There's a secret to what makes a hiring process good versus great.  Often, it's the collaboration that's intrinsic to the hiring process itself.  In today's work environment, teamwork is highly prized.  We're living in an age now where one person can't do a job all by themselves- it has to be team focused and collaborative.  As businesses continue to grow in complexity, there needs to be a focus on collaborations across departments, especially in the hiring process.

How to Create a Collaborative Hiring Process

Many organizations are not collaborative by nature.  In fact, many businesses tend to separate their business units, creating little silos of information.  Employees within these silos often aren't aware of what other business units are doing, which can create tensions in the work environment, or mistakes in deliverables.  But what if the hiring process itself isn't collaborative?  It can create huge hassles for departments later on and create a bad hire for the organization.  Before you hire for your next role, take some time to determine where collaboration fits into your hiring process:

• Collaborate on job postings.  The single most important part of the hiring process itself is the initial job posting.  Often, these are little more than vague statements of skills required to perform a job and a vague mention of needing a team player in a great environment.  But shouldn't your company's job posting be more specific?  This is a great opportunity for the Talent Acquisition team to reach across departments to sit down with a department head in order to get a clearer picture of what they need.  This kind of collaboration can make the job posting tighter and more specific, drawing a better class of candidates to the open position.  It can also ensure a better fit with the team and a greater sense of connection to the hiring process.  By roping departments into the hiring process in this manner, Talent Acquisition can be more successful recruiting and hiring for the company's next great employee.
• Create brand ambassadors.  CareerBuilder estimates 91% of candidates make decisions on whether to join one organization over another based on employer branding.  So why not include members of the team in this critical piece of the hiring process?  Consider how team members can make themselves available to talk to candidates about what life is like inside the company.  Talent Acquisition can feature them on the company's Career page and can even include them in social recruiting efforts.  Creating brand ambassadors is an excellent way to make the hiring process more collaborative.
• Seek employee referrals.  Approximately 6% of candidates are referral candidates, but they make up 25% of the candidates hired for new positions.  Why?  Because referral candidates already know how to fit into the team and are already familiar with the company. According to a recent Glassdoor study, 64% of recruiters also believe they are the most successful hires. Talent Acquisition has an opportunity to collaborate with team members in the hiring process by requesting referral candidates.  This kind of collaboration can enhance the success of your next hire and create good will across departments.
• Create panel interviews.  Panel interviews are a great way to make the hiring process more collaborative.  It can also be a great way to secure a variety of different perspectives and voices on the job applicant's skills and personality traits.   What better way to determine if a candidate actually knows the skills required for a job than to rope members of the team into the interview?  And what better way to ensure the candidate will get along with the team than to introduce members of the team to the candidate in the hiring process?  Even when departments are geographically dispersed, there's room for collaboration.  Tools like video interviews allow up to 16 hiring managers or team members to gather on one screen to meet and interview a candidate.  Whether near or far, this kind of interaction in the hiring process can ensure a more successful hire.
• Use video interviews.  Many Talent Acquisition professionals love using video interviews because they offer a great way to collaborate on candidates as they progress through the talent pipeline.  Consider that in the hiring process, Talent Acquisition may need to screen hundreds of candidates. Using tools like video interviews on demand, Talent Acquisition can send screening questions to the candidate and wait to receive their recorded answers.  Once received, many members of Talent Acquisition as well as hiring managers can view, score, and collaborate on the best candidate for the job.

It's clear that collaboration is key to a successful hire.  If your hiring process isn't set up for collaboration, try some of these great ideas!