Almost at the same time as our small two-person HR team was temporarily reduced due to maternity leave, the first measures to contain the coronavirus came into force. Read here how this predicament gave rise to our new way of recruiting.
To take some of the load off myself – working part-time, temporarily solely responsible for HR and with three children in home schooling – I decided to adapt the recruitment process. I quickly invited the managers involved in the 6 (!) current recruitments to a meeting and presented my proposed changes. From now on, they would not only handle the initial screening of application dossiers but also conduct the first interviews, entirely without HR. All my colleagues agreed to my proposal quickly and without reservation (you’re the best! A big thank you at this point!).
What happened next was unprecedented: the managers screened and organised their interviews as agreed – but not on their own. They involved their team. The likely future team of our applicants. Questions were diligently prepared and coordinated, small assessments put together and interviews with team members arranged. Can that work?
Yes, it works. “At first it took some getting used to”, confirms our Head of Infrastructure, Manuel Wenger, about presenting the company himself and, as he nicely puts it, “being solely responsible for breaking the ice”. Thanks in part to valuable tips from HR, the interviews soon became routine. Manuel also sees a big advantage in scheduling. Especially when many recruitments are running at the same time, the HR calendar fills up quickly and interview dates have to be pushed far into the future, which increases the risk of candidates dropping out. In the past, Manuel had often involved applicants’ future team colleagues in the recruitment process, not least because they know the specialist field and can judge at first glance whether a candidate would be a good professional fit.
When asked whether they prefer this type of interview, all the “new recruiters” said yes. The idea is “awesome”, says our employee Miguel Perello, who is currently helping to recruit two developers for our streaming unit. Having the opportunity to help choose your future team colleague is not only the best way to show current employees appreciation and great trust, but also a great chance to look at applicants from every angle. While their manager Simon Hasler, Head of Streaming, focuses on the CVs, his colleague Simon Pertschy asks applicants more about their development experience and Miguel wants to learn more about their personal skills. Simon P. also sees it as an opportunity for applicants to see from the outset who they will be working with day in, day out.
I wanted to know whether the decision would turn out differently than if the manager recruited alone. Miguel and Simon P. suspect that the joint decision for or against a candidate will turn out exactly the same. Their manager Simon H., however, doubts this. During the recruitment process, he gained an even better sense of what matters to his fellow recruiters, where they feel sceptical and what questions they still have. He suspects this did influence him subconsciously and helped steer decisions. Despite the extra coordination needed for meeting invitations and the fact that he is taking two of his employees away from their day-to-day work, Simon H. considers this way of recruiting very worthwhile. Decisions rest on a broader basis, and the interviews – on this everyone agrees – are more relaxed. They leave room for more observation, since you are not constantly the one asking questions but can simply listen and observe. Applicants also respond very well to it.
For our Marketing Manager, Daniela Ackermann, it is already completely normal that she, rather than the Head of Marketing together with HR, handles the first recruitment steps on her own. After all, she herself was recruited by a colleague some time ago. The Head of Marketing does attend the first interview with applicants, but the preparation, initial selection and conducting the interview are entirely in Daniela’s hands. The whole team then has a say in the further decisions.
Everyone agrees when it comes to the future: we at Netstream will continue and cultivate this way of recruiting, even after Corona and the shortage of HR resources.
Unfortunately, I was unable to convince either Miguel or Daniela to join me in the HR department. Manuel, on the other hand, is happy to come to HR, but only to have coffee with me and talk shop about recruiting. Only Simon P. no longer finds the idea of doing an internship in HR all that far-fetched…(Strike!).
