CEOs Need to Get Their Hands Dirty With Recruiting
Executives worry about talent. According to Harvard Business Review, it’s one of the top three concerns of CEOs today. Thanks to advances in technology and a shifting business landscape, company leaders around the world are challenged with finding new ways to connect with and engage top-tier candidates in the job market.
In response, executives consistently turn outward for solutions. They voice their concerns about the state of the talent pool to universities and governments, asking them to do more to prepare the next generation of workers. They convene sessions with their peers to discuss skill gaps and talent deserts. They financially back third-party organizations to help solve their problems
However, CEOs rarely get their own hands dirty by jumping into the fray with their talent leaders.
When there’s a sales problem, CEOs won’t hesitate to dig into their weighted and unweighted pipelines. They’ll perform theatrical sales presentations to help close big deals. When looking to optimize operating expenses, they’ll lock themselves away in a conference room for hours with their CFO and other key leaders to find a way to maximize earnings per share.
Yes, the job of today’s CEO is more demanding than ever. But let’s be real: When it comes to talent issues, the CEO’s hands are squeaky clean. There may even be a hint of baby powder in the air.
Steve Schwarzman, CEO of The Blackstone Group, the largest institutional investor in the world, is credited with saying, “There’s no business plan without a talent plan.” This simple yet sagely advice has led The Blackstone Group to an astronomical level of financial success.
To CEOs fretting about talent, the answer should be clear: It’s time to get yourself involved in the solution.
Where to Start
When building your organization’s talent plant, begin with these four steps:
- Understand your talent pipeline and review it weekly with your talent leaders. Don’t have any talent executives with a seat at the table? It’s time to get one.
- Get caught up on your company’s talent journey. You already understand your customer journey, but what about your candidate journey? A meaningful experience for candidates matters now more than ever.
- Show up on college campuses to help recruit your next generation of talent. You can make an incredible impact and differentiate your company from competitors. Prospective candidates will take notice that the CEO made time for them.
- Ask for your talent leader’s best ideas to take your company’s talent game to the next level. You know the drill. Inquire about your people, processes, technology, and creativity. Does your talent leader have no ideas? Then start looking for a new talent executive.
Talent Meets Tech
Technology has the ability to transform your talent game. That’s why more and more businesses are ditching old-school recruiting practices in favor of modern communication methods like text messaging.
A study by Nielsen found that texting is now the most utilized data service worldwide, with 18.7 billion texts sent every day. Texting can expedite the hiring process for both the recruiter and the candidate. According to our own internal data at Canvas, a team of four recruiters can save 3,689 hours each year by using a text-based screening platform. The average time to screen a candidate takes just 4.4 minutes!
In addition to attracting and recruiting talent faster, text messaging also allows recruiters to inject more personality into their conversations with candidates through emojis, Bitmojis, and other things. This makes text messaging a more engaging communication method than traditional options.
Text-based recruiting platforms allow recruiters to hire the right people in less time. As such, it is no stretch to say they are key to solving CEOs’ talent woes.
Aman Brar is CEO of Canvas.