As a manager in a hiring position, you are likely over-extended and under-staffed. Your time is precious, and you need to work efficiently to get the right people on your team. Your needs are the same, whether working with internal or external recruiters. You require the highest caliber candidates in the least amount of time and for the best return-on-investment. Here is the 3-2-1 roadmap for hiring managers to get the most from their recruiter.

Three Reasons Why a Hiring Manager Should Use an Outside Recruiter

1. Save money. Compared to employees, contingency-based recruiters do the work but don’t get paid until you hire a referred candidate. Your budget is strapped right now, and you likely can’t afford to bring your department’s staffing back to pre-COVID levels. We can do the work of several full-time, in-house recruiters for a fraction of the cost. We can be a stop-gap solution for the near future, developing an ongoing relationship for the long haul and the more challenging searches. With over 140 offices nationwide, the breadth and depth of Goodwin’s reach easily surpasses what can be done internally, unless you are blessed with a cadre of internal recruiters.

2. Save time. We will send you prequalified, pre-screened, interviewed candidates who are informed and excited about your concept, helping save you time. You won’t have to slog through hundreds of resumes anymore to find that unicorn. Using our available resources, we cast a wider net and have easier access to passive candidates. Goodwin Recruiting’s standard of practice is to interview our candidates face-to-face before presenting them to a hiring manager – in-person or by webcam. You’ll save the frustration of scheduling a candidate who looks great on paper but presents poorly in person.

3. Hire the best. We are industry specialists. We use non-traditional resources to increase candidate diversity. If a candidate is interviewing with multiple companies, we can give you the edge since we build solid, communicative relationships, and we know what our candidate is thinking. We can provide you with their feedback throughout the interview process, what kind of impression your operations team is making, and how your group stacks up against other opportunities. We can also tell you their thoughts about the compensation packages that might be in front of them, including yours. We will make sure all parties are on the same page to ensure the long-term success of the person you choose to hire within your organization.

Two Critical Components of How Hiring Managers Can Get the Most from a Recruiter

Getting the most from your recruiter should be approached the same way you approach getting the most from an employee. Your people are part of your team, and so is your recruiter. You’ll find that you get much better results if you treat the relationship the same as an internal team member. The most successful relationships are created by choosing carefully on the front end and then providing the tools needed for success, in this case, good communication.

1. Choose the right company and the right recruiter for the job.

• Is the recruiter a culture fit? Do their values align with your company’s? Is their personality one you’d like to work with for the long-term?
• Do they have previous experience to understand your business?
• Do you have confidence the recruiter will be a good brand advocate?
• Do they have a history of success – the recruiter personally and the recruiting company?
• Do they have an action plan beyond job postings and searches in all the primary job and resume boards, like searching an extensive internal database of candidates, social media networking, and direct recruiting, if desired?
• Does the recruiter have diversity training, and can they do a deep dive into non-traditional resources to maximize qualified candidates’ diversity?
• Do they have the drive needed to be successful? Were they professionally persistent in soliciting the relationship?
• How well-connected are they through their prior roles or their LinkedIn connections?
• Have they done their research? Do they know your brand?
• Evaluate the company. What’s their history and reputation? Are they specialized? Is a team approach used? How big and how broad is the company? Are they former operators? Is there region-based support? Does territory limit the recruiters, or can there be a nationwide effort?

2. Communication. Relationships start with good communication, and this is especially true in recruiting. Communication should be a two-way street as well as transparent, timely, and professional.

• Be clear about your needs, including the level of urgency.
• What challenges are you having?
• Provide details that will help your recruiter incentivize a candidate: compensation, benefits, culture, leadership style, why people like working for your company, and what makes a person successful in your company?
• Make sure they understand the job description and the qualifying background and traits.
• Have an open discussion about what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t.
• Be clear about the interview process.
• Respond to submittals as quickly as possible with feedback. Even if you can’t get the candidate interviewed tomorrow, it’s essential to let your recruiter know that you like their background and intend to interview them as soon as possible. It’s also important to provide constructive feedback when the fit is wrong to fine-tune the search.

One Company That Does It All

Over two decades ago, our founder, Eric Goodwin, discovered that the recruiters he was working with to staff his restaurants did not understand the hospitality industry. He knew he could do better and began to build Goodwin Hospitality. Since then, we have evolved into Goodwin Recruiting, a full-service, national management recruiting firm known for making genuine connections between talent and companies.

Over the years, Goodwin Recruiting has grown. On top of our operation’s roots, we now serve all office functions, such as accounting, finance, HR, marketing, and sales, both in the hospitality industry and well beyond. We have an entire team dedicated to Manufacturing, Engineering, and Construction roles, as well as a Healthcare and Senior Living contingent. Whatever your needs, Goodwin has the specialists on board to support your organization’s growth.

Goodwin’s growth from one office in 1999 to over 140 offices at the end of 2020 has not changed the organization’s commitment to its Core Focus to “Be the Recruiting Company of Choice for Our Partners, Clients, and Candidates” or its Core Values, which have strengthened and grown into a pervasive culture. One could argue that it’s the Focus and Values that have fostered the growth and success that the company has achieved. As evidence, Goodwin Recruiting was recognized by Forbes as one of “America’s Best Professional Recruiting Firms” in 2020.

When you work with Goodwin Recruiting, we get to know your business, inside and out, to identify talented candidates with the right skills, personality, and cultural alignment to succeed in your organization. Our clients know that when we send them candidates to interview, it will be worth their while.

Goodwin Recruiting is driven to enhance our clients’ businesses and change our candidates’ lives. We stand ready to help you today!