Ep 68: How to Build a Recruiting Organization with Andrew Bartlow from Series B Consulting

Problem: How do you hire a workforce for your organization?

Hiring the right person for the right job can be difficult. Andrew Bartlow provides insights on best practices for talent acquisition for your business.

Building a Recruiting Organization

Andrew is a thought leader in organization effectiveness as well as the co-author of the book, Scaling for Success: People Priorities for High-Growth Organizations. He is a wealth of information regarding hiring and organizing businesses for growth and success.

Define your businesses needs

Andrew is adamant that anyone who says they have the solution for building an organization without first asking you what you and your business needs are, is only interested in selling product and not in growth for your company. That is why the first step is to always look inward to define the needs and type of growth you want for your business.

After you evaluate what that definition is for you, that’s when you can have a plan for what you want and need in a workforce. Based on your definition and the type of workforce you need, you can then build a candidate generation engine.

It starts with defining your needs. Have a workforce plan.

Hire a recruiter

If you’re looking for less than twenty hires a year, a in-house recruiter would help you break even, because a typical search fee will range from 20% to 35% of first year’s target total cash compensation, and that’s a lot of money. 

If you’re looking to hire more than twenty hires a year, an executive, or a specialized role, then it would be best to hire an agency. If you are hiring an outside recruiter, they should come equipped with their own network, tool, and criteria. Meanwhile, an in-house recruiter will have a limited network to choose from.

A good recruiter will not just source candidates for you but will help you build a selection process and stick to it.

Indeed is now the world’s largest job site. Postings there are less expensive than LinkedIn.

Places to find a workforce

• LinkedIn: for professional and executive hires
• Indeed: for workforce hires

Make the most of some of your free employer branding work. Most candidates or even prospects  will want to check you out before they put any time into considering your organization. 

Tools and Processes

Connecting with Prospects

You need to find the right employee for your specific purpose. You need to attract these people by authentically showing your vision and mission during the hiring process. It is also important to connect with your prospects on a personalized level while also making sure to use targeted emails instead of form, cold outreach messages.

It’s so important to differentiate yourself. How are you attracting and repelling the right people?

Selection Processes

During the hiring and screening process, consider the phrase, “WIIFM: What’s in it for me?” This is a great way to connect with your prospects. At every step of the process, emphasize what you can do for them.

Andrew’s advice is to have a good selection process without the use of personality tests. Instead, design your selection process in a logical, streamlined way.

Candidate Funnel

1. Cast a wide net.
2. Recruiter conducts a paper screening process
3. Hiring manager eyeballs CVs and resumes
4. Panel of managers

If you are looking for a tool to help you manages applicants, Andrew suggests Greenhouse.io as a customizable applicant tracking system. He also suggests reading his book for more process templates and frameworks: Scaling for Success: People Priorities for High-Growth Organizations.

It’s less about the technology and more about the process.