Making sure job descriptions are current, pre-screening candidates and focusing on desired outcomes were among the ways identified to hire the best talent by leading US-based recruiters at a recent virtual conference hosted by the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA).

The conference – Next Generation Recruitment Process Outsourcing – featured speakers from RPOs including Broadleaf Results, Advanced RPO, Hueman RPO, RPO Orion Novotus and others. 

Good hires begin with getting the job description right, said Jason Krumwiede, SVP, client delivery, Broadleaf. In his experience, many were written three to five years ago and were of out of date. “The old adage of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ really applies here,” said Krumwiede. 

Pam Verhoff, president at Advanced RPO, agreed, and emphasised that recruiters must keep hiring managers aligned to the profile, so they weren’t ‘wowed’ by candidates who were good at selling themselves but didn’t match the organisation’s requirements, leading to bad hires.

Bill Boutwell, president of Hueman RPO, called on recruiters to pre-screen candidates thoroughly so that hiring managers trust that candidates being put in front of them are qualified to do the job: “If recruiters are just pushing resumes, managers are going to focus on all the wrong things in an interview, and you aren’t going to have the outcomes you want.”

Hiring managers could avoid bad hires by not rushing into hasty decisions because of a perceived urgency to fill a vacancy. “Hiring leaders make better hiring decisions when they have choices, especially when they are interviewing candidates in close proximity to each other,” Krumwiede said.

Focus on desired outcomes from each hire, suggested Cory Kruse, president at RPO Orion Novotus. He went on to say the perfect way to assess candidates would be to have them spend a day actually doing the job. “Whether it’s writing code, working on a manufacturing line or delivering a sales pitch, an on-the-job demonstration is probably the number one thing I would look for.”

Verhoff agreed but noted this wasn’t always possible. As part of the screening process for mid-level professional jobs, Advanced RPO uses a profiling tool that gives insights into candidates’ motivation.

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