Ask a wide range of recruiters to describe or identify what they would most want their clients, hiring managers, to know in order to make the recruiting process more effective and valuable, and you’re likely to hear some or all of the following points:

• As the hiring manager, your ability to predict the future performance of people is just as important as your ability to predict the performance of any other critical asset or investment.

• Each incremental improvement in your ability to predict success dramatically improves your return. Doing it even a little bit better than competitors makes a huge difference.

• Even the best selection methods can only predict 30% of future job performance.

• Every manager is a recruiter too and needs to “sell” candidates on the job, as much as evaluate the candidate.

• The recruiting process is a collaborative effort. Managers know their industry and have the best contacts within it. A strong partnership between manager and recruiter is one of the keys to success in the process.

• Despite prevailing market conditions, top talent candidates are always in short supply and good candidates need courting.

• Return, risk, and liquidity are not only financial concepts, but they can also apply to talent.

• Well written job descriptions are important, help expedite the recruiting process and result in better hires.

• Relative to number of candidates, quantity does not equal quality. 3-5 well-screened candidates are often better than a dozen fast referrals.

• Proactive interviewing is important. Be willing to interview good candidates with the right talents even when there isn’t an opening. Interview to build a pipeline of talent for key/recurring jobs.

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