Stacy Pursell
The VET Recruiter ®
If someone were to ask you, “What’s the #1 key to hiring top talent in this current market?” you probably would have a litany of answers ready for them.
“An attractive salary and benefits package.”
“A great company culture.”
“A great employer brand that stresses giving back to the community.”
Those are all good answers. However, none of them is the #1 key to hiring top talent in this current job market. That’s because hiring does not occur in a vacuum. Hiring occurs in a very competitive marketplace, one that consists of many other employers, all of who are trying to hire the same candidates that you’re trying to hire.
Why you will vs. why you won’t
To help illustrate this, I’m going to present a list of reasons why you would think that you’re about to hire a great candidate for your open position. Then I’m going to present a list of reasons why, despite the fact you thoughtwere going to hire that person, you did NOT hire them.
First, the reasons why would think you’re about to hire them:
- The candidate said that they loved your organization.
- The candidate said that they wanted to work for your organization.
- Your company represents one of the top employers within your space.
- The candidate interviewed very well.
- The candidate indicated that they enjoyed the interview and everyone they met during the interview.
- The candidate stated that they thought they would be a good fit for the organization.
- You thought the candidate would be a good fit for the organization, as well.
All of that sounds great, doesn’t it? Based upon that list alone, you would almost think it’s a foregone conclusion that the candidate will soon be working for you. Well, let’s dispel that notion with the list of reasons why you will NOT be hiring this candidate:
- You had to wait another week for an important member of the team to meet with the candidate.
- You engaged in lengthy discussions with HR over the salary requirements for the position.
- You waited even longer so you could interview a few other people and “be sure” about making an offer to the candidate.
- You knew that the candidate was interviewing elsewhere, but that knowledge did not affect the timing nor the pace of your process.
And this is just the list of reasons why you won’t be hiring the candidate. That’s because while all of this is happening, your competition is also in motion. However, what they’re doing stands in stark contrast to the list above.
Acting vs. thinking
Instead of just thinking about hiring the candidate, one of your competitors is acting to make it happen. It’s the important difference between thinking about doing something and actually doing it. Your competition didn’t wait for all of the reasons that you waited. They didn’t think about hiring the candidate. They took concrete steps to make it happen.
They conducted video interviews for those team members who could not meet with the candidate in person. They made the decision that the candidate was worth moving quickly for. They made a high-end offer to help ensure acceptance. In short, they sped up the process to get the job done!
It’s completely understandable that an organization does not want to make a bad hire. It’s also understandable that the same organization wants to make the best hire possible. However, there is something known as “paralysis by analysis.” There is also a big difference between hiring an A-level candidate and hiring a B-level candidate in terms of the return that you receive on the hiring investment you make in both of them. Specifically, you receive a much higher return on the A-level candidate.
So while you think that the only thing of which you’re guilty is being thoughtful and careful, unfortunately that is not the case. You’re also guilty of not being decisive. Or perhaps more accurately, you’re guilty of not being decisive enough.
That’s because the #1 key to hiring top talent in this current market is the ability to assess quickly and act decisively.
Don’t be “late to the party”
After all, it doesn’t matter if the candidate loves your organization. It doesn’t matter if they want to work for you. It doesn’t matter if you’re among the top employers in your field.
If you don’t make an offer to the candidate before one of your competitors does, then you will not be able to hire the candidate! You will be “too late to the party.” A candidate does not know that you want them to work for you until they know that you want them to work for you. And the only way to communicate that is by making a competitive offer of employment.
Animal Health Companies and Veterinary practices put a lot of time, energy, and effort into trying to be an employer of choice. They try to make themselves look as attractive as possible to top candidates. They do whatever they can to “sell” their open positions and their organization. And even if they’re successful in doing all of these things, they can still fail because they do not move with urgency and they do not act decisively.
Working with an experienced search consultant can help you shorten the hiring process without sacrificing quality. In fact, shortening the process and making it more efficient can allow you to target top candidates more effectively. This, in turn, will help you to get an offer of employment in front of them more quickly, thus increasing the chances that they will work for your organization.
Hiring well is about more than what you have to offer to top candidates. It’s also about speed, timing, and acting instead of just thinking.
Act with urgency, act with decisiveness, and act before your competition does!
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1.By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2.By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.
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