Hiring is key to a successful business - so let's ditch outdated practices
We believe it’s time to radically reinvent recruitment processes. We find it absurd that so many companies are still using practices like CVs that were popularised in the 1950s - we think it’s time to move on and create more inclusive practices that help you hire the best people.
Two women sitting at one side of an office table talking to a person on the other side of the table who is not clearly visible
Ditch the CVs
As a society, we invest an eye-watering amount of money into teaching people how to write CVs, forgetting the fact that whether a CV resonates is entirely dependant on each unique employer and the job role. We also know that hiring managers can often be influenced by how long individuals have worked in jobs, for which brands, which school they went to, whether they’ve formatted their CV nicely or even by the person’s name. Recognising these bias, many businesses have started to painstakingly anonymise aspects of CVs, but this is just a way to plaster over the problem.
We decided to not ask for CVs when hiring for our internship programme, because it was unlikely that the diverse applicants we were seeking to engage would have much relevant work experience under their belts. Instead, we simply asked our applicants three questions to encourage them to highlight their most relevant skills, experiences and perspectives. We found that the simplicity of this approach really allowed our applicants to pinpoint the unique strengths and value they could bring to the role.
After multiple iterations of our stripped back application process, we received a lot of interest from others wanting apply the same CV-less approach to hiring. We soon discovered that our approach could help businesses hire for all levels of roles, not just entry-level ones. It’s time for more employers to reimagine their hiring processes, think hard about what information is really going help them assess someone’s potential within the role, and to frame the application process around those questions.
Share a transparent interview plan
When we worked with William Joseph Design to hire their new Junior Product Manager earlier this year, our recruitment process involved sharing interview questions with applicants upfront, and no CV reviews. We know that it can be so hard for individuals to see themselves reflected in the obscure language of job descriptions, no matter how hard you try to remove any technical or company jargon. As the business’s goal was to attract talent who might not be familiar with their sector or the Product Manager role, the hiring team suggested that they run a Q&A with potential applicants to find out more about the role and company culture. This worked really well and is something we’ve now embedded into our own practices too.
We found that the openness and transparency of our interview practices enabled applicants to really connect their own skills, experiences and interests with what the company is looking for. The William Joseph Design team saw the value of our approach immediately, noting that “The interview isn’t a test. It should be an opportunity for people to genuinely show how good they can be - and the quality of discussion was just so much higher because we shared questions beforehand. We had good conversations with all of the candidates where we they really understood us and we really understood them”
Another recommendation we had for William Joseph Design was to have multiple people on the hiring panel who individually scored applicants against the most important criteria for the role. Involving multiple people from the team enabled everyone to be sure that they were going to value working with the new hire, and that the new hire felt comfortable working with the whole team. To reduce the potential for a dominant voices to rail-road the process and introduce biases, we encouraged the hiring panel to avoid discussing the applicants with one another until they were ready to review all of their potential hires.
Trial people on a paid basis
No matter how much effort you put into making sure your application and interview process is accessible and as relevant to the requirements for the role as possible, only certain people’s talents shine in these settings. We find that the people who are able to tell interesting stories, or use language that resonates and creates affinity with the interviewer are most likely to succeed in this process. You can’t entirely avoid this - hiring managers will always feel more affinity to certain people for different reasons - but you can create opportunities for people to demonstrate their capabilities in a variety of ways, not just through conversation.
We’ve supported many businesses to implement paid tasks as part of their recruitment processes that align as much as possible with the capabilities required for the role. Giving everyone the same task enables you to compare like-for-like and really understand the different qualities that each applicant brings. When scoring tasks we encourage the hiring managers to seek out people who might have approached a task in a unique way that they weren’t expecting in order to prioritise diverse perspectives and experiences.
Seeing what people are capable of through undertaking real work was also partly why we created our flexible and collaborative internship programme. The programme allows small businesses to gain access to skills and talent, enabling them to scale up their capacity in a sustainable way. It also creates an opportunity for businesses and potential hires to do real work together, before either side commits to a permanent or longer term employment relationship. As a small business, it can be hard to clearly define the most important skills and perspectives you need as you grow your team. Working with multiple interns gives our businesses the chance to explore what they really need, as well as giving our interns the chance to demonstrate what they are really capable of.
Make the best decisions
When William Joseph Design reflected on who they chose to hire through our innovative recruitment process, they said that they believe it was the best business decision they’ve ever made - which is possibly the best feedback we could have asked for.
As part of our consultancy, we facilitate recruitment processes for businesses in order to really challenge them to think outside the box, confront any biases, mediate disagreements between the hiring panel, and ultimately make the best hiring decisions.
If you are ready to implement radically inclusive recruitment practices and hire the best talent for the job, sign up to our work placement programme by 6 December to work with entry-level talent or get in touch about our consultancy packages for other roles.