The

Internal Recruiters Playbook

A 5-Step Process For More Effective Hiring

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IS THIS GUIDE RIGHT FOR ME?

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BUSINESS OWNER / FOUNDER

You!re the primary decision maker, involved in almost all stages of the hiring and managing process. You have P&L responsibility, either across your entire business or within a business unit.

HR / INTERNAL RECRUITER
You lead the HR or internal function in your organization. You work with line managers to attract and retain the talent needed across your business.

This ones for you!

EXTERNAL RECRUITER
You are a domain expert, engaged to advise and assist clients in the recruitment process. You may work on a project basis, or be engaged longer-term.

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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION / 4 BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS TO AVOID INTERNAL ROADBLOCKS / 5 BUILDING A TALENT COMMUNITY / 9 TAKING CONTROL OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS / 12 MANAGING CANDIDATES / 15 CONTROLLING THE OFFER PROCESS / 18 CONCLUSION / 20

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INTRODUCTION
As an internal recruiter youre often caught between a rock and a hard place. The key stakeholders (hiring managers) expect you to perform miracles every time, candidates expect an express recruitment process and the HR department expects you to fill every vacancy without any external assistance. Sound familiar? Well, dont despair. The Internal Recruiters Playbook has been designed with you in mind. Weve put together a series of tips and strategies from our own past experiences as well as having spoken to many who are sitting or who have sat where you are now. After reading this guide, you will know: ! ! ! ! How to take control of the recruitment process; How to build your talent community; How to work effectively with line managers and HR; and How to better manage candidates and control the offer process.

We recommend you use this guide along with some of our other free downloads: The Ultimate Guide to Recruitment Advertising; Attract, Select, Retain - Recruitment Secrets Exposed; and The Complete Managers Interview Guide Together, youll have all the tools you need to do what you were hired to do: Hire the best people, in the least amount of time, within budget and with the cooperation of everyone involved. Enjoy the read!

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1. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS TO AVOID INTERNAL ROADBLOCKS

There are several potential roadblocks for an internal recruiter. These include line managers who dont know what they want or are too demanding, HR departments who want to control everything, and restrictive budgets that make it hard for you to reach the right candidates.

Its tough enough for an internal recruiter when candidates become difficult. But when its internal roadblocks making their job harder, thats when the whole process can go completely off the rails.

Working With Line Managers Not For Them

Line managers can be a real stumbling block for internal recruiters. After all they are your colleagues and expect you to bend the rules for them from time to time. I was once asked by the plant manager to advertise for an admin assistant; a strictly secretarial role involving typing, filing and greeting visitors. At the time, there was a young girl in the manufacturing area who had caught his eye. Because she had some limited CAD experience (which was absolutely irrelevant for the role), he actually asked me to tweak the job description to include basic CAD knowledge; thereby excluding others who would apply for the job. Naturally, I refused. - Narelle - Recruitment Advisor, Manufacturing.
Often without even realizing it, line managers are usually your number one roadblock. Even though you dont work for them, youre obliged to work with them in order to fill their vacancies. That means you have to listen to what they want, even when you know theyre way off course, or, worse still, when they may not even really know what theyre looking for themselves.

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Line managers obviously want the best candidates they can get for their department, but this can sometimes mean the job description they provide you with is more of a wish list than an accurate description of necessary skills or competencies.
They will often ask for qualifications that are irrelevant to the position or want a higher calibre of candidate than the salary being offered could ever hope to attract. And when you fail to find them their ideal candidate, they often perceive this as a failing on your part, rather than a completely unrealistic expectation on theirs. The way to overcome this is to educate your line managers about the realities of the recruitment process and set about developing an equal working relationship with them. As an internal recruiter, you would usually report to the recruitment or procurement manager or to the HR manager.

You wouldnt typically report directly to any of the line managers, so therefore you need to do all you can to develop a strong working relationship with them; one that is more of a mutually beneficial partnership than a recruiter/client situation.
If you can form such a relationship with them, they are likely to be more accessible, provide more information, give more useful feedback and be willing to compromise if necessary. Your line manager is likely to be assertive and all about getting things done. Effective ways to work well with them include: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Respond promptly; Have a plan B; Be direct, dont waffle; Be honest; Be professional; Use bullet points; Follow through on your commitments;

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! ! !

Keep them informed; Resolve issues quickly; and Take responsibility.

If you demonstrate to them that you know what you are talking about and that you are genuinely committed to getting them the best result you can, you will gain their respect and hopefully, after achieving a successful hire, you will win their trust as well.

