Four Tips for Recruiter-Hiring Manager Alignment that Wins Over Candidates

Job seekers, especially during the uncertainty of a pandemic, apply for multiple positions across handfuls of companies with the goal of finding the right opportunity — one that's with an organization that shares the same values, offers an exceptional benefits package, comes with career development, and has an irresistible culture.

From a company perspective, winning these high-performing job candidates requires standing out from the crowd in a very big way. There are lessons to be learned and best practices to adopt, all for the sake of engaging and acquiring the most dedicated workers with a fine-tuned candidate experience.

Job candidates look for confidence the company has in their hiring processes — that the recruiter fully understands the role and that the hiring manager is genuinely interested in them, their background and particular skills.

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What can recruiters and hiring managers do to improve the process and hire top talent?

1. Get on the same page sooner rather than later.

A recruiter that seems to just check off minimum qualification boxes, and then a hiring manager that's probably seeing a candidate's resume for the first time is a recipe for disaster in the hiring process.

A recruiter should know what to look for when working to fill an open position; however, short-staffed recruiting departments can block this from happening. Instead of focusing on a single role, recruiters screen many candidates simultaneously for different positions. The best fix here is alignment between recruiters and hiring managers, from job intake meetings to quick sync ups.

2. Communicate A LOT from the get-go.

Hiring managers must be absolutely certain of what being a best-fit candidate means. Recruiters face even more complications and delays in the process when hiring managers can't make up their minds. Greater communication earlier in the recruiting process enables recruiters to present candidate leads, prospective top talent, and people who've applied for similar positions — all contributing to a more efficient task list that effectively leads to offering a job to a high-quality worker.

There's really no over-communicating a recruiter and hiring manager can do when it comes to making candidates feel like they matter, and if hired, will become a valued part of your team. Early, regular communication ensures, that with the final pool of candidates, that the best fit for the job is the one who gets the offer. Check out our guide to the seven best recruiting tools to see how to make this step easier.

3. Clarify critical information ahead of screening.

From the candidate's standpoint, they too benefit from hiring manager-recruiter alignment. When critical information is exchanged between the two team members, the recruiter is equipped to ask more informed, relevant questions of candidates during screening. They can share more details of the role and its responsibilities, and maximize effectiveness in guiding the candidates from step to step in the interview process.

It's all too easy for a recruiter to speak to a strong candidate only to relay surface-level, ambiguous information about a day-in-the-life with your company. Candidates want the real deal in knowing what they can expect if they join your team, and this includes their career well beyond the first 90 days.

There's no better source for this kind of information than the hiring manager themself, so why not get them involved? If this information comes from a recruiter who's not been well-prepped, organizations risk losing top talent because the new hires don't get what they bargained for, and grow unhappy in their roles.

4. Appoint the hiring manager for candidate engagement.

Hiring managers can make a huge impact on the candidate experience by reaching out to job prospects directly, as opposed to keeping the first few conversations solely between candidates and recruiters. It really makes a difference when hiring managers reach out to candidates from the very first step, too.

From there, the recruiter takes over next steps, fully describing the candidate journey and giving prospective talent a clear idea of what to expect. There's never a time that's too early. Even if the very first outreach comes from the hiring manager, and then the recruiter later presents an offer, the initial engagement creates excitement for the candidate in envisioning their career with your organization.

RELATED: Bringing Authentic Stories to Life - How to convey an engaging company culture on your career site

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Phenom's here to help you refine and refuel the connection between top talent and your company's hiring needs. Read more about the Phenom Candidate Experience platform.