Navigating Infrequent Tasks: How To Get Better At Hiring (When We Don’t Do It Everyday)

In our professional lives, we get better at things we do often. But sometimes, complex responsibilities that we might do infrequently, like hiring, can be a challenge.

You may be a brilliant  Project Manager or a Director of IT, but if you only hire once or twice a year, this infrequency could make each hiring cycle feel like reinventing the wheel.  It’s a high risk, high potential scenario, and it’s hard.

For some perspective, we surveyed 550+ hiring managers (across departments, years of experience, functions and levels) at a single technology company earlier this year – asking them how frequently they expect to hire in the coming year.  Here is what they said:

• 71% of managers expect to hire 1-2 people in the coming year.
• 21% will hire 2-4 people. 
• Only 8% will hire more than 5 people.

If hiring is one of our most critical responsibilities as a manager and leader, how will we ever get good at it only attempting it once or twice a year?

Why is it so challenging?

Skill refinement is heavily dependent on frequency. Regular practice allows us to navigate the nuances, sharpen our abilities, and streamline the task for optimal efficiency. 

But when it comes to activities like hiring, infrequency limits our opportunities to grow and adapt. The task becomes even more daunting considering the high stakes involved – the wrong hire can disrupt team dynamics and derail projects. 

So, how can we improve?

1. Set Guidelines and Structures: A structured hiring process helps to mitigate the impact of infrequency. Adopting a clear methodology and framework that you can leverage year in and year out eliminates the “reinventing the wheel” dilemma.
2. Participate in Training: Engage in hiring workshops with other managers or interview role-playing exercises. Reflecting on your hiring experiences with other managers (and hearing their stories) allows you to reflect and learn, when you are not in the middle of a high-stakes hiring cycle. Practicing interview questions (when the pressure is not on) helps prepare us for the real deal.
3. Build Your Interview Team: Involving a diverse group of people in the hiring process can provide a more comprehensive understanding of a candidate’s suitability. However, be sure that everyone on your team understands their role in the process (Are they qualifying the candidate? Are they assessing proficiency in a particular skill? Are they closing the candidate on a presumed offer?)
4. Employ (The Right) Technology: Most hiring decisions today will involve multiple technology platforms (applicant tracking systems, candidate assessments, etc.)  However, it is important to ask: does your technology support and enable the clear process you said you wanted to follow (see #1)?  Even when technology means well, it can lead us down unintended paths. Thus, it is important to select tools that make it easy to perform infrequent tasks. 
5. Reflect and Learn: Post-hiring, reflect on the process. What were the strengths and weaknesses? What lessons can be learned? Documenting these reflections can provide a valuable resource for future hiring cycles.

While the sporadic nature of tasks like hiring may make it more challenging to master, implementing strategic actions can help ensure a smoother, more efficient process. After all, securing the right person for your team can be a significant stride towards success.