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The second stage can then focus more on the ‘softer’ side of things, specifically cultural ‘fit’. You might decide to host an assessment day and invite other heads of department to meet the candidate. Any process you implement should remain two way as it’s important the candidate can use it to assess you as a potential employer as much as you will want to assess them as a potential new employee. This is particularly relevant if you have involved headhunters in the search as you are attempting to attract what appear to be ‘happy’/satisfied employees away from their current workplace.
There should be a clear plan laid out for the day and this will need communicating to the candidate. Again, you will want to tailor the assessment day to your own business, but some logical steps may include:
- An initial meeting with the board of directors.
- A tour of the factory so that the candidate can really visualize exactly what you do, the processes involved and how internal departments link and work together.
- A series of one-to-one sessions with other department heads followed by a collective get together over lunch.
- A debrief session between the department heads and the board of directors to feedback on their thoughts so far and what they have learned. This could take place in tandem with the candidate putting their own thoughts together on what they have learned so far about the company and culture.
- A summary meeting between the candidate and board of directors which can be used to raise and answer any questions either party may have.
Go, No Go?
Now it’s decision time! If you like what you have seen and heard, and you are confident that the candidate is technically competent in carrying out the role, then chances are you will be looking to make an offer. Typically, this will involve you working in conjunction with the headhunter to help support and negotiate the final remuneration package and start date.
If, however, your decision is not to proceed then quite often the headhunter will feed this back to the candidate on your behalf. It’s important at this stage to take stock and review. It’s certainly a brave decision to say no to a candidate, particularly if the process has taken place over a long period of time. The momentum can build quickly, but while it might be hard to say no, if your process is robust enough it should fail ‘safe’. And remember, there’s never the right time to employ the wrong person!
If there are no changes that need making to the person specification or the job description, then a decent headhunter should offer to run the search again for you free of charge. If minor tweaks are needed, there may be additional fees, although you would hope that these would be offered at a discounted rate to you.
Hopefully, this article has highlighted a number of ways in which you can attract top talent to your company and how best to then assess the candidates you find in front of you. The process itself can be complex, time-consuming and expensive. But failing to put in place robust ‘checks and balances’ up front and taking on a new hire that turns out to be bad for your business is worse. Much worse.
This article originally appeared on the JJS Manufacturing blog, which can be found here.
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