New Year’s Resolutions for Hiring Managers & Candidates

New Year’s Resolutions for Hiring Managers & Candidates

16 Jan 24 4mins Anna Miller

Interviewing

We at JMA are a global team of go-getters and we applaud the tradition (and optimism) of setting New Year’s resolutions. That said, we’re also realists – every year almost all of them are broken before March. Maybe you’ve already given up yours? If so, don’t despair!

To make the world of recruiting a more caring and happier place, we’ve crafted a short list of resolutions we hope all recruiters, hiring managers and candidates will stick to in 2024 and beyond.

Recruiter & Hiring Manager Resolutions

  • Have empathy. Remember that feeling of interviewing for a job you really wanted? When your heart was racing because the person on the video screen or across the desk holds your future in their hands? Treat candidates the way you’d like to be treated when interviewing people for a job.
  • Keep your word. If you say you’re going to follow up, do so! You know how we start to imagine all the things that might’ve happened when a candidate suddenly stops engaging with us? We’re left to wonder if they got another offer, or we somehow turned them off, or maybe they contracted a flesh-eating virus? As recruiters and hiring managers, we know how that feels, so be sure you always close the loop with candidates, so they’re not left wondering for eternity.
  • Be transparent. Compensation is a delicate topic, and with more transparency than ever around pay ranges in the U.S. and elsewhere, it’s great that the veil is slowly lifting. So be prepared to discuss compensation at the very beginning of the interview process. If your candidate does not bring up the topic, you should, so no one wastes precious time.
  • Embrace diversity. If you’re not already committed to diversifying your leadership team and candidate pool, you likely need a whole new set of resolutions altogether – just sayin’. Make sure your interview panel has a diverse cross-section of your leadership. Candidates want to see leaders and companies with representation across ethnicities, cultures, and genders. And your candidate pool should follow this rule, too.
  • Be kind. Looking for a job is a highly emotional and personal process, and the best candidates are vulnerable. Handle humans with care.

Candidate Resolutions

  • Polish up. Make sure you’re putting forward your best self and work on your resume and LinkedIn profile. There’s a cool (in many cases clearly overlooked) feature called “spell check”… Use it. Update them with your current company, job title, accountabilities or, better still, achievements. Invest in a professional profile pic instead of the current one with your ex noticeably (well, almost…) cut out of the frame.
  • Don’t ghost. Just as you wouldn’t appreciate a recruiter or hiring manager ignoring you, respectfully close the loop. If you’re no longer interested in a role, or saw an alarming review on Glassdoor, or your pet goldfish died and the funeral prep is simply too overwhelming… any of that is fine, but please don’t leave us guessing.
  • Value your value. Compensation is a delicate topic for sure, but be ready to talk openly about what you’re looking for. The recruiter or hiring manager should be able to give you a range, but if they don’t bring up the topic early in the process, you should because this is likely a key factor in your level of interest. Also, for the sake of everyone’s sanity, please be up front from the start. It doesn’t bode well for you to wait reveal huge compensation surprises at offer stage.
  • Resist stalking. While we would never suggest that hiring managers or recruiters ignore candidates, if you’ve reached out a few times with no response, while far from ideal – and definitely not how we work with candidates – it’s safe to say you’ve gotten your answer with the silence. Feel free to extend this guideline to your dating life as well.
  • Give thanks. A good old fashioned thank-you note (aka “email”) post interview is always a smart move and can make a difference. It’s not necessary if you have an informal phone screen, but if you have a lengthy interview with a hiring manager you should send a note to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the opportunity. Don’t go overboard – fight the urge to use heart emojis, or it could be misconstrued as stalking (see above).

Whether you find yourself in the recruiter seat relentlessly scouring the far corners of the earth for the right hire or you’re a candidate eagerly searching for your next big adventure, here’s hoping that 2024 will be great! By resolving to do some, if not all, of these simple things, we can, at the very least, ensure that our consciences remain clear. For many of us, that’s no small feat. 😉