Hiring your First Direct Report

Congratulations for the promotion, now hire your replacement… One of the best things to hear coupled with the unknown, fully appreciating that you have to find another you. But wait, is that what you really want, or need?

Been here, done this and have the scars to prove it. I was fortunate that I did my undergrad degree in HR / Management so had the theory and process down pat. Doesn’t help you choose the best candidate for the role, however, if anything it gave me a false sense of security, also it didn’t help the labour pool I was looking in.

My initial thoughts upon reflection for who I needed in the role was, easy, find another you and you can do your bosses job. The issue was, I was living and thinking like the past manager and assuming I could do the role like he did, rather than make the role my own and be comfortable in my own style, knowledge and delivery.

This took me away from thinking what I needed from the candidate to round the Safety and broader project team out and support myself thirdly. I was also at my own perceived disadvantage as typically if I’m in a room of Senior Safety people I am normally the youngest by typically ten years, I agonised over would anyone want to work for me?

This was laughable (yet not at the time!) as I already had direct reports (including older colleagues than me), yet in my mind, as I progressed in the organisation they knew me, respected my abilities and worked in with my style. Would the new person be the same, would they want to play politics, would they undermine me? You’ll note at this stage it’s all me, me, me!

The first couple of interviews were completed with the outgoing Safety Manager, who struck the balance well between adding a little value but not too much to overshadow the process. He also gave legitimacy to the process as his rapport with the Site Manager evened out any thoughts he had around any perceived inadequacies. It allowed me to have a free hand interviewing candidates knowing that a less biased, more objective person was there to ask any questions he felt I needed to hear the answers to. It also iterated my preference to have two subject matter experts in the interview process of differing experience so more than one interpretation can be made of an individual’s performance.

We interviewed a set of shortlisted clients from HR and some he sourced from his network or those we knew. Whilst we identified one strong contender early on, the process highlighted to me:

1. You candidate pipeline (and funnel where they enter) is everything, it’s not enough to rely on traditional ads and the recruitment function. It is your role as the hiring manager to own this process and build a network you trust. This is what LinkedIn is for as well as other non-electronic networking methods to maintain your network. Most managers leave this in others hands and are passive in building their network and potential team member (and boss!) pipeline. Remember better candidate pools equal better shortlists, less energy spent in qualifying candidates and a better end hire that you want, not what the market has
2. Hire people that compliment the team first, not you. Also stay away from hiring yes people and (even if subconsciously) people of lower ability, age, experience than yourself. You are not leading as you are the most technical adapt. What you into the chair won’t get you into the next chair.
3. If they aren’t the right candidate yet they are the best of the rest of the candidate pool don’t hire them. It will save you pain in the long term. We selected the candidate who would be perfect for our team and project but during the period he chose to take another opportunity. We didn’t then make an offer to the second best candidate, we instead developed capability internally. Back your judgement and your people.

Attraction, selection and recruitment is a wide-ranging area which, if you want to manage and lead people, you have to develop knowledge and skills in this area. Think of it as working upstream vs downstream, we all know that in design we have a lot strong lever to impact future time periods. Recruitment is the upstream and design element of your team’s development. 

Recruitment is something that you get more comfortable over time, the more interviews you do and are in. My suggestion if you want to level up quickly in this area hunt internally for the besti n-house recruiter you have and ask them to sit on interviews as an observer. In saying this though, I sat next to the best recruiter I have worked with for three months and it was the actions and conversations she had between interviews which was the impactful conversations (man could she listen and build instant rapport). The interview at the end was merely for the hiring managers benefit, she already had the right candidate attracted, screened, interviewed and promoted with a real job projection ahead of time.

In failing this, strike up a conversation with a specialist safety recruiter from a consultancy as they are typically happy to outline their process to you and will often share tips to build rapport and a relationship. If at the end of this you still dont find yourself confident you can always engage their services and sit with them through the process and learn. Dual benefit for your investment.

I’m happy to share my thoughts on recruitment and interviewing if you have any questions or want to hit me up. It’s a passion of mine (as is most else I write on) and I’m happy to share my interview questions bank for prep or use. Happiness is finding (or being found by) a team and organisation which align to your values and purpose, something which we often neglect to our own (and teams) detriment.