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Hiring Dilemma

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Anonymous

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Hiring Dilemma

I recently accepted a new role in a leadership position. As I'm building out my team, we are hiring for a new role at the people manager level. Unfortunately, recruiting is asleep at the wheel, reportedly unable to locate appropriate candidates in spite of the fact that this is definitely NOT a difficult position to recruit for.

The only "qualified" candidate they've managed to locate is seriously underqualified. Regardless, I'm getting significant pressure to hire this individual. Imagine hiring a project manager who has no clue how to develop a project management plan or wbs! Taking up space with an underqualified individual means that I will have to do a lot of training for someone who's coming in at a managerial level and my plate is already full. I'm also concerned about morale because the person who will report to this individual is actually MORE experienced than she is! Although I have repeatedly raised my concerns, everyone else on the interview team including my boss wants to hire this candidate. I should probably mention that the place I work has lots of nepotism with taking the hiring of very close "friends and family" to the next level. So there's probably a good chance that the candidate's related to a bigwig in the organization.

Any advice for how to proceed? Honestly, with me being new myself, I just don't feel like pushing back anymore. At the same time, I also don't want to set someone up in a position where I know they can't succeed. I also don't want to be sandbagged or even worse, end up with a bad employee that I have to go through the drama of managing out. I'm already exhausted just thinking about this!

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  1. Anonymous

    I would discuss this person in a 2nd position. Hire someone who is very qualified and suggest bringing this person on to assistant Manger the role as they learn and grow. Since this current candidate is most likely a relative or family friend, they get them in and you will actually get a decent hire in the primary position. This suggestion would also drive home the fact that the favored candidate is nowhere near ready foe the primary role.

  2. Anonymous

    I kind of gave up on recruiters when I was hiring. I required special skill sets and they were not even bothering to dig into those niche communities for recruiting purposes. I finally started recruiting for myself. I got much better results.

  3. Anonymous

    I definitely think I'm going to do the same thing! The recruiter is definitely not motivated and even going to the other extreme of trying to scare my leadership by saying we're not offering an appropriate salary. That's simply not true.

  4. Anonymous

    I definitely do not want to nepo higher if I can get past it. It sets up for a very awkward position for it all concerned. I also honestly want the candidate to be able to successfully perform in the role. The last thing I want to do is hire someone who doesn't have the capability and then they get angry at me because they have to be managed out.

  5. Karen P. Storey

    FIND A BETTER RECRUITER! you cannot afford the luxury of negative thoughts. :-)

  6. JJ

    You risk losing your great employee. People are desperate for jobs. If recruiting is not doing it, then go to the big job boards and post the open position.

  7. JJ

    Thank you for editing my phone fingers. Can you review all of my posts? I love the free service.

  8. Anonymous

    When you're hiring, I think it's useful to look beyond whether someone simply checks the required boxes on a résumé. References, relevant experience, communication style, and how a candidate handles practical questions can reveal much more. Contact-finding tools can also make the sourcing stage easier when you need to identify professionals with specific backgrounds. SignalHire is one example that recruiters can compare when building targeted candidate lists: https://globalgurus.org/best-contact-finders-for-sales-recruiting-and-outreach-teams/ . The goal should be finding people who are genuinely suited to the role rather than simply increasing the number of applicants.

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