Want To Be a Respected & Appealing Cannabis Firm, Don’t Do These 2 Things
Occasionally corners of our industry need to be called out for bad business practices, which are not only unprofessional but also harmful to their business.
This time, I am referring to how companies recruit staff and service providers. Two recruiting behaviours are problematic:
1. Ghosting
This is catch-all term describes a variety of unprofessional actions between the midpoint and end of the recruiting process Ghosting includes neglecting to follow up/return applicant calls; unnecessary process delays or; failing to proactively and properly align firm & candidate expectations.
2. Improper ‘Asks’
These are unfair and unethical requests or interview questions. One example is when you ask the candidate to make a presentation on a business problem under the guise of evaluating their thinking or work, when in fact you plan to steal their ideas. Another example is when the firm asks the candidate if they could call their references in advance of an employment offer.
I have seen these poor practices for years across many roles and organizations. And it’s not limited to their staff. Companies often hire unprofessional recruiters and are unaware (or turn a blind eye) to their bad behaviours.
What’s the big deal?
Lots.
Poor hiring practices…
> Repel good candidates, who are often lost to more professional, agile firms. Given talent scarcities, you can’t afford to lose quality people through self-inflicted wounds.
> Damage your corporate and personal reputations. Disrespected candidates are bad mouthing your firms, trust me.
> Reinforce cultural dysfunction. Your culture-building effort rings allows when you treat outsiders poorly.
> Impair internal processes. Problematic recruiting hampers staff productivity and slows down hiring.
Fixing these problems is not rocket science. We are talking about business basics and treating people with respect.
For example, it is not hard to create a simple recruiting process, set expectations and a timeline with the candidate and follow up periodically with 30-40 templated words. If you are a leader, you probably have an admin assistant who could send an email or text on your behalf. And what is HR or your recruiter doing if interfacing with prospective talent isn’t a high-priority task?
I also believe in going beyond the CV and testing candidates. It is not difficult to come up with an alternative to asking for free work. You could ask aspirants to solve generic case studies, provide writing samples or participate in role plays.
Finally, when you look to engage a recruiter make sure they can provide candidate references and insist that they act to the highest professional standards.
#recruiters #recruiting #HR #hiring #talentmanagement