Five Ways to Guarantee You Won’t Get the Best Candidates

Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 by Frank Roche

People are your most important asset. (We know that because it’s what everyone has to say.) Let’s take you at your word. If people are your strategic advantage, you need the best ones. So, why is it that so many companies do things to guarantee they won’t get the cream of the crop?

Here are five ways to guarantee you won’t get the best candidates:

Use the same old boring job descriptions that everyone else uses. If you want to position above the competition, then do it. That starts with writing job descriptions with a little attitude.
Think narrowly. Except for professional requirements like Legal and Actuarial, who says people have to come from conventional backgrounds? Just because someone has experience doesn’t mean it’s good. Ever heard of The Peter Principle?
Don’t ask current employees for recommendations. Your employees’ friends are some of the best people available. Have you asked them to get their friends to join?
Jerk around former candidates. This is a small world, and people talk. If your recruiters or managers have a habit of mishandling candidates, they talk.
Say one thing and do another. If you want good people, you have to be true to who you are as a company. Don’t say you’re one thing if you’re another. Check out Glassdoor. Your candidates have.

UPDATE: PMV just told me about a great article on ReadWrite Start called “How to Hire an A Team.” Here’s the point that just knocks my socks off:

Hire an A-Team and it will hire an A-Team. Hire a B-Team and it will hire a C-Team.

Bam!

User Comments

Sarah Chambers

Jul 31st, 2009

I completely agree and want to add to three of these…
1) Writing with attitude that gives insight into your culture – what it’s like to work there – makes hiring easier and better. Candidates will self-select.

2) Hire smart people. You can teach them to do the stuff. Really great HR/Business person taught me this.

And about 5…
5) Reputation matters. Tell the truth. Trust is hard won and easily lost.
Ron Ulrici

Jul 31st, 2009

You also won’t get the best candidate if you…
- don’t want to pay competitively
- don’t “romance” him or her (recruiting is the romantic stage, you know)
- don’t feel passionate about the company yourself
- can’t sell the company, the organization, the job because you don’t know enough about either one.
Jason Seiden

Aug 1st, 2009

More for when it’s time to interview:

1. Use the resume. (People lie.)
2. Trust references. (Jim was great! Uh, yeah! Great!)
3. Talk before asking any questions. (Give her answers, why don’tcha.)
4. Look for academic prowess. (Book smarts doesn’t equal biz success. You know this.)
Sarah Chambers

Aug 1st, 2009

@seiden those are great. I laughed a bit about trusting references. Checking references is sort of an intelligence test of a candidate. HR references will verify employment dates (no more). People willing to say more are generally friends. If a candidate can’t find three people who will say something good about her…
Bill Strahan

Aug 1st, 2009

My new one is: Ignore their digital life.

I recently hired a Director level employee. Part of why I think we connected and he made the move was that we instanted linked in on Plaxo, I began taking a feed from his blog and otherwise showed some interest in his online life.