Hiring & Onboarding
How will we ensure that we are able to recruit a diverse set of staff with the right skills and competencies to achieve our vision?
For a good orientation into the basics of building your hiring and onboarding processes, check out our overview resource on Building Your Team, Part 2.
Hiring Processes
INSIGHTS
Last updated: June 2021
Hiring Overview
A great hiring process is important in ensuring you can find and hire a diverse set of staff with the right skills and competencies required to achieve the organization’s vision and mission. Hiring the right fit to the organization is one of the key contributors to high staff retention, high performance now and in the future.
Partner organizations have found the following steps and respective insights useful for a successful hiring. This page also includes examples and a learning resource at the end that provides practical guidance on “how to” go about hiring.
Design a Clear Talent Acquisition Process
Determining your process and having it in advance of hiring will enable you to effectively and efficiently find and select the right candidate. The process may vary for different organizations and roles but these are a few must-have steps:
- Writing Clear Job Descriptions
- Sourcing & Recruiting Candidates
- Reviewing Applications
- Interviewing Candidates
- Selection Exercises & Debriefs
- Offer & Matriculation
- Onboarding
Clarify Roles & Responsibilities of Hiring Team
Determining who will hold responsibility and decision making rights for the different steps in the talent acquisition process before you start hiring, will help create a consistent and positive experience for candidates, and make for a fast and transparent process.
Develop Your Employer Value Proposition
To attract great talent, you need to make a clear case for being a great employer--the unique rewards, benefits and experiences that employees will receive in return for what they bring to the organization.
- Creating your value proposition, recruitment messages and marketing materials - Contains examples from Bulgaria and Malaysia targeting fellow recruitment but can also be addapted for staff recruitment.
Build a Strong Employer Brand
Creating an intentional brand experience for your current employees and prospective candidates will draw more qualified applications, create a stronger culture for current employees, and create strong word of mouth feedback for your organization--further reinforcing your employer brand.
TOP TIPS
- Design 'right size' processes for your organization and adhere to them! If a process no longer meets your needs, evolve rather than abandon.
- Involve your current employees in creating your employer value proposition and developing branding materials. Not only do they have the best view on the employee experience, it’s a good opportunity to build engagement.
FAQs
Is talent acquisition the same thing as recruitment?
Recruitment is all about filling vacancies once a position opens up so more reactive. Talent acquisition is an ongoing strategy that is proactive, to find the right people to meet the needs of the organization, it involves longer term planning.
How can I attract top talent, given that I can’t pay competitive wages?
Getting clear on your employer value proposition is an important start. Most partners have found that their top performers are people who had many career choices, but ultimately decided to go with their organization because of a combination of factors, not just pay. Many partners name the social mission, work flexibility, access to a global network, and the leadership development opportunities as key incentives that attract top talent.
I don’t have a staff member dedicated to HR--how can I develop a talent acquisition process without much capacity?
Your talent acquisition process does not need to be complicated to be effective. Investing in systems (even simple ones) that can be easily replicated, will save you time in the long run, create a more consistent experience for prospective candidates and can be adapted as you scale. For each step of the process, develop a few key tools, define ownership, and decision rights.
Job Descriptions
INSIGHTS
Clearly Articulate the Central Mission, Responsibilities, Expected Outcomes and Deliverables of the Role
A clear job description with central mission, responsibilities, expected outcomes and deliverables linked to organization goals provides the clarity that will inspire candidates to join the organization. Prospective candidates are clear on the expectations from the onset and can determine the extent to which they fit into the requirements; hiring managers are clear about the role requirements.
Outline The Skills, Competencies, And Core Values Required For The Role And Differentiate Between Must Have and Nice-To-Have Attributes
Naming the required skills, competencies, core values, must have and nice to have attributes helps the recruitment team narrow down the pool of applicants to those who are truly qualified, and know what trade-offs they can make based on the must have. This also helps to set up the right performance expectations for the first few months on the job.
