Let’s Talk About Flexibility..

Recruiting in today’s IT industry is a very specific challenge. There is obvious scarcity of candidates with right competencies on the market. What is worse, even less are available to you; the good ones are already taken and might not apply for your opening unless you have something incredible to offer at first hand. 

Thus, in searching for the right candidate, employers understand the importance of reaching for the passive candidates, the ones who do not actively Search for jobs. They have also expanded their search over their national boarders long ago. Others are investing highly in building capabilities. Some have focused their intention on attracting with a compelling compensation packages. There are many other innovative solutions; however, the point is that all successful employers have added a pinch of flexibility into their people strategy in order to find their winning strategy. These new solutions in their strategy are at the same time benefits to attract active candidates and engagement tools when reaching out for passive candidates.

Let us be honest with ourselves, the battle will never stop. Waiting for “right circumstances” is just an illusion. Thus, in case you find yourself saying, “I just cannot find the right candidate”, it really means that you are ready for a wake-up call. It means that it is time for her majesty, the Flexibility.

Opening the Floor for Flexibility 

The more flexibility the employer can afford, the greater their success in hiring the right candidate. 

This statement is an advice that I have received early in my recruitment career. After eight years of experience, I can tick this off as one of the best advice's ever. Additionally, I have learned that flexibility builds its power on information and competence. Thus, the greater the knowledge about the market, the greater the insight into the organization, the greater the capability of the recruiter and line manager, the more flexibility the employer can afford.

Flexibility opens the floor for wider perspective, smarter actions and better hiring results. It works like magic. Therefore, roll out the red carpet for Flexibility, now! Or, at least at the moment you have an open position.  

The Puzzle Game

The recruitment process reminds me always of assembling a complex puzzle together. The result depends highly on your skill level and the time you want to invest in it. Sometimes, it is obvious which pieces fit together, and sometimes you are surprised that they do not. The process itself can be daunting, yet it has the power to grasp your attention. Somehow, you become able to reach to new levels of patience because of the awarding contentment when each piece sits perfectly. Once you lean back and look at the perfectly assembled picture, you know that it was worth it. 

Transferring a vacancy directly to into a job add might not be the best way to start the recruitment process. This is especially true if you are looking for the award of a perfectly assembled picture. There is great value in investing some time and effort to take a thorough decision on which position to announce.

Many of my initial discussions with line managers started with high clarity on which position to recruit for and what candidate profile would be the perfect fit. However, at the end of our discussion(s), the line manager and me would change our minds to such a degree that we would decide to recruit a completely different profile, for a completely different position, sometimes, for a whole other department, in a different country. Sometimes, we would agree to shift from recruiting a high-level professional to recruiting a specialist position, a graduate trainee, or vice versa. Sometimes we would search two different profiles at the same time, and depending on which one would be a better fit, we would decide. 

Such discussions always involved deep insight into current and future department or company strategic initiatives, in depth understanding of the organizational structure and a qualitative talent snap shot such as performance, potential, succession and capabilities indicators. Obviously, pre-conditions for such discussions are the line manager’s clarity on the result and an open-minded approach on how to reach it; while the key factor from the recruiter’s side lies evidently in HR related competencies.

Obviously, a quality discussion based on data insights before the search is a much smarter option than one during, or after the search. It is better to discuss the challenges ahead in order to adjust the approach. You probably do not want to have this discussion after you have wasted 10 days on the battlefield with no success. 

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This is Just the Beginning

… of your relationship with Flexibility. There is much more to say on this topic. 

In the next article, find out why this puzzle game is a key enabler to engage the right passive candidate and why the contact with passive candidates is often as stretching as some of the most demanding Yoga positions (like Ganda Bherundasana).