Recruiting Best Practices

Working with an executive recruiting company varies from one to the next. At Ghost Mountain, we have compiled a list of the most effective strategies for integrating our services into your search.

Clearly Define Your Requirements

During the intake interview, it’s important that we find out what is critically important to your company, but also to the stakeholders that are looking to hire for the position. This can often include the HR Director, but most often these requirements are a function of missing abilities or skill gaps that the hiring manager has identified in her team.

We hire for several kinds of intelligence at Ghost Mountain Executive Search, as well as the ability to interview and ask questions that require deep reflection. One of the biggest hinderances to a successful search is a misunderstanding of the needs of the team. Having the perspective of the hiring manager in the intake process allows for a more granular and specific set of search requirements.

Once the specific search requirements are established, it’s important to identify the values that the company cherishes. Every long-term relationship is founded on shared values, and we have been successful in preventing turnover by clearly enunciating those values to the new hire.

Write Out Requirements

Write out the requirements and the values that are most critical for the position. Making sure that each and every candidate that we interview is screened for clearly articulable compatibility with the job requirements, team requirements and company values as well as interpersonal dynamics means that when the hiring manager gets a profile from us, it has all the information that the manager needs to make a decision as to whether or not to interview them.

We understand that being understaffed means tight timelines and limited availability. That’s why we do due diligence for you. We cut through the clutter and provide you with the best possible candidates without the hassle of sorting through resumes and with more nuance than an algorithmic applicant tracking system.

Establish a Schedule for Communication

Scheduling

We know it’s hard to get everyone together at the same time, so we reserve time well in advance for our presentations. We set specific dates and times and send out invites to make sure that everyone can attend the presentation.

Personnel 

It’s important to have a presentation, but if the decision maker isn’t in attendance, it’s a waste of time for everyone involved and we avoid that as much as we possibly can, so making sure that we have the people on the call that are necessary to accomplish the hiring is critical.

Agenda 

It is critically important to us that we manage our clients’ time as judiciously as possible. We know you are busy, and we respect that by setting dates and times as well as meeting lengths with a clear agenda in advance of the meeting.

Process

Establishing the timeline and interview process allows us to provide your competitive candidates with a clear understanding of the interview process and prevents expectation failure. We suggest:

Initial screening interview: 

We perform this part of the search on your behalf. We use the rubric of job requirements and values that are established earlier to put together a report about the key traits of potential candidates to streamline the hiring process.

We reach out to 300+ candidates to find the very best and present the top 10 for your consideration.

We establish your expectations for compensation, and we relate their expectations as well.

In-Depth Interview

This is the opportunity for the HR Manager/Director to assess the candidate for cultural fit and to inform the candidate of the company culture and team dynamics as well as the leadership style they will be subject to.

We recommend that you eliminate at least 5 candidates before this stage and interview 5 of the remaining candidates.

We reiterate your compensation range and confirm their interest at that level, after the interview.

Practical Assessment

At this point, the hiring manager should be assured that the candidate is promising as they have been through two rounds of interviews to screen for skill, culture, and personality.

In this stage the hiring manager should interview the candidate to establish whether they think the candidate can perform the work, communicate clearly and whether they like the candidate.

This stage should eliminate all but 3 candidates.

For a third time, we confirm the candidate’s interest in your compensation range for the position as described. It may seem excessive, but this cements expectations and allows for a quick and painless negotiation.

Final Interview and Decision Making

One more candidate should be eliminated, one should be selected to make an offer to and the last should be held in reserve in case of a black swan event. We plan for success, but we never assume it. We have a 100% success rate because of our conservative attitude and our clear communication.

Make an offer

We have presented and reiterated your compensation package three times. Your offer should come as no surprise and because we have negotiated on your behalf and communicated both your expectations as well as the candidate’s, a satisfying agreement is made where the new hire feels valued, your company gets maximum value, and you have a long-term team member.

Confidentiality

It’s incredibly important that we safeguard all your communication as well as your contact information.

We set up interviews in whatever media you like, whether you prefer a phone screen, video call or in-person interview using bifurcated communications. That means that when we set up a call, we confirm it with both parties separately, to hide contact information like office phone numbers and email addresses.

To facilitate this and to prevent negotiation miscommunication, we require the candidate to communicate with the client through us, exclusively. Not only does this prevent miscommunication, but it saves our clients’ time. We are here to take work off your desk, not to create more meetings for you.

Recruiting is Marketing

We are the face of many of our clients. When we reach out to a candidate it may be the first time that they have ever had an interaction with your company.

Word of mouth is powerful and by following up with candidates, we make sure that they feel like their time has been respected. That respect is reflected directly on our clients’ brands. The candidate may choose to move on to another company in the industry that could have a synergistic opportunity for our clients in the future.

We Make Hiring Easy

By following these steps, we reduce our clients’ workload, streamline their hiring process, and promote their brand. Reach out to us using the email field below and we will set up a time to have a conversation about how we can get you the best possible talent quickly and easily.