After feeling a little bit like I\u2019ve focused on some of the more stressful parts of freelancing lately, I wanted to celebrate some absolutely brilliant things I\u2019ve experienced lately \u2013 and one is definitely recruitment over the last few months. Some approaches have felt revolutionary and some feel so obvious it hurts \u2013 but it\u2019s interesting how each one has made such an impression. It just goes to show how far from the mark a lot of organisations\u2019 recruitment processes are, and how they\u2019re missing a huge trick in setting the tone right early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here are the five big ones that stand out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This organisation laid out their preferred criteria \u2013 so far so standard. But then they went on to explain that if you met 50% of the criteria, they\u2019d want to talk. That 75% would be great, and best of all, that \u201cif you\u2019re nailing 100%…you\u2019re probably not a good fit for us.\u201d I absolutely loved their honesty \u2013 and their obvious culture around realistic expectations and promoting development. It struck me as so different from the usual rigid list of \u201cessentials\u201d and \u201cdesirables\u201d as if they\u2019re always non-negotiable. Instead, it felt like they\u2019d written \u201cwe\u2019re looking for something like this \u2013 let\u2019s talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This organisation was also notable for how they didn\u2019t have essential qualifications for the role \u2013 that they were more interested in what you bring, rather than where you learnt it. When I was looking at employment opportunities over the last few years, so many roles still give GCSE, A-Level and even degree minimum qualification levels to apply. It feels at odds with the increasingly diverse ways that people gain their life experiences \u2013 for instance is travelling less valuable for what you\u2019ve learnt than university? You could argue the opposite is true in terms of applicable life lessons \u2013 you might have learnt more of the \u201cprofessional skills\u201d in the lecture hall, but your soft skills are ones that\u2019ll really do you well in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several organisations have had great approaches to this. One explicitly outlined that being a feminist organisation they have a strong commitment to offering a flexible workplace and that their roles are specifically designed to work around people\u2019s lives as well as their work. They actually stated a 9-5 isn\u2019t expected \u2013 instead because of the nature of project work, time requirements may go up or down in line with the where the project\u2019s at so \u201cflexibility on both sides is important\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It struck me such a unique and refreshing approach, but arguably one that\u2019s just plain common sense. A job is about the work you do, not about the hours you show up for. Whenever the job has allowed, I\u2019ve always been a huge supporter of this \u2013 take a longer lunch if you\u2019re meeting a friend, start earlier and finish earlier if you\u2019ve got an evening commitment, work a bit less this week if you just can\u2019t get going. There\u2019s no point logging hours for the sake of appearances \u2013 provided the job gets done, do it how it suits you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other example of this for me lately was an organisation that stated their preferred time commitment across the month but explained it would be left to the post-holder to decide how to manage their time. Provided the job was being done, they were happy leaving the decision to you. A long overdue move towards recognising how much more flexibly many jobs can be done now, and how much this is valued by your workforce. Not to mention what it signals in terms of a trust-based culture that delegates key decisions to those best-placed to make them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also didn\u2019t go unnoticed how incredibly useful this is for some core groups who might otherwise struggle with work commitments \u2013 parents locked to short school hours, those with caring responsibilities, those with health conditions who benefit from shorter days. There\u2019s a fairly long list of people who suddenly have a much more practical gateway into work through this approach, let alone the people this simply suits because they\u2019re night-owls rather than 9-5ers for instance. Both these examples are a big step forward to making employment much more inclusive \u2013 and arguably open up a far wider pool of candidates for organisations than a traditionally rigid work pattern would give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, I\u2019m not lying. This one\u2019s genuine too. I\u2019m about to interview with an organisation that\u2019s going to pay me for the time I\u2019ll be with them interviewing. As a freelancer, in particular, where you\u2019re constantly aware that any time not spent directly working on a contract isn\u2019t bringing in money and is \u201cdead time\u201d, this was fantastic to see. I was blown away to see how much they valued (quite literally) their candidates. It speaks volumes about their culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This one\u2019s happened a couple of times now and I\u2019m interested to see if this was just coincidence or more of a trend. But for both interviews (in different, unrelated organisations), I\u2019ve been sent the set of interview questions a week in advance with a warm message about giving them a read through and hoping they help me prepare. It might divide opinion but I feel like it gives a much more realistic impression of the person you\u2019re going to get. It\u2019s rare for a job that you need to react in an instant, without the ability to check policy, with a colleague or manager, or simply take some time to consider your response. It\u2019s also equally rare you don\u2019t have access to Google for research and support resources to decide your course of action. Giving some preparation time just reflects real life better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously, the questions themselves matter too. No prep interviews still today have a habit of defaulting to \u201cthink of a time when,\u201d or the dreaded \u201cname three words your friend\/colleague would use to describe you.\u201d I often struggle to the value in these types, particularly the memory test ones where you\u2019re attempting to force-fit previous work on the spot into the skill at hand. It definitely helps that the questions submitted were often well focused on the actual work ahead \u2013 looking for what you support you\u2019d need to get started, your ideas for how to develop the role etc. They were tangible, grounded and practical, and laid all the right foundations for genuinely testing what candidates can offer and how they would tackle the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One stood out by saying “we want you to succeed in this process – let us know if we can do anything else to support you.” Simple but so effective – a great way to set the tone for your recruitment process. The rest of their advert was equally warm, encouraging and open. It felt like they were providing a cheering squad rather than the closed\/cold approach of \u201cgo on then, impress us\u201d that I\u2019ve experienced in numerous recruitment processes and interviews over the years. To immediately start from such a positive note of confidence demonstrated how much they respect candidates, and likely their staff too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s been some really stand-out brilliant recruitment experiences in the past few months. It’s underlined how recruitment is a great indicator of an organisation’s culture and values, that recruitment is as much about you assessing them as them assessing you and how important it is to find organisations whose culture and values really align with your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After feeling a little bit like I\u2019ve focused on some of the more stressful parts of freelancing lately, I wanted to celebrate some absolutely brilliant things I\u2019ve experienced lately \u2013 and one is definitely recruitment over the last few months. Some approaches have felt revolutionary and some feel so obvious it hurts \u2013…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24],"tags":[11,12,21,10],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sector","tag-consultant","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t