Tech Recruitment Mistakes - I have no time for recruitment

As with most business leaders or team leaders, the running of that team or business is hard and I’m sure you have a million and one things to do so it’s easy to think that you have no time for recruitment. As your business or responsibility grows it’s easy for recruitment to take less and less priority in your daily work. 

Thinking Mistake;

When you start to think that you have no time for your recruitment it usually leads you to allocate no-time for recruitment what-so-ever which makes it harder & harder to find that time when you are used to not having the time for it.

Action Mistake;

You end up being too busy to concentrate on recruitment so you do not make any time during the day to cater for it. As a result, the business will not grow and scale or meet the demands of the business efficiently. If Steve Jobs quoted 'we go to extraordinary lengths to hire the best people possible' at a company like Apple, then why shouldn't you?

Why it's a mistake;

People buy people. If you want the best business possible, you need to best people possible and you to have to make the effort to invest yourself in recruitment every day/week. Build it into your daily business because if you don’t, your competition will and they will end up landing people you want a lot easier than you and leaving you wondering why they are outperforming you.

Our Solution;

If you take on a leadership role you should know that recruitment should never stop it and should always be part of your job, even when you’re not recruiting you should be recruiting in some form. Don't pass it onto someone else, if it's your team - build it into your weekly or daily routine. Allocate 10% to 20% of your time to it, regardless if you are actively looking or not.

Remember A-player candidates are not always available when you are and vice versa so keeping an open door enables you to be agile and able to react when someone good comes along. Keep in regular touch with your talent partner or recruiter can also pay dividends. Make sure even when you not recruiting to inform them to keep an eye out or to keep searching for exceptional people. Here, it pays to be picky when you are not active. Inform your recruiter of the situation and explain you will only consider someone if they match the requirements exactly, this way you have peace of mind that you are not missing out on anyone.

Allocating 10 to 20% of your working week to recruitment is vital - when you’re not directly recruiting, work on using this free time to ways to improve your process or promoting your personal or business brand via social media so that when it does come time recruit more of the people you want they will already be attracted to your business and will be aware of you. It may even prompt A-players to approach you directly when you are not looking and asking you to reach out to them when you are, saving you lots of time and effort before a new recruitment drive, plus if you have a team member leave it can help you react quicker to backfill.

With this in mind, never underestimate the power of a good process or experience when you are directly involved with recruiting. For everyone who walks through the door for an interview, treat it like you would any other part of your business - amazing. Make it as remarkable, special and as enjoyable for them as you can, do something different from the norm that stays in their minds. The benefits of doing this by leaving such a positive impression on candidates, especially the ones you don't hire are that they could end up linking you into your next great hire through their recommendation or even return in years to come when they are exactly what you are looking for. You want people to walk out of every interview you have with them for them to wish they get the job here.

By Paul Turner - Director / Co-Founder - DigiTech Search