REVIEW
RECRUITMENT
A smooth, transparent recruitment process Pete Gwilliam director, Virtus Search
T
he intermediary mortgage lending sector is undoubtedly experiencing rising demand for key skill sets and increasingly competitive hiring conditions thus heightening the need to have a seamless recruitment process. The most in-demand professionals typically have choice. Because of this, organisations with poorly thought through and executed recruitment processes invariably miss out on the best talent. Firms spend a lot of time and resource on customer acquisition, but don’t always look at hiring employees with the same emphasis on the “customer journey”. Just as employers set out to evaluate the best person for their role, employees too form their first impressions of a Firm from how they are managed and treated during a recruitment process. Of course, recruiting is about fulfilling your organization’s needs, but the more you understand and design the process from the applicant’s point of view, the more they will “buy into” each step of your process. Candidates favour companies that give a clear indication of the role, the pathway the opportunity offers, the challenges of the role, the management style, and values. Investing time in developing a candidate briefing pack that goes beyond a job description- e.g. a piece about company performance and strategic plans/financial standing and ultimately the culture and values and the reasons why someone should want to work there and how they develop and grow. Why not also include a bio
18
of the hiring manager’s background and out of work interests? It is important to regard first meetings as the opportunity to sell the Firm. I strongly advocate that the first meeting has to be with the line manager for the role, and is focuses on how both operate. The hiring manager is best placed to outline the expectations of the role and the challenges of delivering the desired outcomes, and by giving the candidate something to aspire to, it should give the individual a reason to be excited about the opportunity and moreover thereby preparing a presentation or a business plan for the second stage of the process is a worthwhile investment of time.
“Candidates favour companies that give a clear indication of the role, the pathway the opportunity offers, the challenges of the role, the management style, and values” My experience drawn from many pieces of candidate feedback tells me that a lengthy selection process has an impact on a candidate’s impression of an employer and whilst not advocating that shortcuts should be taken in the selection process, the more hoops someone must jump through the less well it is received. Therefore, before an interview process begins it is important to be clear that the budget for the hire has been approved, and to be clear on how and when the salary will be negotiated. Additionally, forward planning which stakeholders are needed for the component parts of the process, allows placeholders to be set in diaries in advance to protect time. Similarly, the process you can be mapped out
MORTGAGE INTRODUCER JANUARY 2022
for the candidate. There is no doubt that taking too long to make selection decisions takes some of the goodwill away and leaves candidates open to influences from elsewhere, making the hiring firm look inefficient and/ or giving the impression that person is second or even third choice. Delays in the process can give candidates the impression you are not really interested in them and if they have a choice they may choose the Firm that has created a better impression during the process - an employer that values and respects ‘potential employees’ in a recruitment process suggests that they are likely to be a good employer, which is not to be underestimated, especially in candidate short markets. Running through the process should be the negotiation of any potential package and this certainly should have been approved internally ahead of the successful candidate being identified, so there are no surprises, and importantly momentum after the final meeting can be maintained, such that an offer letter can be presented to the candidate after they have verbally accepted the role ( of course this will be “conditional” upon satisfactory references/credit and criminal record checks/ education verification, etc and eligibility to work in the UK). There’s something wrong if a process takes longer than four weeks to get to offer stage and the offer is not meeting the Candidate’s expectations. Often overlooked is the importance of the unsuccessful candidates who could become your loudest detractors. You need them to be ambassadors and the one thing that they will appreciate most will be feedback on how they performed and where they didn’t quite match requirements. All candidates deserve feedback and this should be timely and worthwhile and this can offer candidates who aren’t being progressed something to ‘take away’ from the process. As with customer reviews never underestimate that employers’ interactions with candidates at all stages of the interview process can ultimately impact their reputation in the marketplace. M I www.mortgageintroducer.com