Quick tip for hiring managers
Posted by Mitch on 30th March 2016
Choosing a recruitment agency for most hiring managers is a task they take to with the same enthusiasm the rest of us have for calling Vodafone’s customer service.
Most take refuge in agency claims to being specialists in whatever job it is they need to fill. Because that is what they want to hear. That a specialist is going to know what to do.
This is because most hiring managers hate dealing with anything recruitment related.
Is someone calling themselves a specialist enough though?
Everyone’s a specialist these days, thanks to LinkedIn. But on closer examination, most aren’t. Some of these specialists were selling mobile phones less than a year ago.
But hiring managers typically don’t bother checking out a recruiter’s profile because it takes time. And because they bought the “we’re specialists in your sector” line.
So, if you’re a hiring manager and need to use a recruitment agency and want to cut to the chase before speaking to any of them, check their job adverts.
If their job adverts are useless, chances are they’re still going to be useless when speaking to potential candidates. Your potential candidates.
Here’s a checklist of what useless job adverts look like:
1. A list of ‘must haves’ and very little about what’s in it for the reader. Please note, they’re not candidates yet.
2. A cut and paste of a job description.
3. Formulaic. Check the agency’s other job ads. If they all read the same, they’re formulaic.
4. Grammar and spelling. I’m talking serious stuff like “manor” instead of “manner”. “Loose” instead of “lose”. “Shit Manager” instead of “Shift Manager”. That kind of thing.
5. Basically, jobs ads that read like the company are doing you a favour just by letting you know they have a vacancy.
Instead look for job ads that have clearly been written freehand, with no spelling errors. If nothing else, it shows that the agency at least try to interpret what their clients are looking for.
And if they do that, it’s evidence that some thinking has happened at some point. Thinking is good.
It’s got to be the most logical starting point when assigning recruitment agencies to work on your vacancies.
In fact, it’s probably the closest you can get to testing a recruiter’s ability in the real world. You know, that world that’s different to the one where suppliers come in and tell you how brilliant they are.
Start with your PSL.