Let’s face it, as a Hiring Manager, it can be a challenge finding the right people for your technical team. No doubt fruitless searches and interviews take up vast amounts of your time and often leaves you feeling deflated and frustrated.
Firstly, never underestimate the power of a good job specification, but before you rush off to write a wish-list of ‘must have’ and ‘nice to have’ skills, you need to manage your expectations and the companies expectations. Usually the number one reason why a company struggle to fill a role, is because their expectations for the ideal candidate is too high; or they are too rigid in their requirements, or they are seeking someone who is a hybrid of many roles.
As a technical recruitment agency, dealing with some of the UK leading household names, we see first hand, how unrealistic expectations can have an adverse effect on filling a role. Frequently, we are asked by these companies to backfill roles after an employee has left and are presented with an extensive list of skills they expect the new person to possess, in fact usually they are looking for a carbon-copy of their ex-employee.
Instead, we try to encourage our clients to whittle the skills down to those they cannot do without from their new hire, and those they would be willing to train. We also ask them to consider how many of the skills their ex-employee gained whilst in employment, and would they be willing to let the new person do the same?
So before writing the job specification consider the following:
– Are your requirements realistic?
– Could you compromise on the skills you want the candidate to have?
– For someone with the motivation to learn, would you be able offer training to get the candidate to the level you need?
– If you are back filling a role, what skills did that person initially possess, and what skills did they gain during their employment?
– Could you consider individuals from further afield?
– Could you offer remote or flexible hours, to attract the right candidate?
– Must they hold all the relevant certifications, or could you offer this as part of the package?
Now that you have handle on your expectations, you are ready to begin writing your job specification, but if you are still not convinced that learning to compromise on your expectations could be a good thing, then consider this…
“Could you have trained someone up to do the job, in the time you have spent looking for someone who already has every skill you want?”
Struggling to fill a role, then why not speak to one of our expert consultants for further advice?