Hiring Committees

  • Mar 08, 2017
  • Management


Do you use a hiring committee? Do you know what a hiring committee is? In this blog, we review why every business can benefit from a hiring committee, how to draw attention to the hiring committee and the commitments from hiring committee members.

We’re always making decisions in life; decisions we’re happy with, decisions we regret and decisions we have a hard time deciding on. Isn’t it great when you can turn to a friend or partner and ask for an opinion when making tough decisions? For me, it always helps.
Hiring committees are a team who provide objective, unbiased opinions of candidates. Hiring committees play a very supportive role and are there to be ‘advisors’ in a structured hiring process.
It’s no surprise that Google and Facebook use hiring committees as part of their hiring. But these committees benefit smaller companies too. The goal is always the same; decide on the person that best fits the position and your culture.

Hiring committees aren’t just for the large organizations, small businesses and start-ups can benefit also.

The benefits to hiring committees:

  • Slows down hasty decision making by assessing information in a meeting environment where discussion is encouraged amongst peers
  • Hiring committees ensures a fair process, where the committee members are involved based on feedback from the interviews with potential candidates
  • Making the best decision for your company will save the company money and save other employees added stress
  • A hiring committee saves time by only having to hire once, instead of multiple times
 
You may ask yourself “how do I get people involved”, or “what if nobody wants to be on the committee because they’re so busy”? Well, there are ways to gain interest. There is a big benefit to having these committees, the main one is hiring the right person who will stick around for the long term.  
Attract attention to hiring committees by:
  • Add this committee to your hiring process as an active role that plays a major part in decision making for hiring at your company
  • Have your HR department roll out this addition to your hiring process to staff
  • Post for the role with a clear description of being a member- include meeting times, objectives, resources
  • Set out the benefits to a hiring committee- show employees the ‘big picture’ view of hiring the right person, who’ll stick around and, in the end, make their work lives easier
Posting and commitments for committee members:
  • If you’re not in a hiring mode at the moment, the committee can meet to discuss, review and refine your hiring process  
  • Establish commitment to the committee when you roll this out- allow for structured meeting times to meet and evolve the process to fit your company needs
A hiring committee has its advantages, however it’s only one piece of a solid recruiting process.  Take the free recruiting process audit to quickly identify gaps and opportunities.  Click here to take the two minute audit.