7 ways you can be a better hiring manager

Stop blaming your recruiter or the market for your inability to fill open positions. The best hiring managers get the best candidates to accept jobs quickly. Here is how you can become a better hiring manager (with just a little snark).

1. Fully understand the role. If you have been in the position in the past, ensure you understand how it has changed since then. Know the profile of success. If you aren't 100% sure what it takes to be successful, include your top employee in that role because they know.

2. Spend time with your recruiter before the job is open. The more time you spend at the beginning with your recruiter explaining the qualifications and success profile and agreeing to expectations, the less time you will spend on hiring throughout the process. Treat your recruiter like the partner that she is, and you will get great candidates, market knowledge, and practical advice.

3. Give specific feedback on why a candidate is not a fit for the role. When the recruiter sends screened candidates you aren't interested in, you need to provide specific reasons why you aren't interested. If you can't articulate why, the recruiter cannot adjust her sourcing and screening process, and you will continue to get similar candidates.

4. Make decisions in one business day. If you don't have time to review resumes and candidate profiles or make a hiring decision in one business day, the position must not be important to you. Your recruiter can spend time working on other openings that are of value to the organization. Candidates need to make decisions, and if they need to wait around for you, they will be lost. It is simple - filling your role is either a priority or not.

5. Stop allowing anecdotal information to influence your perception of the market, candidate availability, and speed of your actions. Any experience your next-door neighbor's brother-in-law had when looking for a job two years ago is irrelevant. What you experienced the last time you interviewed is irrelevant. The market changes rapidly. Your recruiter is in the middle of it daily. She has data about salaries and trends that are current. Trust her to guide you.

6. Make interviewing a priority. You can block your calendar for several hours weekly to be available to conduct interviews when your recruiter finds a great candidate. If no interviews are scheduled, you get the time back. Don't expect candidates to wait around or compete in calendar gymnastics to get on your schedule. Again, filling your role is either a priority or not.

7. Evaluate the candidate against the clear skills and competencies identified before you opened this position. Those are the criteria a candidate needs to meet. Compare the candidate against the requirements and make a hiring decision. If they meet the criteria, make the offer. Please stop asking to see "one more candidate."