Inside out
Recruitment reflected, pt 11
I read an interesting post last week from a startup founder where he compared his role as CEO to being the filling in the sandwich.
In his business, he is at the top of the organisation, responsible for all employees, customers and partners.
In working with external stakeholders - investors, VCs, board - he is at the bottom of the organisation, serving their needs, to meet the needs of his business.
And so he is in the middle of both, jam for the bread.
It’s a good analogy for sure.
But in the Toyota Way, leadership is at the bottom of the employment organisation, supporting everything above. The opposite of his description.
Here the role is to
get rid of bureaucracy, red tape and all the stuff that disenables their people
conversely to give people everything they need to do their jobs
hold managers accountable for supporting their teams
create a culture of continuous improvement
empower employee decisions
create a positive experience
and many more
Increase value, where the value is - the employees.
The CEO serves internal and external organisations, rather than holding a different position for each.
The same can be said for how a business meets the market's needs.
Unless you command the market so that they buy whatever you bring to the table, such as with Apple, your products have to serve the needs of your customers.
For normal businesses, it’s reasonable to support the stakeholders who hold the value - employees, shareholders/investors and the market.
The same approach for each - bottom up.
Here the Toyota model allows a consistent philosophy across all directions for a united front.
No sandwich.
Of course, this is a recruitment article, so how can we adapt the principle of serving the value chain?
It isn’t so hard to do given every employee was once a candidate, and the nature of the employee lifecycle (attract, recruit, onboard, retain, develop, separate, alumni).
What happens if the CEO, leadership, management, recruitment and HR work together to best support the hiring process where the value is - the candidates?
Rather than put your organisational needs first as an employer, put your candidates first.
get rid of bureaucracy, red tape and all the stuff that holds candidates back
give candidates everything they need to put their best feet forwards
hold managers accountable for supporting their candidates
create a recruitment culture of continuous improvement
empower candidates decisions
create a positive experience
and many more
Why would it be any different to how the CEO supports their people?
Yet even companies who take great care to engage their employees and create great experiences, neglect to do the same in their recruitment.
Even while recognising the importance of good candidate experience.
Instead, they copy everyone else, who copied everyone else, never thinking about the needs of the people they want to employ.
It’s easier to say what you want and what you are than give value to those you want value from and let them know what’s in it for them.
While many recruiters who are proud and delighted to support big brands, do so because they know it makes their jobs easier.
And complain that candidates are scarce when their inside-out employer-first approach to recruitment doesn’t work for employers who aren’t jewels in the crown of employment.
If Toyota are an admirable business because of how they went the exact opposite way to everyone else, and you’re a business that’s trying to do things differently, why not emulate them in your recruitment, and not the herd?
If the herd is the 95-99% of recruitment that is overly transactional, why not go the opposite way to stand out?
Outside in. Upside down. Flip the narrative. Candidate first. Where the value is.
It’s what I’ve always said.
No sandwich, just pizza.
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
Greg
P.s. while you’re here, if you’re finding a vacancy difficult to fill, and your process is all about you and not about your ideal candidates - I can fix that for you.
Don’t be shy, email me at greg.wyatt@bwrecruitment.co.uk.
I can fill that vacancy directly, with employees who often exceed expectations, or help you do it better yourself.
P.p.s. commiserations to the Lionesses. Congratulations to La Roja.