Win in the middle management, and first of all, win in recruitment, because only when the suitable middle management is in the right position can our company have the capital and guarantee to win with middle management. This article attempts to adopt a strategy of dealing with each problem separately from the perspective of the recruitment process for middle-level positions, providing several major strategies for companies to "win in recruitment", hoping that they will be enlightening and provide reference for companies in recruiting middle-level personnel.
Preparation, basic work cannot be ignored
Economic foundation determines superstructure, and middle-level recruitment is no exception. Whether the basic work is solid and substantial directly relates to the progress speed and ultimate recruitment results of the entire recruitment process. So, what basic work should we do in recruiting middle-level personnel? Generally speaking, the basic work for recruiting middle-level personnel mainly includes the following aspects: First, review the necessity of recruitment needs. The necessity of recruitment needs plays a decisive role in the entire recruitment outcome. If the recruitment need lacks necessity, then the overall evaluation of the recruitment result will be greatly discounted. Therefore, when receiving a recruitment need for middle-level personnel, we must review its necessity, such as analyzing the source of the recruitment need, reviewing the importance of the recruitment position, and evaluating whether there are other alternatives. Second, clarify recruitment goals and concepts. Goals and concepts influence actions and outcomes. Only by clarifying recruitment goals and concepts can our recruitment actions be targeted and ensure recruitment results. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the setting of recruitment goals must follow the SMART principle and be detailed as much as possible, because the degree of goal achievability and detail also play a constraining role in the effectiveness of the goal. Third, improve job analysis descriptions. Job analysis descriptions are the directional cornerstone for conducting the entire recruitment activity. If we depart from a standardized job analysis description, the entire middle-level recruitment activity will fall into an extremely chaotic state. Therefore, before structuring middle-level recruitment, the human resources department and the hiring department must use the method of negotiating with the responsible person of the hiring department to formulate and improve job analysis descriptions, laying the foundation for the entire middle-level recruitment activity.
Channels, understanding the meaning of "rationality"
When a recruitment need is proposed, companies first think about "What kind of people do I need?", and secondly "How to find such people?". How to find such people? This involves the issue of channel selection. For middle-level promotion, the channels are complex and varied, including internal rotation, internal promotion, internal employee recommendations, employee self-recommendations, etc., for internal channels, and online recruitment, print media recruitment, headhunting recruitment, special recruitment sessions for mid-to-senior level talents, etc., for external recruitment channels. Faced with so many and complicated recruitment channels, how should companies choose? The answer is to understand the "rationality" of channel selection and do a good job in combining the characteristics of recruitment channels with the characteristics of recruitment positions. First, clearly understand the characteristics of the recruitment position, not only knowing "what kind of people I need", but also being familiar with the position level, importance, category, urgency of recruitment, salary range, market supply and demand status, frequent activity areas, etc., of these people; Second, analyze the advantages and disadvantages of various recruitment channels, such as the pros and cons of internal promotion, the advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment, the advantages and disadvantages of on-site recruitment, the advantages and disadvantages of headhunting recruitment, and the advantages and disadvantages of employee recommendations. Only by fully understanding the advantages and disadvantages of various recruitment channels can one make "rational" choices; Third, is to do a good job in combination work. Specifically, it means optimizing the combination of already obtained job characteristics with channel advantages and disadvantages. For example, middle-level positions are an important and special class within a company, requiring fast and accurate recruitment channels. Thus, whichever channel has these characteristics should be chosen for middle-level recruitment activities.
Interviews, knowing oneself and others
"Knowing oneself and others ensures victory in every battle." In recruiting middle-level personnel, how can we achieve this knowledge to ensure success in every battle? This depends on companies doing three things:
First, scientifically build the interview team.
Generally speaking, for middle-level personnel recruitment, companies conduct two levels of interviews. The first level is the HR recruitment manager, who mainly evaluates the comprehensive qualities of candidates using their professional expertise; the second level is the hiring department manager, who primarily evaluates the professional skills of candidates from a professional perspective. Therefore, from this simplified interview process, we know that a reasonable interview team should at least include the HR recruitment manager and the hiring department manager. Of course, if conditions permit, companies can also try hiring external recruitment experts and include them as key members of the interview team.
Second, clarify the desired information. The request to clarify desired information may seem like "adding unnecessary details," but in fact, the reasoning is not so simple. Before formally conducting interviews, perhaps many companies will have a goal for the interview, but more often, the interview goals of companies are macroscopic, knowing the general but not the specifics, leading to the main basis for hiring decisions being macro feelings, resulting in either hiring the wrong person or the hired person leaving after a short period of time. Therefore, companies must clarify the desired information before conducting interviews, such as what are the essential requirements of the recruited position, what professional skills of the interviewee we need to understand, and how to obtain information on comprehensive qualities. To address this, companies can adopt a "goal + method" strategy to outline an interview plan, listing the information needed to be obtained and designing several questions based on each piece of information to ensure targeted interview questioning.