- Find guidance on Building a Competency Framework and Partner Competency Model examples.
TOP TIPS
- Use terms that will optimize search results and are easily searchable.
- Use clear, simple language throughout the job description--limit the use of technical language or jargon.
- Differentiate between ‘must have’ and ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experiences. This allows the recruitment team to make tradeoffs if necessary during the hiring process and identify areas where a candidate needs to develop once he/she is on board.
- Be sure to include information on how to apply--that way if the job description is circulated in different networks, it will always be easy for the candidate to take the next step.
FAQs
Where can I go to get a sample job description to learn from for my open role?
We have collected many sample job descriptions from the network, you can find these in the learning resource at the end of this topic under Explore. The resource provides you with steps and foundational content that you can use to develop any job description.
What titles should I use in my organization?
Across the network, a number of titles are used for similar positions (e.g. tutors, teacher coaches, leadership development officers). Identify the title that will make the most sense in your context. Consider using titles that will resonate and be most attractive to your target audience when you advertise roles externally.
How can I tell the technical role requirements when I do not have knowledge of the respective area?
Developing role descriptions is a collaborative effort. The hiring manager will have a good idea about the technical requirements of the role. Some roles may cut across multiple areas/departments so involving the relevant people is critical in ensuring the job description accurately reflects the reality.
Staff Recruitment
INSIGHTS
Identify Candidate Profile & Sourcing Channels
Being as specific as possible on the role requirements including years of experience and previous employment, will provide the recruitment team with the right clarity on the type of candidates likely to meet this criteria and inform the candidate pools that they need to target.
Advertise to a Broad Audience, Focus on High Yield Channels
Partners who employ a “wide and deep” strategy that maximizes reach and yield among target candidates (e.g. posting on as many free channels as possible), are able to publicize both the role and their organization widely, but focus their efforts on only a few channels (e.g., LinkedIn or role specific job board) that yield the greatest number of qualified candidates.
Source & Recruit Staff with Diversity & Representation in Mind
Organizations are better able to effect the change we want to see in our societies when they include and are led by staff who have personal, meaningful experience in the communities where we work. Unconscious bias, common in hiring practices, can have negative impact on prospective candidates who identify outside of dominant culture. Creating robust pipeline of diverse candidates for any open role is one way to counter this.
- Understanding & Mitigating Unconscious Bias
- Best Practices for Hiring a Diverse Team
- Recruiting for Community Representation
Embrace an ‘Everyone is a Recruiter’ Mindset
Very often, the strongest candidates for roles you are looking for are a part of the extended network of your organization. Instilling in all staff their role in cultivating and identifying future organizations, will help to build strong talent pools at the start of your search. It is important to keep this in balance with efforts to diversify talent pipelines, candidates from staff connections and other talent pools.
TOP TIPS
- Use hiring data to identify your most successful sourcing channels, and adapt recruitment strategies accordingly.
- Differentiate your sourcing channels and strategies to encourage diverse representation in the candidate pipeline.
FAQs
Should I work with an external recruiter?
External recruiters can be helpful to broaden the pool of candidates, especially for roles where the hiring team’s networks are not robust. Working with local recruiters, who have access to your communities, are briefed on your vision and purpose, may have more success than large recruitment firms. For more information, see these articles:
Should I create incentives for staff referrals?
Some organizations have found it useful to create incentive programs to encourage successful referrals--though it’s important to assess the success of these programs. These tips may help in designing a program that works for you. You can also make it easier on staff by preparing email/social media templates for them to use in their networks--see examples here.
Interviews & Selection
INSIGHTS
Create A Consistent, Transparent, Engaging, And Quick Process
An efficient and clearly communicated hiring process will build trust, respect from potential candidates and create a positive grand association; a slow process on the other hand can result in loss of strong candidates who may accept different offers. Exposing your candidates to the program will enable you build a group of supporters even among those not selected.
