#2- Solutions for the Top 3 Problems We Solve for Hiring Managers: Second Solution

Here we are with Tip #2 in our mini-series for hiring managers!

In case you missed it, we recently launched our One Eighty Collective website (we’re stoked!), and in celebration, this week, we are providing answers to a Hiring Manager’s Top 3 Hiring Problems. You can check out the announcement here and yesterday’s Tip #1 here.

Topic #2: It’s All About Perspective

Problem: Candidates aren't accepting your offers

The Real Issue: You don’t know your candidates’ primary motivators, ideal growth paths, or other interview activities/offers.

Solution: Build relationship-building, candidate-centric questions, and feedback loops into the interview process.

Opportunity Cost: If no one is looking after the candidates’ needs or seeking to understand their perspective, they’ll find a different team who will.

Perspectives are like embarrassing photos. Everyone has one, but if you want to see it, you’ll have to ask. Because everyone looks through their own lens and has their own priorities, gathering all the information and looking at everyone’s perspectives is a crucial part of a successful hiring process. This includes the hiring manager and the cross-functional interview panel as well as candidates.

Don’t look for the best “XYZ job title;” look for the best match on both sides. Here’s how you can do that:

• Get to know your candidates. Your first interview should always include questions about what they are looking for. Find out what’s important for them in their next career move and what they’re looking to achieve in the next handful of years (and beyond). If it’s not aligned with the role, you’ll save yourself a lot of time. If it is, you know you’re on the right path.
• Listen. Dale Carnegie is known to have said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” If you’re taking the time to interview someone, take the time to listen. Not only will the candidate feel valued, but understanding what’s important to them will be your sales playbook when it comes to closing.
• Build feedback loops. As discussed in our hiring rubric guide, feedback from your hiring team is critical, but often we forget about feedback from the candidate. Your recruiter (or internal TA or HR person) should be debriefing with a candidate to get their feedback as well. This point-person plays a crucial role in the process. To the candidate, they’ll be a sounding board, a confidante, and an information source. To you and your team, they’ll have the keys to the kingdom - gathering specific feedback (that can be used to improve your process), gauging interest levels, identifying motivators, calling out closing obstacles like other offers or potential counter-offers, and learning how they value different components of compensation.
• Make your offers competitive. We advise our clients on offers because we’ve built an authentic relationship and understand what’s important to candidates and what motivates them. For example, if you know a candidate is more excited about equity than base salary, build an offer that speaks to that (or vice versa). If you know they’re walking away from a big bonus payout in order to take this role, consider how you can make them whole. Candidates want to feel valued, and offering a package that does that is what gets you a signature on the dotted line. If you haven’t asked candidate-centric questions all throughout the interview process, your offer is just a stab in the dark at what you think they’ll accept. Your offer should be a cross-section of what they value and the value they’ll bring to you.

We named our agency One Eighty as a nod to how quickly things can shift when you look at something from a different perspective. Through building authentic connections and gaining a holistic understanding of who our candidates are and what they really want, we provide perspective to our clients so they have the insight they need to get to the best possible outcome.