We are all familiar with the traditional hiring model. The human resource manager is tasked with finding a suitable candidate to fulfill a new role within the organization, or to replace an experienced employee who has left, or is in the process of providing a planned resignation.
Hiring a new employee is an arduous process, which is why many organizations seek the expert assistance of recruitment agencies to help source and screen qualified applicants. At reesmarx, we have a constant intake of qualified and experienced candidates and start our search with professionals vetted by our team of global recruiters.
Collaborative hiring is an additional step that organizations can take to help reduce subconscious hiring bias, and thoughtfully involve other employees who will be working with the individual, in the interview process. Learn how this additional step can help your business source and retain the expertise you need.
What is Collaborative Hiring?
Steve Jobs was one of the first global executives to express the benefits of collaborative hiring, and Apple continues to rely on input from various employees within the business unit, who would be working with the new hire. This strategy has worked for the organization and has been modeled by many other successful international corporations.
Collaborative hiring means reaching out to employees who will be working with the individual, as part of the interview process. Employees can prepare one or more questions to ask the candidate during the interview, to help define skillset, workstyle and personality traits that may (or may not) be a good fit within the team environment.
In most organizations, when the candidacy has been narrowed down to less than 10 qualified prospects, third interviews can be the deciding factor where select employees can meet the individuals and be part of the final decision process.
Five Key Benefits of Collaborative Hiring
The insights shared by other employees and members of the business unit where the new hire will work, are invaluable. Let’s take a look at five key benefits that organizations realize, when they apply a collaborative hiring model to their interview process.
1. It Helps to Eliminate Conflicts with Corporate Culture
You can explain your corporate culture during the interview process, but who is better to really communicate what it is like working within the department, than other members of the team?
While supervisors and managers communicate important aspects of culture such as work ethic, structural things like work schedule, corporate goals and community involvement, they can miss some of the most important information. What is it really like to work within that department on a daily basis?
2. It Improves the Hiring Experience for the Candidate
Proceeding through various stages of the interview process is an intimidating exercise for most individuals. They want to make a good impression, and while they are working to present their skills and experiences effectively, they are also concerned about ‘fitting in’ socially with new team members.
One of the great benefits of collaborative hiring (in the final stages of the interview process) is that the prospective candidate gets to meet some of the people that they will be working with. That provides a sense of relief, particularly if staff members and the interviewee relate well with each other during the interview. Sometimes there is an instant connection, and the manager(s) and recruiter will count that as a positive indicator of a successful hire.
The interviewee no longer has to ‘guess’ or wonder about the type of personalities that they may be working with. This cuts the potential anxiety they may be feeling in half. And the fact that the employer allowed members of the team to be part of the interview process? That speaks volumes to a positive and collaborative corporate environment, where employee feedback is valued and appreciated.
3. It Helps to Reduce Staff Apprehension About a New Hire
In the complexity of the interview and hiring process, managers may underestimate the impact that a new hire can have on a business unit and team. You are dropping an unknown variable into an established team that already knows and trusts one another. That has an impact that can create a great deal of apprehension with your current employees. Will they like the new person? Will there be a conflict?
When businesses decide to involve their employees in the final decision process, they are also helping to alleviate some of that apprehension. In our experience, the one or two employees that meet the candidate and provide their feedback to the manager, will also take their insights about the different potential hires back to the team conversationally. With positive comments about candidates that they felt were a good fit.
This allows employees to feel valued, and part of the selection process. After all, they are going to be spending up to forty hours per week with the individual. The stakes are high for your current employee; they’ll feel valued for their input, and less fearful of a conflicting hire over which they had no control.
4. Improves Employee Retention Rates
We know that there are many factors that go into selecting the right candidate for your organization. And the search, interviewing, hiring and onboarding sequence of activities is time consuming and costly for businesses. Once you have identified the most qualified candidate, you want to do everything you can to make sure that they are onboarded successfully, so that they become a long-term asset to your organization.
The input that your current employees contribute is invaluable. They work within the department every day, and they have a firm understanding of the function of the business unit, and what it takes to successfully meet the demands of the role. By reducing apprehension and unknowns from the hiring equation, organizations find that collaborative hiring statistically improves the retention rate for new employees.
5. Effectively Reduces Unconscious Hiring Bias
There can at times be an unconscious bias within the hiring process, as supervisors and managers have ideals that may not completely align with the soft skills, personality and cultural attributes that a successful candidate would need to thrive in the role. More input from team members can reduce hiring bias, and help your business find the right fit.
Has your business used the collaborative hiring model to improve onboarding and retention of new hires within your organization? Contact our global recruitment team at reesmarx to learn how we can help you source the best and most qualified candidates and apply collaborative feedback into your hiring process.
