Welcome to issue #24 of Pondering Leadership: A Deliberate and Thoughtful, Yet Informal Look at Leading and Managing. To my new subscribers: Welcome! Please like and/or share my newsletter. We are building a wonderful community of leaders and managers. Last week, I wrote about some building-related things we need to check on during bad weather. I hope nobody has to deal with bursting pipes or any other weather-related emergencies this winter. In this issue, I am discussing staff recruitment. Posting a job opening on your website is not recruiting. It’s posting a job on your website. It takes a bit of work to create a solid hiring pool.
I started this newsletter to help create and maintain good managers and leaders. I want to be a source for solutions to handle practical situations that we face. Looking at the big picture, good managers create good workplaces. If staffers have a good manager, they are more engaged. If staff have opportunities to learn and grow, as well as some agency in their jobs, they tell people about it. Being a good manager is a recruitment tool. In many issues of my newsletter, I have written about motivating staff, the onboarding process, training and other ways to support staff. In addition to the other benefits, these things are all part of the long game of creating a good place to work.
Before posting your job opening anywhere, it is critical that you have a well written summary of the job description. You do not have to include every single thing the person might have to do when you post the job externally. You should include the basics of the expectations, reasonable qualifications and, of course, the salary range.
Issue #2 Hiring Process
In issue #2 when I wrote about the hiring process I said,“Share the job post widely to get a deep hiring pool with diverse candidates. Ask your network to share the posting within their networks. Reach out to schools or organizations with diverse populations. Offer to speak to a local community college or university class in your subject. Talk to the local chapters of professional associations about how their members may fit into your open position.” Let’s talk more about each of these.
Your network - Your network can be on LinkedIn, committees where you volunteer either locally or virtually, within your friend groups or your neighbors.
Higher Education – Reach out to schools that have majors in your subject area or specialty, especially those with diverse and wide-ranging student bodies. Many schools have career centers which often host career fairs. Sponsor a booth, bring some logo swag and show up ready and excited to talk up your organization and your open positions. Offer to speak to a class or club meeting. Offer a tour of your building. If there are students really interested in your industry, they will ask a lot of questions.
Professional Associations – If you are already active in your professional associations, see issue #3, you may already know some great candidates. Reach out to them to consider applying for your open positions.
Some other ideas
If you are hiring for customer service roles, when you go out to eat or shop, look for good customer service. This is your chance to observe workers and see how they handle varieties of situations.
Reach out to your vendors. Do you have a vendor you particularly like working with? Send a link to the job post and ask if they are interested. They are already familiar with you and your culture.
When someone is job hunting, the common advice is to tell everyone you know. The same applies for when you are hiring someone. Tell people! The world is very connected. Mentioning your job openings in a casual conversation may lead someone to say, “you know. My cousin is looking for a position like this.”
Your Turn…
Let me know what you think! What are some unexpected places where you found a good candidate? You can comment in Discussion.
Thank you for reading issue #24 of Pondering Leadership. I hope to see you next Thursday afternoon for issue #25 when I will write again about interview questions to ask candidates. Thank you for reading and supporting my writing.
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