Dorothy Wolentarski’s LinkedIn profile says, “Who am I? I’m innovative, data driven and have a passion for social recruitment practices. I have a great sense of humour and a genuine passion for people.”
She is also one of the people we turn to for insight on recruiting practices. Dorothy has built a career in talent acquisition, first on the agency side and then with some well- known brands in the downtown core. She has created and re-engineered processes, and she shows up to any conversation ready to both teach and to learn.
We asked her to come by Clarity for a visit so we could get her opinion on a few topics. Our chat produced some revealing information. This is part one.
Hire Well the First Time
What are the typical choices that need to be made when building an internal recruitment team?
Typically you’ll see a decision to centralize or decentralize recruitment. I’m open to both models and my current company centralized certain functions in order to gain insight into what was creating value. Once we could track which vendors and providers were delivering for us, we decided to start building more of a recruiting culture with systems, processes and new recruitment hires. We also made a decision to hire from recruiting agencies, as we knew that it would bring new ideas and approaches.
Can you provide an example of how you measured any of your recruiting vendors?
The easiest example is to look at how we were making buying decisions on job boards. There was no attribution of hires to each source, so quantifying the value was hard. It became my mission to implement candidate tracking as a first step and my future goal is to track from applicant source right through to hire.
Any insights you can share?
The tracking revealed that Indeed was first. Direct search was second, and LinkedIn was third. We also found out that candidates were leaving and dropping off before even creating a profile. The page was too complex and cumbersome, so we made a revision to the workflow and saw immediate results.
What do you do when you first join a new organization?
I take a look at everything and then audit. I want to know what they are tracking and how they are measuring performance. This allows me to figure out what I need to do first.
How receptive are the internal stakeholders and hiring managers when you start changing things?
It takes time to change something. If the hiring manager or internal client has always had resumes thrown at them, then they have a certain expectation. Changing that behavior takes time and it needs to be done with face-to-face interaction.
I arrange meetings at the start of the search, and I also conduct a debrief after the interviews. I try to listen as much as possible because it’s critical to understanding what is working and what isn’t. From that information I re-work and refine my approach to make it more effective. Most importantly, I tell my team not to start working on something unless they really understand what success looks like in the role. I try to emphasize that good conversations translate into good placements.
There are a few key tips to remember when it comes to hiring well. Examine your current approach. Evaluate key data points. Consider building new processes from scratch, or revising existing processes to improve outcomes and efficiency. Explain to key stakeholders why it’s important to have good conversations around what success looks like in the role. If you do so, chances are that your new hires will quickly start adding value to your organization and that’s a win for everyone.
Coming soon in Part 2 of “On the DOT” – how do you scorecard recruiting firms?
Your Next Step
No one should walk the job search or hiring road alone. At Clarity Recruitment we help others realize their success through a process that marries proprietary technology with unwavering commitment. Contact us today to take control of your career, or to partner with us to hire well.
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