Define A Clear Decision-Making Authority
Determining early on, who will make the decision to move a candidate forward at different stages of the interview process and who will select the finalist, prevents the slowing down of the interview process where the team disagrees on whether or not to move a candidate forward.
Use The Skills, Competencies, And Core Values From The Job Description As A Guide To Design The Interview Process
Designing an interview process that has several checkpoints (including interviews, work samples, exercises, and roles plays) to assess fit based on the job description, can help establish whether a candidate truly has the required attributes or not. The skills, competencies and core values for the position are useful in determining questions to ask and type of interviews to employ.
Focus On Past Performance And Experience As Strong Predictors Of Future Success
Make a Clear Job Offer
Making an offer to the successful candidate is a way to continue their positive experience; an offer on phone followed by a written letter provides the opportunity to welcome the candidate with enthusiasm without missing any important detail. Offer letters should include:
- Clear outline of compensation and benefits package
- Conditions of employment
- Deadline for sharing a formal commitment
Determine The Candidate's Motivations And Barriers and connect with the rights people to Convince them of the offer where Need Be.
When you make an offer, it is helpful to have a matriculation plan in place. Identify how members of the recruitment team and other colleagues can reach out to make the candidate feel welcomed, and reinforce their motivation to join the organization.
Explore more by going through this self-directed learning resource
Are you ready to start planning your Talent Acquisition and Hiring? This self-directed learning resource brings to life the insights above by outlining the key foundations and “how to” practically go about hiring. You will find guidance on:
- Hiring and connection to Mission, Vision and Values
- Importance of Hiring and having a clear selection process
- Defining the Hiring process
- Senior leadership team profiles
- Example profiles and job description, selection activities and additional resource on writing the specific role description
TOP TIPS
- Design the interview questions and activities in good time and agree with the panel on the process before the actual interview to ensure a smooth process.
- Involve multiple people in the interview process--more perspectives can create a broader view of the candidate. Conducting interviews in pairs can shorten the process and help to prevent biases.
- Check local ordinances to avoid any interview questions that are legally off limits.
- Take notes during the interview, so you have something to review and share with others. This is especially useful in the case of choosing between two or more strong candidates.
FAQs
How do I assess a candidate?
For each question, keep in mind what you would consider a strong answer, as well as any potential flags that you would want to learn more about. You could use a matrix to help determine which core values and competencies are most important from the role, and assess answers to related questions more significantly It’s helpful to note your high level thoughts on the candidate immediately after the interview concludes: strengths, potential flags, and areas to probe further. When you have several candidates to compare against these notes will be extremely helpful in understanding what the bar for a strong candidate is. In this resource, Teach For America highlights their approach to assessing candidates in the early stages of the interview process.
Additionally, keep in mind any unconscious biases you may hold that are influencing your assessment of the candidate. Reviewing this session on Mitigating Unconscious Bias with your hiring team and discussing implications may be helpful start to unlearning some biases that may influence hiring decisions.
What should I say if a candidate asks about salary?
It is important to ensure that you and the candidate are aligned on the salary expectations, even if you don’t share the exact salary. Teach For All inquires about a candidate’s expectations to ensure that we are in the same relative range, and if not informs the candidate when we can’t meet their expectations.
Onboarding
INSIGHTS
Onboarding Overview
The onboarding process begins as soon as the offer is accepted. An effective onboarding process contributes to high employee retention as they feel valued, are better engaged, understand their role and likely to have high performance. The manager plays a critical role in developing the onboarding plan with clear learning goals and establishing a supportive relationship with the new staff that will enable them feel guided.
Partner organizations have found the following insights useful for a successful onboarding process. This page includes examples and a learning resource at the end that provides practical guidance on “how to” go about onboarding.
Engage Employees Between Their Acceptance and First Day
Engaging new employees before their first day is an opportunity to continue their positive experience, it enables them experience the excitement about them joining the team and they are likely to continue engaging once they join. Share the onboarding plan once it is ready, they do not have to do any work before they formally start.
