Nonprofit HR’s Blog

By Patty Hampton, CSP, VP & Managing Partner

Given the dramatic shift of the job market over the last six years, today many businesses, including nonprofit organizations, are finding it tough to navigate through poorly designed or archaic hiring practices. With the explosion of social media platforms and networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Meetup, recruiters are able to identify prospective talent faster than ever before. However, I believe there is no real “skin in the game.”

Putting “skin back in the game” is about taking a risk and building relationships that follow prospective candidates through their career journey, redefining hiring practices for today’s and tomorrow’s talent. It’s about revolutionizing how we have thought about hiring for decades. I mean c’mon, do you honestly expect to get different results if you keep doing the same thing over and over?

Redefining your hiring practices requires a bold believer that will take a radical step toward being creative and innovative when it comes to today’s hiring practices and challenges.

To begin the process of redefining your hiring practices, you need to be able to answer a few questions:

As an organization, where are you in achieving your mission through talent? 

What was your hiring strategy the last time your organization had a vacancy?

Have you developed a candidate experience strategy?

Do you know what a candidate experience entails?

Is it time to do something radically different that leads to sustainability? 

I am a true sojourner for redefining hiring practices and making them radically different. After reading Practically Radical by William C. Taylor a few years ago, transformation took a front row seat in both my professional and personal life. Now, when I have conversations with executive leaders (notice I didn’t use the word interview), it’s about building a relationship and creating a space where they can be authentic. People want to be moved and inspired and prospective candidates are no different. My role is not to put a butt in an executive seat. Instead, I’ve chosen to redefine how I interview. When I have a conversation with someone that might have the secret sauce that my client needs, I’m assessing their ability to not only lead, but evaluating their competencies to transform the business, its talent and culture.

Don’t kid yourself: business as usual no longer drives change. If you’re contacting prospective talent and offering nothing that inspires them to leave their current employer, answer this: why would they leave?

Redefining your hiring practices can be done incrementally. I’m not suggesting that you be radical out the gate, particularly if you don’t operate in that type of culture. However, what I am suggesting is that you be the change you want to see in your organization and throw some skin in the game. The power of one can multiply, so rethink your hiring practices and change one thing every month for 90 days and before you know it, you have redefined some of your worse hiring practices.

I would love to hear about your impact and your journey towards change!