How to Run a Good Non-profit Hiring Process

In the current volatile market it’s very important to adopt an efficient hiring process

and engage  the best candidates for the senior roles that non-profits seek to fill up. The following points could be kept in mind when hiring personnel in a non-profit:

1.    Plan a search strategy, budget, and timeline:

How would you communicate the vacancy? Are you going to advertise in a newspaper, employment agency, online media or networking would do?To find the best candidates you need to be properly planned and equipped with the plan of action prior to the course of hiring. In case of internal recruitments, determine the time frame and the people who will be involved in the process, and then calculate the costs to engage them. The sooner you are ready with such a strategy the better it is for the health of future operations of the non-profit. In case there is a timeline, it can take about 90 days to find out the right candidate for a senior-level position at a non-profit. It could be 45 days minimum or maximum 6 months as per a study.

2.    Match your mission with the existing team and talent:

Many organizations hire for an expected need without any existence of actual need or analysis of strengths n weaknesses of their organization.The process of hiring a senior person is time-consuming and sometimes expensive, so using internal talent i.e. the existing members of your team you can clarify what your organization really needs. Failure of a proper assessment can lead to hiring of unwanted or repeated talent.

3.    Create a realistic compensation and benefits package:

Set an upper limit on the pay then look into non-monetary benefits thatyou can offer to attract the best candidates. Being extravagant in offering salary would not be appreciated.Try to be clear and precise and compete by not only monetary but also the other valued services like ability to work from home once or twice a week, daycare facility, extra-vacation time and education assistance, etc. A flexibility to earn additional income bydoing something apart from his or her job like allowing an employee to join a for-profit board or to do some consulting for which he could be paid, can be a success.Creatively deal with gaps in salary by offering something perceived of great value to one party andlow cost to the other.

4. Check feasibility by promoting or changing job descriptions:

The chance of blurring of the potential talent increases with the size of the organization and scope of promotion turns even tougher for a bigger and complex organization.Any good organization looks for ways to promote itself first before it looks to hire,it's good for morale and cost effective. The existing talent pool might be overlooked or the departmental heads would not be motivated enough to exhibit the best in them due to lack of incentives like promotion or recognition. So, you need to encourage them to direct the already present talent to trigger the organization’s success.

5.    Develop flexibility:

Planning and recruitment are human processes affected by many unpredictable factors. If the perfect candidate emerges early then it’s good for the non-profit and an easy sell. A long negotiation due to some trivial reason could prove to be badand expensive for the firm. A sense of balance and humour needs to be retained in such a situation as everything cannot be controlled. Instead a fair degree of flexibility maintains the focus on goal achievement and determination for success by reducing the frustration of long waiting hours.

6.    Announce the closure of the hunt professionally when done:

Extend thanks to the non-selected candidates and the ones who helped you in the selection process. There should be some space created and left for future relations, so part with a positive note of meeting again.

7.    Specify the expectations-“haves”:

An explanation as to what do you want?  A proper clarification on what is required as a must, what could be there and what is just nice to be possessed would be appreciated by the applicants and would be good for the non-profit also.Conduct an "acid test” and determine few, absolute must-have experiences or capabilities and specify thatno-compromise would be made here. Recruiters can use the qualities like degree, compensation package, etc. as absolute filters (after a careful thought)to eliminate the unfit applicants.If at all you make some mistake in segregating people into qualified and unqualified at this stage, you might lose some better talent otherwise available to the organization and thus question the quality of the search process.

8. A list of other “haves”:

­What other qualifications apart from the critical capabilities could make the candidate worth the job?Humane touch, patience, etc. are certain virtues which cannot be found from resume or qualifications. This list would help screen candidates further more logically and reach consensus on recruitments.

8.    Who would be the interviewer and what ends would he touch in the process:

Be clear about the process as to who is the person who would ask questions, what would be the areas touched, what would be the size of the panel. Do not overlap on each other’s sphere and maintain distance from other’s area of control or supervision.Three-four people asking the same question in a panel is an unstructured presentation of the non-profit’s image and might even end up selling a negative picture, frustrating the candidate or hiring the wrong person for the job. Follow a time-frame and adhere to it, decision-making power, communication, advice, negotiation is rested in whom, all on board should know Avoid redundancy in questions and number of members in the panel.