Get Your Hiring Managers Involved: 5 Tips & Tricks

It’s no wonder that hiring managers resist diving into the hiring process—juggling packed schedules and understaffed teams is an uncomfortable squeeze as-is. But to make great hires, you need their input: You need hiring managers to build candidate profiles, to interact with applicants and to share opinions.

What’s a recruiter to do?

We talked to recruiters and hiring managers at hundreds of companies and came up with this list of five best practices for getting your hiring managers interested in and excited about the hiring process.

1. Job descriptions: out with the old, in with the new.

Everyone likes to feel valued and wanted—hiring managers included. Tell yours that reusing existing job descriptions tends to lead to mismatched hires—people who meet yesterday’s challenges instead of current team needs. Ask your hiring managers to write new job descriptions themselves, letting them know that doing so will help you to reel in the right candidates—the types of people they really need and want. Getting hiring managers involved at this stage sets the tone for the entire hiring process. It also lets them know that you have high expectations for their involvement from here on out.

2. Hiring managers: Time = money.

Now that hiring managers have a clear picture of who they’re looking for, figure out how often and at which stages you need them to be involved in the hiring process. Do you want them conducting phone screens? Do you need their help writing interview questions? How many team members should be involved? Have a good idea of the level of involvement you need to be successful, and then communicate that to your hiring managers upfront.

3. Timeline: Be clear.

Get your hiring managers excited about the contribution they’ll make to the company by shifting their focus to the bigger picture. Remind them that they can and should fill roles with performers who will deliver value to the business and contribute to the company’s overall success. Communicate to your hiring managers that you’re on their team: You have the ability to bring in great candidates, and they have the ability to make great hiring decisions. Get them excited about prospective employees by talking about the skills and experiences that a new hire will bring to the company. Emphasize the power of hiring managers in driving growth for the business.

4. Find 15 minutes.

Despite a new big-picture focus, busy hiring managers may still resist devoting time to tasks related to hiring. Even if you know you only need an hour to get them started, that hour can seem like an awful lot of time to a busy manager. The trick is to change that perception by breaking the hour into smaller, more digestible increments. Find 15 minutes on their calendar a few days a week so you can cover the material you need without disrupting the schedule. Need to walk a hiring manager through your recruiting platform? Find 15 minutes. Need help writing interview questions? Get started with a 15-minute slot. Even the busiest hiring managers can manage 15 minutes a few times a week—and those 15 minutes will add up quickly to better engagement and hiring success.

 5. Reporting: metrics are your friend.

Understanding your hiring managers’ engagement is critical to developing and refining a hiring strategy that works. But lengthy processes exhaust hiring managers who just want to fill open positions. To avoid exhaustion and keep your managers engaged, use metrics to figure out the ideal process for your company. Are hiring managers conducting shorter phone screens? Are they giving skewed ratings at certain stages of the hiring process? Pay attention to trends to avoid the same pitfalls next time.

Take control of the hiring process

A successful hiring strategy starts with communication between you and your hiring managers. Although it may seem easier to let hiring managers take a backseat, you’ll make better hires if your managers play an active role in the process. Get them involved early and often. Set expectations. Make their time commitments manageable. Think “big picture.” And use metrics to inform your strategy. Start using these five tricks today to get your hiring managers excited about and engaged with the recruiting process tomorrow.

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