Working with HR
HR is all about people their induction, training, health and safety, development and performance management. So its only natural that they would want to include the hiring process under their umbrella as well. The HR Department sees its responsibility in the recruitment process as being to protect the company from making mistakes through non-compliance or choosing people who arent a good cultural fit. It is, after all, the HR department where the finger will be pointed if a new hire turns out to be a bad choice, so you cant blame them for being defensive. They also have a million and one other things to take care of in their day, often including payroll, training, workplace health and safety, employee benefits, onboarding, performance reviews, exit interviews, as well as general compliance and risk management issues. So, to their way of thinking, keeping all their eggs in one basket (including recruitment) makes it all much easier to manage. The problem is that the HR department often sees recruitment as a gatekeeping role; as much about keeping the wrong people out as bringing the right people in. Unfortunately, the downside of this is that sometimes the hiring process can be slowed to a crawl. On the one hand, while you have your line manager demanding results, on the other you often have HR taking weeks to approve anything and generally gumming up the works. And there you are stuck in the middle with your potential candidates dropping like flies, either because the process was taking far

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too long and they found another role, or they just assumed theyd been unsuccessful. So how do you work with HR? The same way you do with your line managers; by respecting their views and trying to establish a mutually beneficial relationship.

If HR wants to be involved in the entire recruitment process, then let them. Keep them in the loop about everything, from CV submission and video interviews, to psych tests, reference checking and managing job offers.
If their major concern is that you are going to bypass them and that they will be blamed for your bad hire, then dont bypass them. Simply allow extra time for the recruitment process. Inform your line managers (and all your candidates) of this requirement, and try to expedite things as much as you can by assisting them in obtaining the checks and reassurances they need to be comfortable with the hire. Along the way you could always suggest better (and quicker) ways to achieve the same results and even take on some of HRs responsibilities in this regard if they are willing for you to do so. It is always easier to effect change from the inside, rather than from the outside looking in and if you can make their job easier as well as your own, they may come to trust you more over time.

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2. BUILDING A TALENT COMMUNITY

One of our biggest roadblocks is budget constraints. My company is always trying to get the best they can for the least amount of money. One of the cuts we are always being asked to make is in advertising costs. And more recently our focus has been on how to do things smarter, and as opposed to having to always rely on advertising, we are now focused on building a talent community. - Rina, Internal Recruiter, Legal.
A talent community is an active and highly engaged pool of potential candidates that you can tap into at any time. It's a contingency plan that every internal recruiter should have and an excellent way to reduce recruiting time and costs. There are a number of ways you can attract and engage talent for your community. ! Previous applicants those who were shortlisted for previous roles probably had all the required skills, but were beaten on the day by a slightly better candidate (or for whatever reason perhaps they withdrew their application at the time). So, they have already been pre-screened, should a similar position become available. Keep in touch with them. Dont just add them to a database and assume you will remain top of mind should they resume their search. Industry news read trade journals and industry websites and identify potential candidates for particular roles. Research these individuals further and keep their LinkedIn profiles and CVs on file. Connect with them and start a conversation. You never know when they will be keen to make a move. When they do ultimately decide to look for a new role, you want them to think of you. Networking go to industry conferences and networking events, join professional associations and make contacts wherever you can. Then invite these contacts into your community and keep in regular contact. Online networking ensure your companys profile is on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. Join online groups and discussion forums and get to know those in your industry, as they will be

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the first to know which of their colleagues are looking to change jobs. Build a pool of fans or followers who like what you or your organization are doing online. When a suitable role comes up, although you started communicating with them online, you can quickly move offline and invite them in for an interview. ! Referral program have your company set up an internal referral program, where employees receive an incentive for recommending friends or former colleagues. Having a hundred pairs of eyes and ears out there gives you a much better chance of matching a potential candidate to a newly vacated position. Work experience quiz your line managers about any work experience students who may have displayed exceptional enthusiasm and ability, and keep their details on file in the event that you are briefed on more junior roles.

I first met Samuel at a trade show. I connected with him on LinkedIn which meant that whenever I promoted my senior vacancies he would be notified. He then started to follow our company on Twitter and would also comment on our blog from time to time. A year later when his company went through a major restructure, he immediately got in contact with me. At the time we didnt have anything suitable and he found himself a six-month contract. But then a role came up with us which was ideal for Sam. Two years after initially connecting hes now a senior manager in our business. - Lawrence, Recruitment Manager, Telecommunications.
The size of your talent community will depend on the amount of time you have available to invest in and manage it.

The bigger, the more up to date, the more diverse and the better managed your talent pool is, the faster and easier it will be to build a list of qualified candidates for the next opening that has to be filled.

