In recruitment, it often revolves around reach. Reaching the right target audience. Attracting the right candidates. Ensuring your vacancy is seen. And of course, that is important. In a job market where good candidates are scarce, you want to be visible to the people you are looking for.
But there is an important step between reaching someone and hiring someone. Because reaching the right people does not necessarily mean they are suitable.
From attracting to recruiting
A strong job campaign can yield many candidates. An attractive employer story can excite people. Good marketing can ensure that your organisation comes onto the radar of talent that you might not have reached otherwise. All valuable.
A candidate can discover your vacancy through LinkedIn, a campaign, a job platform, or through a network. But finding a candidate does not mean you know if that person is suitable. For that, you need to look beyond the CV. What has someone actually done? What choices has someone made? What competencies has someone developed? How does someone think? What motivates someone? And do those qualities match what the organisation truly needs?
There begins the difference between generating candidates and recruitment.
And then the hiring process really begins.
Because which of those candidates actually fits the role? Who possesses the competencies that are essential? Who understands what the role truly demands? Who fits the context in which he or she will work? And perhaps more importantly: who also proves to be a good match in the long term?
That requires more than reach. It requires that you can find, assess and select.
Assessing requires craftsmanship
A good assessment is not just a matter of having a good conversation and then going with a feeling. Of course, intuition plays a role. But a professional evaluation also requires a clear picture of the role, relevant selection criteria, and the skill to ask the right questions.
Not just: “Do I find this person likable?”
But especially:
“What evidence do I have that this person will be successful in this role and within this organisation?”
That is a fundamentally different question.
And then comes the hardest part: choosing
When you have several good candidates, the real weighing and daring to select begins.
Because “suitable” is rarely a simple yes or no. One candidate has more experience. The other learns faster. One fits perfectly with the current organisation. The other may bring exactly the development the company needs. Therefore, selecting does not necessarily mean choosing the candidate who can do the most on paper. It means choosing the candidate who the best fits what the organisation needs at that moment.
An important difference
That is why I think it is important not to lump different expertise together. Recruitment and recruitment marketing can complement each other excellently. Marketing can help to reach the right people. Finding, assessing and selecting helps to then investigate who is truly suitable and who forms the right match.
One is not better than the other. It is simply something different. And it is precisely when we recognise that difference that both areas of expertise can become stronger.
What does the company actually need?
That is also how I view recruitment myself. I do not believe that every company constantly needs an external recruiter. If an organisation has enough time, knowledge and capacity to organise its recruitment well itself, then it should definitely do that. But sometimes that capacity is not there. Sometimes vacancies remain unfilled because there is no time. Sometimes a profile is difficult to fill. Sometimes there is a lack of expertise to properly assess candidates. And sometimes there is simply a need for someone to temporarily stand alongside the company and take on the process.
Then I want to be there. Not to make a company dependent on external recruitment. But to provide added value when it is needed. And if an organisation can then continue stronger and more independently? Then that, in my opinion, is also a successful outcome.
Recruitment is ultimately not about as many candidates as possible
It is not about the largest reach. Not about the most applications. And not even about the quickest filling of a vacancy. It is about the question: Who is the right person for this position, in this organisation, at this moment?
For that, you need to be able to find. But also to assess. And ultimately to dare to select.
For the art of good hiring lies not only in reaching people. It lies in recognising the right match.
Filling a vacancy is often not the challenge, but determining what your organisation really needs. At those moments, the solution lies not in more candidates, but in looking, assessing and selecting better.
I like to think along with you.