Enlow and Associates understand that companies of all sizes are seeing an increased need to fill top leadership positions with the right talent to navigate challenging markets. With the firm’s extensive experience in executive recruiting, Enlow and Associates offer several important tips for businesses that are recruiting for top positions like this.
Embrace Virtual Connections
More than anything, 2020 showed us all the importance of what business talent could handle virtual connections, and who struggled at it. Enlow and Associates advise that virtual communication is not only an important executive skill going forward but also a key part of the interview and recruitment process. Talent that responds positively in virtual communication is ready to handle company-wide virtual connections – and it allows companies to review a larger pool of recruits from a greater distance at the same time.
Create an Employee Referral Loop
The employee referral loop is a mechanism used through all levels of a company where the organization encourages employee referrals among its most talented employees and a positive offboarding experience so that referrals are most likely to bring in connections to top talent that will be the best fit for the company. Enlow and Associates recommend using an employee referral loop for leadership positions as well – this can make it easier to find talent that is already well-networked in the industry and potentially familiar with the brand itself.
Enlow and Associates Recommends Collaborative Hiring Practices
Collaborative hiring tends to become even more important when considering top positions in an organization. While mentors may certainly have specific candidates in mind, Enlow and Associates caution against considering the position automatically filled by anyone pick. Instead, make choosing top talent a collaborative process with discussion, group interviews, and an honest look at how a recruit relates to other leaders in the company.
Understand How to Tell the Company Story
Recruitment benefits greatly by telling the company story in a way that resonates with recruits. Highly talented recruits entertain many offers, and a key factor in their decisions is how a company presents itself. Enlow and Associates recommend using skilled recruiters that can tell a cohesive story about a company, its past, its goals, and why talent would be a good fit. When recruits have a completed, connected vision of a company, they will find it easier to see themselves as an integral part of it.
Make Diversity Goals a Top-Down Strategy
Many organizations are also going through a new phase of diversity goals. It’s important that this becomes a whole-company focused to avoid future issues or poor optics for the organization. Focus as much on diversity goals when hiring for top positions as when making hires at the lower levels of the organization.
Keep an Eye on Future-Proofing a Position
Finally, Enlow and Associates remind all recruiters that positions, especially top positions in an organization, should be future-proofed. In other words, don’t hire just for the skills that a position needs right now: Hire for the skills that a position will need in the coming years, including new uses of technology, understanding new or foreign markets, dealing with significant market changes, and more. This goes hand in hand with an in-depth analysis of what the position will require, which will also help recruiters find the right talent!