Finding and vetting the best candidates

- Henry Ford once said, "Coming together is a beginning, "keeping together is progress, "and working together is success." This illustrates how managers and human resources should be working together to create success in hiring. Let's look at the value of partnering with HR and how they could support you as you find fantastic candidates. First, determine who does what. Well, everyone's favorite answer, it depends. Each company is going to be different in how they are set up based on their company structure, industry, and size. A Fortune 500 Company may have an entire team of HR and recruiting folks, ready and armed with the latest tools and technologies, including experienced recruiters, applicant tracking systems, predictive analytics, and the mastery to handle all of this on their own. All you have to do is turn in a requisition form of what you want. A smaller company may have little to no HR support, leaving you to do it all on your own. The important thing is to partner with the people who have the resources, knowledge, and training to best help you with your goal of hiring. Now secondly, develop a strategy on where you'll find external candidates. An old Chinese proverb states, if you pay peanuts you'll get monkeys. Deciding what the pay range will be is critical in attracting the right talent. Too low and you'll get unqualified folks, too high and you will overpay and lose the company money. Look online for free information on salary ranges in your local area. Also, where to start when looking for external candidates. Develop a strategy based on what you're looking for. A day laborer could possibly be found in placing an ad in the newspaper or online. Whereas an engineer might be found by posting on a specific engineering job board and industry group. Third, look at internal candidates. In my opinion, a good manager will always have in mind who internally can fulfill an opening. Who's on the bench? Who's ready to move up to the next role? This again requires planning and a succession plan. Who else in a different department with transferrable skills might be a good fit? A manager should always be looking for the next internal candidate. I challenge you to collaborate with your HR team on your next hire. Go through a list of viable internal candidates before opening up the position outside the company.