How to recruit the right people? What is important? That’s the questions that I’ve been asking myself for a while. I believe I got to the point where I’ve found some important principles that should be included in every recruitment process. Btw, why this is so important? Why am I even writing about it?

First of all well designed recruitment process can let us choose the right people to the job. Sounds very simple but that’s true. Additionally it will allow organization to grow and improve itself. Today’s world it’s not only about just doing a job – highly competitive market requires from companies high level of innovation and agility which is essentially driven by people. Potential of every organization is eventually in the people creating it! Want to be ahead of competitors? – design right recruitment process that will attract outstanding professionals.

But coming back to recruiting itself, let me mention some of the principles that in my view every recruitment process and decision should incorporate.

1. Hire people smarter than you! Don’t resist here. Remember that we only can grow in the right environment full of people from who we can learn. You don’t want to be the smartest adult in the kindergarten, do you? Right environment with bright and innovative people will allow you to grow, will inspire you and unleash your potential.
2. Hire people that are inspired by your vision, by vision of organization that you represent. You want them to work for you because they believe in what you believe, rather than because of money or fancy benefits. Right vision will inspire and motivate them to cross boundaries and follow the path of embracing uncertainty
3. Recruitment process must be designed to bring benefits to both sides. Don’t hesitate to answer difficult questions, ask for advice on real problems, show the office. Make sure you will truly explain reality of work so that you avoid future disappointment and low retention of people.
4. Incorporate cultural fit into your recruitment process. Every organization is having its unique culture, it is vital to explain the culture and verify if person fits it. Are you doing hackathons, innovation days, coding dojos? Are you experimenting a lot and see failure as an opportunity? Are you motivated by mastery and craftsmanship of your work? Explain your current and desired organizational culture, see if you find common ground.
5. Check the skills person would use during day-to-day work. Is whiteboard programming exercise something that person would do in work? Maybe try pair programming on existing system instead. Are you really want to focus on computational complexity if someone will be UI engineer? Hiring someone to lead? – check if she inspire you during presentation.
6. Last but not least – always ask a question how job candidate is applying for will bring him closer to his goals and vision. People having clear answer to that question are the ones you should look for. For me it is one of the traits of maturity and happiness, and don’t we all want to work in mature and happy environment?

At the end, remember that recruitment is always subjective and whenever you’re on crossroads trust your gut feeling. Not everything is easy to check, but I hope some of those points can inspire you to start pursuing better recruitment processes in your organization.