A Recruiter's Guide to Lateral Hiring

What is Lateral Hiring

Lateral recruitment is the process of identifying and recruiting qualified individuals from outside the company for a certain role (executive, niche, or specialized). It is a customized hiring procedure that includes finding an expert for the position that needs filling. Rather than hiring someone with no job experience, the strategy focuses on hiring someone with some. Organizations can use lateral recruitment processes to find experienced professionals with the interpersonal, cognitive, and leadership skills that your company requires. It is often a difficult process for talent acquisition teams since candidates seeking a job change are searching for better perks and equivalent salary in order to further their careers.

Lateral hiring differs from traditional recruiting since the new recruits generally have certain prior job experience unlike freshers. This means that those who are being considered for the roles already have the necessary skills and experience. They desire a workplace that allows them to advance their careers while also allowing them the freedom to develop.In this situation, it is critical for you as recruiting managers to appreciate the reasons for the candidates' choice to leave their existing employer, their goals, and how your company matches with them. In the lateral recruiting process, having a strong employer brand that appreciates workers, allows them to voice their concerns, and gives chances for growth and development to keep them engaged becomes important. This generates ideal conditions for attracting the desired talent, someone who will stay with the company for a longer period of time.

Employee perks, in addition to the employer's brand, play an important part in attracting top talent. One of the most important benefits sought by lateral workers when considering a job change is employee benefits. People of various years, genders, and experiences expect different things from their workplace.

The Global Talent Trends (GTT) 2021 report from Mercer distinguishes between the desires of different generations of employees. While job stability is important to Baby Boomers, Gen X wants flexible working hours, and Gen Y wants the most professional growth.

Employers have found it challenging to attract and retain talent, especially when taking into account the diverse requirements of their workforce. Understanding the requests of workers will assist recruiting managers in determining their strategy for lateral hiring, which is critical in making hiring decisions. Organizations should be accommodating to workers' various requirements and create a value proposition that is acceptable to a variety of people.

What does the process of Lateral Hiring look like

The ideal scenario is to select an industry expert first, to confirm that the merger benefits both the company and the hire, and then to announce the merger. This is when lateral hiring enters the picture. The goal would be to identify someone with a proven track record of successful mergers, who's hiring would increase shareholder and other stakeholder trust.

Executives must select who will oversee the search process after the new job has been identified. It'll almost never be a recruiter. Typically, an HR executive or perhaps the CEO is in charge of lateral recruiting planning and execution. It's a very concentrated and time-consuming process when done well, therefore it's sometimes outsourced to an external executive search specialist.

Beyond what is normally made public, whomever is in charge must know all information about the job and the company's business objectives and goals. They must also have a clear knowledge of the role's objective as well as the compensation and benefits restrictions. If the executive team has already selected someone they want on their team, they will generally contact the candidate through an external consultant. It's usually because the worker is already employed by a competitor, either directly or indirectly.

Steps to streamline Lateral Hiring

A search will be necessary if no candidate has been discovered. The methods will vary from project to project due to the uniqueness of each position, but here's a breakdown of the basics:

1. Obtain basic information on the candidates - Shortlisting applicants from a pool of resumes based on the job role is what pre-screening includes. HR bots are reducing one of the most time-consuming elements of talent acquisition by automating this repetitive and manual task and increasingly adding analytics to forecast applicant fit and quality. Bots may mimic an HR's job, saving HRs a lot of time that they can use to perform their daily tasks. Bots, on the other hand, are a godsend to applicants who no longer have to wait for phone calls to obtain job-related information. The chatbot's availability, which is 24 hours a day, saves a lot of time.
2. Establishing a Competency Framework - Organizations may use a well-thought-out competence framework to measure employee performance while also fostering a healthy and transparent work culture. Prior to developing a competency framework, HR professionals must first have a clear job description that includes all job requirements. If you're having trouble creating frameworks for various job positions, you can seek professional help. A subject matter expert develops a framework that combines a combination of behavioural traits, cognitive capacity, and domain experience after an in-depth conversation with the line manager. These three elements combine to create the pillars of a competence framework.
3. Assess for the Appropriate Skills - Simulators are useful for assessing candidates' abilities and knowledge, as well as for gaining a better grasp of the nature of employment. They save a lot of time and effort since they include auto-complete capabilities and allow hiring managers to mark candidates according on a set of predetermined criteria. Coding simulators mimic a coding challenge to evaluate coders' potential, problem-solving skills, and hands-on expertise in a particular language.You may either select from a library of pre-built tests or create one that is tailored to your needs. In addition, case study simulators allow applicants to experience real-world business problems in a virtual setting. The goal is to assess applicants' approach to the problem, as well as their conclusions reached based on numerous assumptions and decision-making abilities.
4. Interview Structure - In lateral recruiting, a well-structured interview procedure is essential. It gives diverse stakeholders a feeling of clarity and direction by displaying the funnel of interviewees at various stages of the selection and recruiting process. Video interview tools, integrated coding, and case study simulators eliminate the logistical headaches of in-person interviews, shorten turnaround time, and save time and money. Structured interviews are more successful when they are followed by competency-based interviews. Hiring managers may quickly identify competencies, assign weightings, ask questions based on behavioural indications, and evaluate applicants.
5. Hiring Decisions Based on Data - Employers' reach has widened as a result of data-driven recruiting choices. Employers have access to not just the greatest people, but also to a large talent pool that may be employed at a later date. Data analysis aids in the development of a more targeted recruiting and selection strategy. Predictive analysis has the capacity to set out probable outcomes of a scenario, providing hiring managers additional visibility. SMEs can help create a better knowledge of lateral hiring data over time.

Challenges in Lateral Hiring

Lateral hiring expands a person's skill set and degree of knowledge in a sector that will benefit your organisation in a good way. As lateral hires are experienced with work settings, evaluation scales, flexibility, attrition, and vitality in value addition, there are numerous problems that can arise. As a result, they will constantly anticipate more from a future offer. The following are some of the most typical obstacles that can prevent an employee from accepting your company's offer:

1. A job description that is vague and does not define employee perks in your firm; or a job position that is comparable to their present work but does not appear to bring any value to their current profile.
2. A pushy attitude toward your perks, proposal, and post-employment assistance will turn off the candidate.
3. For the seasoned and well-experienced individual, getting to work in the same function as the present organisation might be a disappointment. So, if you want to employ an experienced expert, make a job that emphasises their experience and skill set so that they can see the value in it.