How Can Collaborative Hiring Help You Make Better Decisions?

Collaborative hiring, also known as team-based hiring, gets the entire team involved in hiring decisions. Traditionally, the hiring process has been conducted by only managers. However, innovative firms such as Google, Facebook, and Apple have proven that collaborative hiring has led to better productivity and growth. Keeping collaboration in mind, many organizations have also embraced transparency, group based objective setting, and 360° feedback. Now, team-based hiring is trending in large and small new businesses alike. Given that hiring decisions have a huge impact on an organization, collaborative hiring should not be ruled out of your hiring process.

Benefits of collaborative hiring:

1. Improved employee involvement: Employees involved in the hiring exercise will feel that they are contributing a great value to the team by hiring new employees. Moreover, employees may feel more responsible for the new employee’s performance, given that they played a role in smart hiring. They will be more likely to want to see the new employee succeed because it will be a reflection on themselves. In general, collaborative decision making makes current employees feel valued and they will be more likely to welcome the new employee that they have helped select.

This acknowledgment may equally increase your current employees’ satisfaction with their job. Also, when current employees are involved with the answering job candidate questions during the interview process, they become more knowledgeable about the company and the benefits of working at the company. By helping others understand how great it is to work for your company, they will remind themselves of why they love their own job.

2. More thorough assessment of a job candidate: Having multiple opinions and perspectives from different departments helps hiring managers make a better hiring decision. Different views and opinions increase the likelihood that the new hire will be a good fit and get along with the team.

3. Better job candidate retention: Job candidates will get a better feel for the company’s culture by speaking with more than just one manager. Since members of the team face the job on a daily basis, it may be easier for them to “sell” the company’s culture to the job candidate. Moreover, an employee familiar with the position can accurately give answers to the job candidate’s questions and lessen the job candidate’s concerns or fears about the job. Plus, top talent may be more inclined to accept your job offer if they be working in the company of great coworkers. Perhaps your employees could have a bigger impact on a job candidate’s decision than you.

4. Better transition to the workplace: Once the job candidate is hired the transition in the workplace may be smoother. The job candidate is more informed and knows what to expect and is already familiar with coworkers or immediate supervisors. This means that the likelihood to be surprised or displeased when they really start their new job will be reduced. A realistic preview of the job and their teammates will lead to few surprises and improved companionship.

How to set up a collaborative hiring team:

1. Pick employees that understand the position that needs to be filled
2. Don’t restrict the the collaborative hiring team to managers and recruiters only
3. Pick employees that will be working with the new employee over the months or years to come as an immediate supervisor or coworker.

We know that pre-employment background checks are a must, but having a collaborative hiring effort may be just as important. A bad hire can be extremely pricey for any organization. The Department of Labour estimates that at least 30 percent of an individual yearly salary is lost if the employee resigns or is fired. To battle this, the best thing to do is not make these decisions on your own, but rather as a team collaborative process. If done this way, the likelihood of making a sound hiring decision increases. A collaborative hiring effort will also help strengthen the current employees’ feeling of community and will help remind them of the company’s values and practices. Get your company to work towards a culture of feedback, transparency, and collaboration, and you’ll see it’ll pay off in the long run!