Ready to Hire? Five Questions to Ask Yourself
As the end of the year approaches, many progressive groups are beginning their 2024 hiring journey. Some folks are engaging in early conversations to create hiring plans, others may be ready to start recruiting applicants, and some are still evaluating their need for cycle staff vs. permanent staff. Regardless of what part of the process you’re at, it’s important to set your team up for success by asking yourself the right questions.
Before you take the next step, let’s explore some essential questions that can help you navigate this critical decision, ensuring that your organization embraces an equitable hiring process, has a strong approach to recruitment, and has the necessary infrastructure to support your new team members!
Progressive Ecosystem
In today's progressive job market, what elements of a job description are potential applicants paying special attention to?
One of our fellowship coaches, Jarice Thompson, spoke with Progressive Pipeline fellows and alumni who had a lot to say about what red flags they keep an eye out for in job descriptions:
Not including a salary, especially when the pay is “commensurate with experience” but has no range.
Company culture description that mentions “our workplace is like a family” - for many of them, this reads as a potential lack of boundaries.
Vaguely naming a “generous PTO policy” without additional details. Most people want to decide for themselves what qualifies as generous!
Additionally, as the US job market, and progressive spaces in particular, move away from requiring cover letters, consider whether this element provides useful information or if it acts as a barrier for fatigued job seekers or folks from underserved communities.
DEIJ Considerations
What backgrounds, experiences, and skillsets outside of progressive politics might equip someone to perform well in this role?
Organizations in the progressive space have an opportunity to open doors for underserved communities while simultaneously giving their team a new perspective. By recalibrating the scope of your search, you can tap into a more diverse & inclusive talent pool, including professionals transitioning from different industries, individuals with non-traditional educational backgrounds, returning citizens with unique experiences, and folks directly from the communities we aim to serve.
Once applications start rolling in, how can we ensure that each candidate is reviewed equitably?
This question is pivotal to embracing an equitable hiring process because of the effect it has on individuals reviewing applications, the applicants themselves, and your entire organization. Investigating your review norms and integrating new structure helps to reinforce your commitment to equity, enhances your decision-making ability, and can help mitigate legal risks related to discriminatory hiring practices. Depending on the role and your team capacity, consider blinding applications, conducting structured interviews, establishing a diverse review team, introducing bias trainings, or leading audits of your review notes to identify disparities between comparable candidates.
Staff Support + Onboarding
Candidates often ask challenging questions about DEIJ. How can we best prepare our team to discuss how our organization lives DEIJ values?
Creating an inclusive workspace is not only the right thing to do, but also crucial for innovation, creativity, and long-term success. When candidates ask these types of questions, it’s a litmus test of your organization’s commitment to creating an inclusive workspace and helps inform whether your team culture aligns with their values. Depending on the scope of your existing DEIJ infrastructure, you may need to carve out time in your hiring process to conduct general trainings and scenario-based activities, compile reading materials, gather feedback from staff, and/or provide space for interviewers to practice answering those questions.
For someone in this role, what does success look like at the 30, 60, 90 day benchmarks? Have we considered how to measure that success?
When an employer makes an offer and the candidate accepts that offer, both parties are investing in a new relationship. Clearly defined milestones at 30, 60, and 90 days establish a framework for accountability and equity in this relationship. When employees have specific targets to meet, they are more likely to stay motivated, internalize expectations, seek opportunities for improvement, and adapt to changing circumstances, all of which benefit the organization's success and foster a culture of professional/personal growth.
If you’re having trouble answering any of these five questions within the context of your hiring process, reach out to us via email at danny@progressivepipeline.org and let’s work together! We’d be more than happy to connect with you to discuss our Fellowship program, Staff Matching services, or Management Systems expertise.
