would be used to help recruit new employees. After hearing stories like this, he suggested sharing that same message in the videos so everyone seeing them could see how the tasks that company performed contributed to end results that were so much bigger. The people this message resonated with would have much more interest in being part of the organization! It would also help create a better image for the company in the communities where it operates - even with the people who may never work there!

If providing clarity to our existing team members helps build buy-in around our vision, wouldn’t it make sense to provide that same kind of clarity when we’re working to get the attention of the people who could be great additions to our team? If we want to take a huge step forward in improving our recruitment process, we need to make sure we’re telling a story that shares the significance of what we do; a story that speaks to purpose rather than completing a task and cashing a check! When we do this well, the people interested in joining our team are much more likely to be a closer fit for our culture from the start. We can’t lose sight of those paychecks though. We’ll look at that and something even more important in the next post!