You know the phrase “people buy people?” It’s said a lot, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
The sentiment is especially important in leadership – be it making great first impressions, navigating workplace relationships, and getting the most out of those around you. This is just as true of transport as it is of any other sector.
As such, authentic, likeable “real” people are in high demand for leadership positions. They can make connections and drive change, becoming role models to follow and be inspired by.
But the big question is how can hiring organisations find those leaders? When recruitment processes are formal, structured, and sometimes sporadic, uncovering the real person behind an impressive CV can be challenging. In short, traditional approaches to interviewing hardly gives the space for candidates to show up and be themselves.
The trick to finding genuine, likeable leaders is to mirror their traits. I.e., be authentic and open yourself! Keep reading for our advice on having authentic conversations with candidates and uncovering your transport organisation’s next leader.
WHY STRIVE FOR MORE OPEN INTERVIEW CONVERSATIONS?
- An effective, open conversation – one that doesn’t just establish the bare minimum of experience, skills, and knowledge – will build a true picture of a candidate’s personality and ethos. Here is where you’ll get to know the “real them”.
- By flipping the script on time-worn structures, you’ll extract a wealth of information vital to understanding how a candidate’s skills, experiences, values, and background align with your commercial and cultural objectives.
- Authentic conversations are paramount to matching the right candidate with the right enterprise. Remember culture, ethos, and ambition matter just as much as knowledge, experience and competency. What’s better, employing a candidate who can just do the job or employing a candidate who will make everyone around them perform better too?
WHY YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR CONVERSATION APPROACH RIGHT NOW
It’s come around fast, but millennials now drive the candidate market. Those born between 1981 and 1996 will already be in leadership positions or be ready to step into a mission-critical role where they can achieve real change. By 2025, they’ll make up 75% of the global workforce – that’s just 3 years away!
As such, organisations need to think about how their recruitment process appeals to this generation. For example, millennial leadership candidates are often heard saying that they want to attain a meaningful role – and have a positive impact on the world through work.
They’re also focused on building strong relationships and social cohesion in the workplace and believe that employers should be progressive and prove it. For more on this, read our guide to Employer Value Propositions.
Before we continue, we want to make a firm point that these preferences are not exclusive to this generation. Great leaders are by virtue pragmatic, progressive and open to continuous change. But authenticity does appear to hold an awful lot of weight with millennials.
To identify, engage and secure the best up-and-coming candidates, pledge to engage in real conversations. You’ll be able to better reflect your values to top-tier talent and encourage candidates to show their true selves before you make a decision. Did somebody say win-win?
FOUR STEPS TO HAVING AUTHENTIC CONVERSATIONS
Learn from Intuitive’s tried and tested process for congruent, meaningful conversations during the recruitment process. Every candidate is so much more than their CV – here’s how we champion that to match hiring managers with candidates that will suit you to a T and flourish in their role, whilst also being aware of ‘culture add’ as well as ‘culture fit’.
- Dig deep to make an instant connection
Often, hiring managers and recruitment teams wait until the final interview to chat with a candidate on a personal level. With respect, we disagree with this approach! Being careful to respect boundaries and staying true to our intuition, we make a pointed effort to get to know our talented candidates on a personal level, right from that first conversation.
- Keep the conversation flowing
The Intuitive Team is regularly in touch with our candidates – and not just for a business chat! We’re always keen to catch up, be it a phone call about a recent holiday or a general life update over a cuppa. Recruitment should be all about collaboration – a relationship where candidates and recruiters can have a chat about pretty much anything and get to know one another better in the process.
- Be open about a role “behind the scenes”
Just as hiring managers have their red lines, so do candidates. It’s nothing personal! But encouraging candidates to be honest about what they need and expect from a role calls for an investment in time and commitment to transparency.
By getting to know our candidates so well from day one, they trust us when we say “hey, this role is a perfect fit!”. And conversely when an opportunity is best left unexplored. Intuitive pride ourselves on our integrity and transparency. As such, we highlight all we know about a client – pros, cons, and everything in between. This includes any challenges we’re aware of in terms of culture, reputation, and business plans.
- Encourage honesty and self-reflection
Through honest communication throughout the entire recruitment lifecycle, we can bolster the candidate’s chances of success. From interview preparation and coaching, we guide candidates through the whole process and encourage openness. They know that no question or concern is off-limits, meaning that we present our clients with the best representation of who a candidate is.
PUT A NEW RECRUITMENT APPROACH INTO ACTION
How you choose to discuss something is just as important as what you’re discussing. A measure of honesty, being candid and sharing information will see you far. But first of all, you need to build up that vital rapport with candidates.
At Intuitive, this is something that we specialise in. We believe wholeheartedly in having authentic conversations with candidates from our initial meeting all the way through to post-employment so we can really get to know them and match them with the right company. To discover the Intuitive difference, contact us now.
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