How to make your hiring more transparent

They say that honesty is the best policy, and in this guide, we’ll look at how transparency and truthfulness can be invaluable tools in both hiring and retaining staff.

What if we helped employees with their exit strategy?

We spotted a fascinating LinkedIn post by Bonnie Dilber, a recruiting manager at automation tool Zapier, who made a bold and thought-provoking suggestion.

For Bonnie, what started as a spontaneous musing soon turned into a formal policy. At Zapier, dedicated coaches sit down with employees to ‘map out’ future roles (internally and elsewhere), and work together to identify some of the experiences and contacts they might need in order to be competitive to land their dream job.

Bonnie explained:

“I don’t want to retain people because they lack options or don’t know where to get started in their search. I want to retain them because they know what’s available, and choose us because we are the best place to work for them.

“This should be the norm. Recruiting teams should not solely be used to fill roles. We can and should be true partners in not just hiring but retaining and growing our talent.

“[...] Yes, this might mean that we help some people plan out their exit strategy. But I’m OK with that. I think it makes our recruiting team better partners to the departments we support. I think it will help us to retain our people in the long-run. I think it will open the door to more honest conversations across teams to plan for attrition and support our people to go farther faster. I think it makes Zapier a better place to work.”

And according to Bonnie, this forward-thinking approach often leads to the employee resolving any issues they have and deciding to stay put.

Do you have an open culture on salaries?

For many job applicants, the ‘salary expectations’ field has long been a frustrating guessing game. But change is afoot, as from August this year, the European Union will mandate that all job listings should include a salary range.

According to reports, “employers will only be allowed to communicate a concrete amount, or the salary scale with minimum and maximum amount in which the position fits”.

Judging by the euphoric reaction on Reddit, this could be a popular move among job seekers. But in a world where candidates will no longer have to pluck their ‘expected pay’ guesstimate from the sky, how can you set a payscale that’s in line with your industry, competitors and funding stage? One option is OpenComp – a free compensation benchmarking tool that gives you hard market data on salaries so you can pay your employees what they deserve.

Regardless of policy mandates, being transparent about salaries could be a wise approach for any recruiter. According to Edward Kim, Gusto’s co-founder and CTO, it takes an average of 20 hours from screening a candidate to making an offer. Your time is a precious commodity, and there’s no point going through each interview hurdle only for the talks to break down over salary expectations.

And of course, greater transparency could be one way to tackle pay inequality. Both inside and outside the workplace, should we start talking about salaries like an open book? 

Transparency is a two-way street

We spend a lot of time thinking about integrity from a hiring perspective, but the same goes for the interviewee on the other side of the table (or digital divide). Do you know who your candidate really is? A recent piece in UK Time News highlighted some of the perils of virtual job interviews at their most extreme:

[Kristin] was impressed with the candidate’s keen understanding of the technical skills required for the position. But about 15 minutes into the conversation, one of his colleagues cut off the video call.

“The person answering the questions is not the person being filmed,” he said, as he recalls, prompting an audible gasp from his teammates.

[...] it was an acquaintance answering technical questions while the candidate moved his lips to the screen.

Trust is an integral part of remote hiring, and while most candidates are decent, honest professionals, it’s always a good idea to be vigilant in case you encounter a suspiciously good lip-syncher. For more tips on overcoming this kind of virtual insanity, read our recent blog on how to manage employees remotely.

So there you have it. Trust and openness are at the core of building an attractive brand, and making your life as a recruiter that bit easier. Read our guide to writing a killer Employee Value Proposition (EVP) for more tips on boosting your inbound recruiting.