🎭 4 (rarely seen) ways to show respect to people during recruitment.

Together with Monika and Piotr we implemented the below when we recruited Scrum Masters in a company we were working in few years ago. We did this to balance the dynamic between candidates and companies.

#1

👉🏼 (problem) Generic (or lack of) feedback after interviews.

💡(idea) We provided up to half-a-page of feedback for each candidate (interviewed) with a disclaimer that these are impressions based on a short conversation and our opinions. We, of course, followed up with questions on how we did and.. actually acted on most of the feedback.

💥(effect) Most Scrum Masters welcomed this approach. Some agreed with our opinions, while others did not. We expected that, and it was totally OK. All appreciated sharing their thoughts with us. We decided, over time, to provide a bit shorter feedback to not overdo it.

#2

👉🏼 Not following up on candidates’ answers to understand their thinking and argumentation. It sounds simple, yet very few companies do it.

💡 Going beyond impression (as much as possible). Following up and digging deep into questions to understand a person’s argumentation. Not settling for the face value of what people mentioned. This went both ways encouraging prospective SMs to ask us hard questions to us.

💥 This approach helped us make better choices and give candidates a better view of what working in the company might entail. That said, it has eaten a lot of time on the initial interview, and we could ask a few questions before the second round.

#3

👉🏼 Marginalising candidates on an interview by giving 5–10 min time for their questions.

💡We broke down the interview in half – the first half was for the recruiters and the second for the candidate. This was to emphasise partner relationships and that both sides are to judge if they want to work with one another.

💥Most candidates did not use their time to the full extent. They were positively impressed yet not accustomed to this way of interviewing. Emphasising this approach more before the interview helped in time utilisation.

#4

👉🏼 Perspective Scrum Masters not having the chance to get a real feel of the company.

💡We invited candidates for a session with the team or a particular manager if they requested that. We also were transparent with what we were struggling with without glorifying the organisation and admited which things we were still figuring out.

💥We catered to people who wanted to meet the team, followed up on questions and adjusted to individual needs (if any). Some SMs asked great (and challenging) questions, which led to more conversations and even helped us discover new improvements.

Was it worthwhile? The company’s value on the market for this role has greatly increased by word of mouth. We managed to recruit a great team of individuals. It was not perfect, and further iterations were necessary, yet we were off to a pretty good start ✌🏼