Third, select appropriate interview subjects and methods. Although all are middle-level position recruitments, due to the different characteristics of various middle-level positions, the selected interview subjects and methods should also differ accordingly. Generally speaking, companies use talent assessments, behavioral simulation exercises, case study exercises, leaderless group discussions, behavioral event interviews, and other tools and methods frequently in middle-level personnel recruitment. These tools and methods focus on obtaining the potential managerial abilities and managerial qualities of candidates, making them generally suitable for managerial middle-level positions. For technical middle-level positions, companies should rely on practical simulation and training methods in addition to the aforementioned methods, since the differences in characteristics between technical and managerial middle-level positions determine the differences in interview tools and methods. Therefore, in middle-level personnel recruitment, companies should differentiate the categories of middle-level positions and choose appropriate interview subjects and methods based on those categories.
Of course, merely doing these things is not enough. This is just some advice on middle-level personnel interviews at a macro level. In terms of details, such as the location for waiting during interviews, the formal interview venue, and the pre-interview setup, companies need to carefully consider and emphasize a "people-oriented" and "respecting talent" atmosphere.
Hiring Decisions, Finding the Right Basis is Key
After completing the interviews, we need to make hiring decisions. But faced with the importance of middle-level positions and the multitude of interview information, how can we ensure the accuracy of hiring decisions? The answer is that finding the right basis is key. Faced with a multitude of interview information, we must use a method of eliminating the coarse and selecting the fine, finding the critical basis for supporting hiring decisions. Generally speaking, in the hiring decision-making phase, companies should focus on and analyze these three factors: First, the company's own culture. Corporate culture may be intangible, but it truly influences every corner of the company. Therefore, in recruiting middle-level personnel, companies should pay attention to whether their own culture aligns and matches with the intended hiree. Second, work experience. Perhaps we should not be solely focused on experience when hiring, but our attention to work experience is not about simple work history; rather, it is about focusing on the managerial abilities and insights accumulated by the intended hiree during their work journey. This not only helps reduce the risk of hiring someone unsuitable but also helps save pre-job training time and shorten the adjustment period for new hires. Therefore, paying attention to work experience and interpreting managerial abilities and qualities through work experience is also an important way to find the basis for hiring decisions. Third, professional ethics. Professional ethics directly affect professional behavior, which in turn affects work outcomes. Middle-level personnel are the backbone of the company, and if there are issues with professional ethics, it will inevitably bring unforeseeable risks to corporate management and operations. Therefore, companies need to have a clear understanding of the professional ethics of intended hirees amidst complex information to ensure the accuracy of hiring decisions.
Evaluation Results, Comparing Basic Indicators
Recruitment evaluation may be a forgotten corner, as usually, companies focus more on whether the predetermined recruitment objectives have been achieved, which is essentially a result-oriented evaluation. However, practitioners familiar with performance management know that performance management not only needs to evaluate results but also processes. Therefore, the core of middle-level recruitment evaluation for companies needs to focus on both the process of the recruitment activities that have occurred and the recruitment results. First, in terms of process evaluation, companies need to pay attention to whether there were any unexpected incidents, whether these incidents were reasonably resolved, whether there were discrepancies between plans and reality, and whether there were any obvious omissions. On the recruitment results side, companies mainly focus on three basic indicators: cost accounting, actual number of people in place, and quality of recruited personnel. Meanwhile, when conducting recruitment evaluation work, companies also need to grasp the key point of timeliness. Usually, within one month after completing each project or stage of recruitment activities, companies need to conduct recruitment evaluations, because once the gap between performance evaluation and recruitment activities becomes too long, the motivational effect of performance evaluation will show a decreasing trend. Therefore, the timeliness of recruitment evaluation is also a key point that the entire middle-level recruitment process needs to grasp.
Talent Reserve, the Stabilizer and Booster for "Winning in Middle Management"
Through talent recruitment to fill vacant positions, it is undoubtedly an important and reasonable method. However, upon closer examination, we can easily see that the risks associated with this approach are relatively large. If there are no suitable talents available internally or externally within a certain period of time, companies can only passively wait. Therefore, in recruiting middle-level personnel, companies should not only closely monitor external sources but also develop a talent reserve strategy when they discover suitable "talents" required by the company. They should strive to incorporate them under their banner by all means. Additionally, companies should establish mechanisms such as talent ladder development, rotational job assignments, and talent pools, making talent reserves become the stabilizer and booster for the company's "success in promotions" and "success in middle management."