In his book” The Speed of Trust” Stephen R. Covey says “Trust is the one thing that changes everything.”
In Hiring, building trusted relationships starts before the recruitment and interviewing phases begin.
It starts with the preparation you do before you set out to hire that builds trust sets the stage for WHY a candidate chooses your company instead of a competitor’s.
In any hiring climate, You want to be a candidate’s First choice and highlight WHY joining your company is a good career move for them.
Not only are YOU interviewing a potential candidate, THEY are also interviewing YOUR firm, and in that vain they are reviewing YOU, and checking out your company’s reputation.
It is no longer a one-way responsibility on the candidate’s shoulders to promote their skills, YOU have to do the same.
What prospective candidates learn about your firm via your digital presence helps establish your employer brand and builds trust between your company and their decision to apply. Clarifying your purpose, identifying your values, and highlighting your culture, and being a subject matter expert in your industry builds trust with applicants.
Building trust includes the communication you have with them from the time they apply, throughout the interview phase to the final step of an offer.
Trust is also built (or broken) in how you lead, how you give feedback, how you interview, and how you,= as a leader, show up.
I am going to ask you more questions to get you thinking about “why”…..
You don’t need to have the answers now….this is to transform the hiring mindset. There is a worksheet in the resources section to work on this when you are ready.
Trust is a critical component here and ties right into why you are hiring now:
Why is this role open?
- Is it because of growth?
- Or is it because of attrition?
If it’s because of growth:
Are you hiring because your workload is too much and your team is already tapped?
- Or is your team missing key skillsets to address the new work?
- Is it to offload some of the things that you are doing yourself that you just don’t want to be doing anymore?
- Is there an influx of projects, however, you don’t have enough staff to be able to handle them, or are deadlines being missed or opportunities being lost?
However, if it’s for attrition:
- Did an employee leave?
- Or did you let somebody go?
These are very different questions to ponder and the answers may shed light on a deeper issue to address with the next hire:
If somebody left:
- Why did they leave?
- Was there a cultural nuance that you need to be aware of?
- A team dynamic or leadership issue to be aware of?
Was it because of salary/benefits? - Did they leave for a better opportunity? What does that mean? And how can you message and build trust that they can grow and flourish right here and that your workplace is that better opportunity?
Or did you let somebody go?
- Why was that?
- What was missing in how they did their job?
- What was missing in their technical or communication skills?
Contemplating these questions will help you determine what your team needs now, who will be the right candidate, and how your employer brand is perceived… then start building trust with your messaging as you embark on the hiring journey.
Let’s do a Pulse Check
- What does your employer brand convey?
- Can an applicant get a sense of your culture from your digital presence?
- How is trust established via your online communication?
What the previous episodes in this series: