Recruitment 101: Back to Basics

I am a huge believer in processes and methodology.  OK, wake up, I know this is riveting stuff but at least you could hold out for more than the first sentence!
“So”, you say “you’ve got 30 seconds and them I’m gone…”
Well let me ask you, how many times has a recruitment assignment gone off the rails, and you can trace it back to not following your own process?  Hmm?  How did that make you feel?
Early in my career, I was really fortunate to work for a recruitment agency that invested heavily in recruitment training.  The old “30 Steps of Recruitment”, some of you oldies may remember it.  But it was really, really good. The trainer was a little “Koo koo” (I think he thought himself as a rock star), but all the same, the methodology worked.  It was all about making sure that your time and effort was productive, by following a proven methodology.
We used to have weekly “Deals in Progress” sessions to discuss deals that were going wrong.  And always, always it came back to not following the process.
Did you take a complete position brief?  Did you get the hiring manager’s commitment?  Did you ask the right questions?  Did you consistently do a trial close with the candidate?  Did you follow the script???
The landscape of recruitment has changed greatly since those early days of my career.  Technology has changed, internal recruitment has matured, sourcing methodologies have changed, heck – there is even this thing called ‘Social Media’.  But no matter how clever you are in finding good candidates, you still need to follow the basics.  Here are some of my ‘basics’ for recruitment:

• Set the assignment up for success
• Stay in control of the process
• Ask probing questions
• Use scripts
• Plan, plan, plan

And most of all, remember that you are the subject matter expert when it comes to recruitment.  Don’t get caught up in some line manager’s desire to take things down the garden path.  No, no, You Know Best – you do this every day for a living.  So stick to the basics, use the latest tools to assist you, and be awesome.
I’d love to know your absolute ‘basics’ for recruitment.