Before I became a manager, I thought hiring was HR's job.
I was wrong.
HR helps, but HR can't send the person you want to your door. Most of the responsibility sits with the manager. It's my job to take it seriously and make the effort.
For me, hiring starts long before the job ad. First I need to understand my team:
- What competencies are missing?
- What profile do we actually need?
- What kind of person would complement the team?
Then comes the job description. You post the position and wait.
Except… you don't really wait.
Even when the job market looks good for employers, finding the right person can still be surprisingly difficult. So I looked beyond the job posting.
This year at AWS Summit, I was looking for an AWS Cloud platform engineer. I didn't just listen to the talks. I had several good, honest conversations with potential candidates, and I tried to understand what really matters to a great candidate.
I also talked to people I had worked with before, went to networking events, and shared the position in diverse communities and through my network.
None of this is formally required of a manager.
But the people you would most like to hire are often not actively looking. They are not sitting there waiting for your job ad.
What mattered most to you the last time you said yes to a new job?
This is part of my "100 Days of Year One" series. Follow along as I share what I've learned in my first year as Head of Data and Cloud.