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If you only rely on building a database, this will result in one-way communication. In other words, when a role comes up, you will get in touch with those you think are suitable. Depending on the quality of such a database, many of the candidates may not even be available (let alone interested). By creating an active and vibrant talent community, you are able to not only promote internal opportunities, but you can publish regular content and thought leadership material, which people can comment on and share with others - a perfect way to source and engage with passive talent. People can learn more about your brand and the roles you have available, so in effect the networks you build through your talent community can actually become the backbone to your internal talent sourcing strategy.

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3. TAKING CONTROL OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Getting the job order correct is crucial to a successful outcome. After a misunderstanding about what a line manager wanted a few years ago, which ended up wasting a lot of my time, I developed and implemented a form where I now get everything in writing and signed off by the relevant line manager prior to even beginning any recruitment exercise. - Brione, Recruitment Co-ordinator, Retail.
As an internal recruiter, you need to take control of the recruitment process. There needs to be some kind of checklist covered off before you even start the search or start contacting candidates. Depending on the size of the company, internal recruiters can often be working on a menu of dozens of roles, so you need to tell your clients (the line managers) how the whole process is going to work and get their buy in.

Gaining Commitment
Far too often internal recruiters will receive a requisition and will then go hell for leather trying to fill it, only to be told after a few weeks that the spec has changed, the role has been put on hold, or perhaps that the responsibilities of the new role will now be distributed among existing team members.

Internal recruiters have to become more forceful with their line managers to ensure they are committed to the role and the process. The golden rule is commitment first, then effort not the other way around.

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Qualifying the Job Brief

Qualifying the role with the line manager will ensure there are no hidden surprises or misunderstandings later on. The best way to do this is to create a performance profile of their ideal candidate. This profile describes the kinds of behaviours the candidate would need to exhibit and the tasks they would need to accomplish in order to be considered successful in the role. Each point should be discussed and agreed upon with the line manager and this is your opportunity to point out any discrepancies in their perception of the role and remind them of any budgetary constraints.

The line manager obviously wants the best candidate for their department, so they are probably going to overstate the qualifications, skills and competencies required and it is your job to bring them back down to earth if what they are expecting is unrealistic.
It is also your opportunity to get them to define the role as clearly as possible, given that you may not be an expert on their department and could benefit greatly from the line managers inside knowledge. Points to be covered off on in a typical job order might include: ! ! ! ! ! ! Performance profile; Job description; Salary level or range; Reporting lines; Approvals from HR and senior management; and Hiring cycle (time frames).

Ascertaining the reason for the vacancy (i.e. whether its a new position, the result of a promotion or perhaps a resignation) can also provide clues as to how difficult the position might be to fill.

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My very first ever brief was from an overworked, tired and frustrated database manager who, when I asked what the role entailed, simply replied database programming. I guess it was a start! I later took a brief from the development manager who said, If the candidate gets this, they get the job!, as he pointed to a line of code. - Belinda, Former Recruitment Manager, Software Development.
Line managers are often under the pump and internal recruiters need to spend time getting into their world and understanding exactly what they need.

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4. MANAGING CANDIDATES
An engineering position wed advertised required a diploma in Mechanical/Industrial Engineering. The successful candidate had apparently interviewed well and had provided a diploma from a major college that produced some of the best engineers in the country. Eight months later, his manager was questioning his performance and asked me to find out where he had graduated in his class. On investigation, it was discovered he had not even attended college, let alone the one he claimed to have graduated from. An overworked internal recruiter at the time had broken the cardinal rule and not verified his qualifications. - Zoe - People & Development Co-ordinator, Engineering.

Candidate qualification
Unfortunately, in an effort to impress their line managers or to meet unrealistic deadlines, some internal recruiters only run a very basic screening process and then just interview as many candidates as they can to meet their own internal KPIs.
This means that when the line manager wants to meet with certain candidates, they often turn out to be either unsuitable, not really all that interested, or perhaps no longer even available. Thorough candidate qualification is therefore critical. Before bringing a candidate in for interview, you should first screen them properly over the phone or perhaps get them to complete a video interview, which you can then keep on file or share with the relevant line manager if appropriate. You may prefer to save the tougher questions that determine cultural fit and soft skills for the face to face interview.