Make A Clear Plan for the First 90 Days
Creating a comprehensive plan for the first 90 days that will orient the new staff to the vision, mission, and values, build relationships and provide the knowledge and tools to fulfil their role, has a significant impact on longevity and success in the role.
Connect Role & Responsibilities to Organization’s Purpose & Goals
Using the onboarding experience to make a clear connection between the organization’s vision, mission and strategy and the new staff role enables them see how their role and team contributes to the organization wide goal, which leads to strong staff engagement.
Incorporate Different Learning Experiences
Individuals have very different learning styles, designing onboarding plans that bridge these styles by including a mix of formal training, experiences, reading, reflection, and practical tasks to learn on the job, can do that and make for a more engaging orientation period.
Invest in Building Staff Relationships
Establishing relationships with colleagues can help new employees to navigate the organization, build their social capital, and reflect on what they are learning. Engage a variety of individuals; veteran staff, senior leaders, peers, - not just those that interact most closely with the role. Consider pairing the new employee with an existing staff to help build their sense of belonging within the organization.
Explore more on onboarding by going through this self-directed learning resource.
Are you ready to start planning your Onboarding? This self-directed learning resource brings to life the insights above by outlining the key foundations and “how to” practically go about onboarding a new staff. You will find guidance on:
• Connecting to the Mission, Vision and Values
• Onboarding priorities and how to cater for different learning styles
• The manager’s role in onboarding
• The first 90 days
• Some examples of role specific onboarding guides and links to insights
• How to connect your new staff to the network as part of their onboarding .
TOP TIPS
- Prioritize and spend time on critical information. Onboarding periods can be quite overwhelming, so whenever possible, clarify when something is for reference only, and delay additional information until it is relevant.
- Create a clear set of outputs in their first 7, 45, and 90 days. Include quick wins, and more complex projects to help build their confidence in their role, and identify areas for continued development.
- Discuss working styles early on--learning how your new hire prefers to receive feedback, when they work best, and how they prefer to learn (and sharing yours!) can help you to adapt to one another’s needs and pave the way for open discussions of needs.
FAQs
How can we onboard staff remotely?
Most onboarding plans and experiences can be replicated virtually for staff who are not located in the same place as their manager. Remote staff will need more support in navigating the organization, building their networks, and understanding the organizational culture. The following activities will help them to feel close to their new colleagues and organization, even if they are far away:
- Schedule more frequent check-ins in their 90 days
- Pair them with another new hire or remote employee
- Schedule a visit to the main office
- Arrange for a number of ‘meet and greet’ conversations with staff in the main office, even those they may not work closely with.
What onboarding should take place centrally?
Depending on the size of your organization, and how frequently you add new staff members, it may make sense to centralize some of your onboarding functions. Organization wide topics, such as vision & values, human resources policies/systems, finance, etc. These can be conducted by staff in those functional area for individuals who are hired, or for groups of new hires.
What activities will help new hires to understand our vision and mission?
In the first week, employees should have a clear idea of how their role connects to the organization’s ultimate vision and theory of change. This comes through discussions with their manager, reviewing relevant documents. You might design sessions that give an overview of vision and core values. It can also be helpful to bring them to visit classrooms to observe the theory of change at work.
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
Teach First
- As Teach First built their internal talent recruitment function, they began to do more of the their recruiting in house and to reduce significantly their cost per hire, by improving their targeting of hiring channels and streamlining their internal processes.
- One of the key drivers of their success was more clearly articulating their value proposition.
- They conducted internal focus groups to better understand what the qualities were of people who would thrive at Teach First and what led them to love their jobs.
- They then looked at how their defined value proposition could be more clearly articulated and connected to all phases of the hiring process from the creation of the role all the way through to onboarding.
- They used a similar process to strengthen their approach to hiring for particularly challenging roles – such as the Leadership Development Officer, or tutor role. They did focus groups to more deeply understand people’s experience, identified challenges in their hiring pipeline, and made adjustments accordingly.
Collaborate