Using insider knowledge effectively.

October 20, 2011 at 2:34 PM

How to use your internal intelligence.

I would wager that in most organisations if you sat down and spoke with people who worked there somebody would know of or know a friend who knew a strong candidate for most roles. Accessing this information is as matter of asking the right questions and then capturing the information in a way that can be usefully reused.

We ask for referrals as a standard part of every interview that we undertake. We then take note and cross reference what we hear as an important part of benchmarking people in the market even before we approach them. Experience has taught us that it is much more effective to ask a targeted question such as ‘who was the highest biller in your department?’ or ‘which project managers had the best reputation for delivering on time and budget’ Open ended questions such as who would you rate in the market yield much less information.

Capturing information by interviewing people who work within the organisation is more effective than asking for referrals for a number of reasons. In the latter you are mainly relying on people to refer friends, but by asking well targeted questions, usually at the stage when someone has just exited a company and the information is fresh in their minds, you are capturing data which can be used strategically at a later date. At the very least consider entry interviews for new people in your team, informal conversations in which they discuss information about the firm they have just been working for, who was considered a high performer who is a young up and comer. When you are about to recruit in a key area this information should help you identify who in your team may know of a likely candidate.

« prev