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Initial screening questions should at least cover off: ! Location determining a candidates location in relation to the job, the commuting time involved and any expectation they have of moving in the near future can all indicate whether they will be likely to stay with the company for the long haul. Salary asking the candidate up front what their salary was in their previous job and what their salary expectations are can save a lot of wasted interview time. If they want more than the job pays and are unwilling to negotiate, you can eliminate them there and then. Goals if the candidates career goals cannot be realised with your company, then they are likely to want to move on quickly. By asking them what they hope to get out of the position and where they see their career heading, you can get an indication of whether the role will satisfy them in the short term and allow them to achieve their goals in the long term. Better to find out now, than invest in the training and development of someone who wont be around for too long. Knowledge internal recruiters in large companies cant be expected to be experts on every department. To find out if the candidate really knows their stuff, ask them to explain some aspect of their field to you in detail (something that you can verify as either fact or fiction). Weeding out any charlatans before interview will save you a lot of time and embarrassment.

Candidate Commitment
When you do discover a top candidate who is interested in the job, its very important that you get their commitment in terms of working through the recruitment process.

Often the process can be long and dragged out (e.g. if key decision makers are away, or if they need to come together to assess candidates), but as long as you inform the candidate of exactly how the process will work, then interested candidates should understand.

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But you do need to expedite things as much as possible. Good candidates (who may be still in their current job) will often not have time for lengthy application forms, psychometric testing and screening interviews before meeting the hiring manager. Unless its their dream job of a lifetime, the more hoops you make them jump through, the faster their interest in the position may evaporate. Good candidates always have other options, so if management is dragging the chain and there is nothing you can do about it, you need to maintain your candidates interest as much as you can. This can be done by: ! Calling them regularly to ensure they are still interested, updating them of the progress and assuring them that you are trying to speed things up as much as possible. Dont just email them. Its unlikely that they will proactively share any information about other interviews theyve had or if theyre having a change of heart via email. Its amazing what people will tell you over the phone. If there is a good reason why the process has stalled, tell the candidate the details, rather than just blaming things out of your control. If they know the reason, they are more likely to be patient. Making it easy for them to contact you, by giving them your personal mobile number and always getting back to them straight away if you miss their call.

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5. CONTROLLING THE OFFER PROCESS

A job offer is more than just an offer of employment. Its the culmination of weeks (sometimes months) of screening, interviewing and reference checking. The way you handle the job offer process can have a big influence on whether the candidate ultimately accepts the position or not, so it needs to be done right.

Making the Offer

The offer is where you sell the job to the candidate by filling in the gaps in what they already know. The three key benefits to get across are the salary package (you should already have discussed a ballpark figure), the great company culture and any potential opportunities for advancement. Make sure there are only good surprises in your offer, such as additional benefits, not unexpected ones, such as modifications to what was initially proposed. If you have correctly judged your candidates motivations, you should be able to present a tailored and compelling offer that will be accepted without hesitation. If the candidate accepts your verbal offer, make sure you follow it up with a written contract. Get it to them as quickly as possible, as even a brief delay could make the difference between acceptance and rejection.

To avoid any surprise rejections at the eleventh hour, you should keep in regular contact with candidates asking them specific questions along the way to gauge their continued commitment to the position.
You should ask: ! ! ! ! How do you think your boss will react when you hand in your notice? What other positions have you applied for or been interviewed for recently? What does your family think of you getting closer to an offer for a new job? Has anything changed since you and I last spoke about the role?

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The answers the candidate gives to these sorts of questions should tip you off beforehand if they are not fully committed to the process. The main reasons a candidate will reject your offer are: ! ! ! ! ! A better offer from another employer; A counter-offer from their current employer; Cold feet (deciding their current job isnt really all that bad); Outside influences such as family and friends; or An offer that differs from what was initially discussed.

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CONCLUSION
Hopefully this guide has given you some insights into dealing with the problems faced by internal recruiters everywhere. We have tried to show you how to take control of the recruitment process and to get everyone on the same page before you start. We have looked at ways to build a talent community to save yourself time and money when you are next called upon to fill a position. We have hopefully given you some ideas on how to get the best out of the relationships you have with your line managers and your HR department. We have also shown you what you need to do to keep candidates engaged until you are able to knock them off their feet with a winning offer. Finally, you might want to keep this S.C.R.I.P.T close at hand: Stay in control of the process: Commitment first then effort. Career path: Youre not just filling a vacancy. You are providing a career opportunity. Reference checking: Verifying every candidates qualifications and work history is essential. Internal recruiters mantra: We work with the line managers, not for them. Promote your organisation: But never over-sell or misrepresent the opportunity. Talent Community: Dont just build a database. Invest time in building a talent community.

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We hope you enjoyed the read. But just remember if you cant find the candidate youre after and dont have the budget to engage a traditional recruitment agency, you can always get in touch with RecruitLoop. Well provide you with stress-free and flexible recruitment support, the opportunity to pay an experienced recruiter only for the hours they put into your project, as well as the chance to view candidates online through high quality recorded video interviews. We call it a smarter way to hire.

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