Hiring Step #3: Recruit From Your Networks, page 86.
- Now that you have a clear, thorough Job Scorecard, it’s time to recruit candidates
- Everyone knows that it is best to recruit from your networks of high performers and others you know personally.
- Most leaders and managers say, “We just don’t get as many referrals from our people as we want.”
- A Players want to work with other A Players and are happy to refer A Players from their networks, but it just doesn’t happen often enough. Why?
- The answer is usually, “because everyone is too busy to stay in touch with their A Player former associates.”
- Topgraders have at least two types of Networks – A Players they have worked with and Connectors, people who know A Players they can refer.
- We recommend that every manager build and maintain lists of 20+ A Players and 10+ Connectors, people not suitable for your company, but who know a lot of high performers you might hire.
- The Connector group often includes:
- Retirees who stay in touch with lots of talented people.
- Vendors with an eye for talent.
- Professional Associates.
- Former peers who know lots of As.
Exercise: Create Your Network Lists
- List 20+ A Players you know and who might go to work for you.
- List 10+ Connectors who might refer A Players to you.
- List all professional associations and clubs that could be sources of candidates and Connectors.
How Companies Boost Hiring Success Through Networks
- Topgrading companies understand how to get busy, sharp high performers to allocate time to stay in touch with A Players and Connectors. Their strategies include:
- Make recruiting through Network a Job Scorecard Accountability.
- Require your team to submit regular updates.
- Require managers to discuss their networks with their subordinates at least quarterly, to be sure subordinate networks are being properly maintained, and to report the results.
- Require managers to recommend at least one person per year who is hired and who turns out to be an A Player a year later.
- Pay bonuses (sometimes called “bounties”) for referrals.
- Encourage high performers to use social networks (Facebook, Linked In, etc.).
- Ask new hires for their network lists.
- Make a point of encouraging networking, at least weekly.
- Don’t rely solely on email; use the telephone, Zoom, and any method to have live, personal communications.
- Attract A Players by having exciting web pages, careers sections, and job ads.
- When visitors to your career section learn what Topgrading is all about, C Players will get the message and stay away, and high performers, wanting to join a company with other high performers, will be apt to apply.
What to do when Networks Aren’t Producing – Executive Search Firms
- Get the Best Results with Executive Search Firms.
- Favor boutique firms with 10 or fewer professionals.
- Request a written list of clients they cannot penetrate.
- Check references of key search executives before signing a contract.
- Sign a fixed fee contract that removed the incentive for the search firm to find more expensive candidates.
- Require thorough Job Scorecard plus several dozen competencies.
- Require weekly updates.
- Insist that they conduct Topgrading Interviews of all finalists.
- For finalists, insist on written reports citing mistakes and failures, not just accomplishments.
- For finalists, require candidate reports disclose six real weaknesses.
- Require reference-check summaries that disclose negatives, not just positives.
- Sign a contract requiring the search firm to not steal your company’s employees for three years.
- Evaluate some resumes, Career History Forms, Topgrading Snapshots, and Telephone Interview Screening notes early on to be sure you’re on the “same page.”
- Make yourself available to meet with candidates and search firm employees.
