We’ve spent a solid amount of time discussing recruiting new hires fore years —from hiring best practices to how having your brand in check allows you to attract (and retain) high-quality candidates.
In this article, Luc Mandret, an expat in Vietnam’s HCMC is going to share with you his view about the relationship between recruitment and managing your brand’s reputation.
Luc Mandret is the former Country Head for Vietnam of MediaDonuts, an online advertising and technology company. Previously he was General Manager of MSL, the PR and digital agency of Publicis Group, in Vietnam. He also held leadership roles with Elan-Edelman then Publicis agencies in France where he was Head of the Digital and Social Media business unit, before being relocated to Southeast Asia in 2017.
In the last 15 years, I have been managing teams, small to large. With direct lines staff, then department’s heads and many layers of management.
As a manager, I have recruited new members, sometimes a lot. With internal recruiters and/or external firms as partners.
I believe and I hope that I am a good manager when it came to recruitment. But maybe I did some mistakes as well. I am not micro-managing but I want to make sure my teams and partners are sharing the same values, efforts and considerations for all candidates. Maybe that was not enough.
Nowadays I am a candidate. I can see so many mistakes, bad processes, lack of consideration or basic gentleness.
Related: The executive search services in Vietnam
Some food for thoughts for all C-Level executives :
1. Transparency first
Make sure your company will share your basic process of hiring at the beginning of recruitment, that will help a lot not to get frustrated as a candidate.
2. Clear process
Define the different steps of recruitment and follow the “5Ws” guideline, by investigating the Who, What, Where, When and Why of new recruitments.
3. Commitment
You have process and transparency. Make sure everyone will commit to your guidelines. If you can not, that can happen, take time to explain.
4. Feedback is a gift
It can take only 30seconds, but make sure your candidate can have a take-away if you reject his profile. That will mean a lot.
5. Reverse feedback is a chance
Ask the candidates and the new hires about you, your company, your hiring process. Certain we can learn a lot by listening.
6. One minute please
Verbal discussion can bring confusion. Especially when many interviews are done online with the Covid19 situation. Having a recap after an interview – from you or from the candidates – will save time and frustration.
7. Respect at heart
Respect the candidate (how many times a recruiter or interviewer is late and do not apologize?), respect the company (do not say bad words even if you are recruiting to replace someone horrible that you did fire), respect the laws (discrimination is not the past yet).
8. By loyal
Every industry in all markets is a small village. People know each other. Being loyal to all your community, from very junior to very senior, from clients to partners will reinforce your aura.
9. Evaluate yourself
Do you have KPIs and measurements of your recruitments? Qualitative and quantitative. Online surveys, turnovers, return-on-investment, evaluation criteria, etc. You can save money with a proper evaluation.
Recruitment is part of your employer branding and your corporate reputation. It’s a small investment, that may be worth it, isn’t it?