“Too Many Cooks in The Kitchen”
I’m sure we have all heard the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen.” This phrase can apply to a lot of situations, one of them being the hiring process. So, for the sake of this article, I will be changing the phrase to “too many hiring managers involved in the hiring process.” For everyone in HR and recruiting reading this I am sure you are very aware of the rabbit hole I am about to go down. If you work in HR or Recruiting and have no clue what I am talking about, well, you may fall under the “too many hiring managers.”
My coworkers would be the first to tell you I get a little too fired up about the hiring processes in place at companies. So, I will warn you in advance, I am about to get fired up!
As an outside recruiter it is my job to find top talent in a timely manner and move them forward in the hiring process. Sounds easy right? The issue is there are so many individuals who find themselves needing to be involved in the hiring process. If this individual is not going to have any say if a candidate gets hired or not, he/she should not be involved. Not only does this largely complicate things for an outside recruiter but it completely confuses the candidate.
So how do we overcome these issues?
Intake calls are a great way to make sure everyone is on the same page before even beginning the recruiting process. As the recruiter, you need to stress that everyone who will be involved in the hiring process needs to be on the call. If they aren’t on the call then they will not be on the email chains of the candidate submissions and scheduling interviews. During the intake call it is important to address if there is clearly too many people involved. Gone are the days where a candidate will stick around for 5 rounds of interviews with a dozen different individuals. After two interviews if you are not ready to hire you are wasting their time and yours.
Who should be involved in the hiring process?
This is a loaded question. It can truly depend on the company size and culture. Smaller clients will have their CEO, President, Owner, etc. involved whereas bigger clients will have lower-level individuals involved such as Managers, Directors, etc. If you have HR, The Reporting Manager, and a CEO all doing interviews and only the CEO’s opinion matters you just wasted multiple people’s time. On the flip side, if you have 5 people involved and you value all their opinions you need to make the decision of who really needs to be involved or not. If the candidate is not going to be working directly for or with that person, chances are they do not need to be there.
The bottom line is, the recruiter knows what they are doing. They would not have been hired by the company to help with hiring needs if they didn’t. Recruiters work all day to find the perfect fit for your company and for the candidate. Adding too many hiring managers into the process not only makes the recruiter’s job more difficult but also undermines their ability to find top talent.