A prerequisite to accepting any search assignment is to Qualify The Search. A search is qualified by analyzing the Purpose, People and Process that impact the search.

Within the People category, we always want to know as much as possible about the hiring manager. That's because a great hiring manager makes effective recruiting so much easier. Put simply, high potential candidates invariably want to work for strong leaders who can coach, develop and mentor them. Without question, the quality of the hiring manager is a huge factor for top people when making a career move decision.

Over the years, I've worked with many hiring managers and in doing so I've observed a consistent pattern of competencies that the best managers always seem to have. Keep in mind, that these competencies are in the context of recruiting and hiring. Of course, they represent only a subset of many other competencies a manager must have to be successful.

They Know The Job

Great hiring managers knows the performance objectives of the job, not just the skills required to do the job. They see the big picture. They know what needs to be accomplished at 30, 90, 180 and 365 days for the employee to be considered successful on the job. They are strong at visualizing success and use the interviewing process to communicate what they see. This insight enables them to ask the right questions.

They Can Sell The Opportunity

Great hiring managers always get the candidates they interview excited about the job. They can answer the question, "Why would a top person want this job?". Top managers understand that top candidates don't make career moves for tactical reasons like salary, title and location. They make them for strategic reasons like bigger challenges and career growth opportunity. So they emphasize the importance of the job to company performance, the specific impact the employee can make in the organization and career path for growth.

They Choose Substance Over Style

Great hiring managers are highly objective and do not allow personal bias or first impressions to enter into the equation. Their singular focus is on hiring a person who can do the job, not get the job. As such, they look for doing the job traits such as drive, achievements, team skills and leadership. And they're not overly impressed with getting the job traits like handshakes, charisma and assertiveness.

They Look For Potential Not Perfection

Great hiring managers understand that the best candidates rarely have an exact mix of the skills, experience and education desired. skills are used to rank finalist candidates, not to filter them out during the screening process. Initially, these managers are most interested in a candidate's past accomplishments and anchoring them with job specific performance objectives. They are most interested in conducting visualization exercises to determine how the candidate would solve actual problems inherent in the job.

They're An Active Partner In The Recruiting Process

Great hiring managers take recruiting seriously and understand the vital role they play in the process. They understand that it takes a great job to hire a great person, and that nobody is in a better position than them to communicate the merits of the job they are hiring for. They take the interviewing process as a to start building rapport with a candidate. They know that by doing so, they greatly increasing their chances of winning the candidate with multiple opportunities.

They Treat Candidates As Customers

Great managers know that excellent hiring plays a large part in their success. Therefore, they treat every candidate like the potential next excellent hire. This means that interviews are treated with priority, promptly scheduled and rarely rescheduled or canceled. They are willing to meet the very best candidates off-site for dinner. They are selective about who they choose as a recruiter but once finding them treat them as a true partner.