It’s been an interesting 15 years since the Agile Alliance met in Snowbird, Utah to write the Agile Manifesto. Agile, and its frameworks like Scrum, have gone from being the niche interest of a few software development teams to the highly sought tool of the business mainstream.

All over the world, companies use Agile to respond to change, build collaboration, drive up quality, and create happier employees. Many more companies are beginning to realize that their market environment is changing so rapidly that they need to find a new Agile way of working in order to keep up.

However, one element of the working world hasn’t kept pace — the realm of hiring and recruitment. When it comes to Agile, recruiters often just don’t know what’s involved in the roles they’re hiring for. That’s a shame, as the more they know about the roles they’re hiring for, the better they can find the right candidates for those roles. It’s not unusual, though, as it’s hard to be a specialist in every department or type of work. 

There is another aspect of Agile recruitment that is more troubling. Agile is a whole new way of working, a whole new way of seeing the world of work. What if you just can’t recruit into Agile roles the same way you would for more traditional working environments?

Earlier this year, I noticed that recruitment consultants in the UK really didn’t understand Agile and its frameworks. They’d write “AGILE” instead of Agile, or “SCRUM” instead of Scrum, as if these words were acronyms like that other project delivery stalwart, PRINCE2. Moreover, they didn’t know what the different Agile certifications meant, or didn’t bat an eyelid at hiring a Scrum Master for a Scrum team of 15+ people.

I thought I’d see if anyone else was noticing these problems, and set up a simple website with two online surveys: one for recruiters, and one for Agile practitioners. The surveys asked the following questions:

1. Whether people thought there was a problem in this area;
2. Whether Agile practitioners were happy with the current state of Agile recruitment; and
3. What recruiters needed to learn to make things better.

The results were emphatic, as 90 percent of Agile practitioners said a lack of understanding of Agile and its frameworks amongst recruiters and HR professionals was a problem. On top of this, nearly two-thirds of the practitioners said they had been dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their experience of using a recruiter to find a job in Agile.

Interestingly, 29 percent of recruiters said their Agile knowledge was good or excellent, while only 3 percent of practitioners rated their recruiters’ knowledge as good, and none of the practitioners who responded rated it as excellent. At the other end of the scale, only 10 percent of recruiters said they had no Agile knowledge, while 41 percent of practitioners said their recruiter had no knowledge. Perhaps recruiters just don’t know what they don’t know?

On the other hand, perhaps this problem has its roots in the fact that recruiters don’t specialize in Agile hiring alone, making them generalists rather than specialists? Only 12 percent of recruiters who responded said they only hire into Agile roles, and 83 percent said they hire for both Agile and non-Agile roles. How can they be expected to understand Agile in depth when it’s only a part of their daily hiring work?

However, these are just statistics. What problems do these stats actually cause? Practitioners were free to write openly in response to the survey about the problems and knowledge gaps amongst recruiters, and they didn’t hold back. Some felt that the roles being advertised would never work if someone was hired into them. One practitioner noted that “[t]here are a lot of Agile project manager roles I see advertised. [S]ome of these are Scrum Master roles, some are Project Manager roles, some are weird hybrids which make no sense at all.”

More fundamentally, practitioners felt that a lack of Agile knowledge amongst recruiters made it difficult for them to assess the different candidates’ skills and experience. As one practitioner put it, “They don't understand the skills required in a good Agile coach. They look for years of experience regardless of Agile knowledge.” Another practitioner observed: “Just because someone has a ScrumMaster certification, it doesn’t make them a coach.”

It also doesn’t help that it is hard to show certain aspects of Agile on a resume. For example, Agile needs servant leadership, but how do you demonstrate servant leadership when resumes are about what you have delivered, not what you have helped others to deliver by acting as their servant.

Some acknowledge that these problems happen further up the line with the person who has the vacancy to fill, but as one practitioner explained, “Their clients often don't understand, so recruiters compound the problem instead of fixing it.”

Context and environment is hugely important in Agile, and one practitioner felt this was often missing from the recruitment process: “Agile is seen as a thing people do rather than a cultural mindset...so many ScrumMaster job descriptions are cut-and-paste jobs, where the nuances of what is required in that specific context are not mentioned.”

Other practitioners backed up my original hypothesis: that hiring for Agile roles may need to be very different from the way hiring has traditionally been run, writing that “Recruiters think Agile is a process like any other SDLC process, which [it] is not, and that is the problem,” and that “[Agile] is more cultural and human than a functional process. Finding cultural fit and empathetic individuals is important. You can't recruit for these roles in the same way as you would (for example) in traditional project management.”

So what are the problems with all of this? Practitioners noted many, but the most worrying issue concerned recruiters putting the wrong people into roles. This role mismatch leads to the failure of Agile transformations and alienates the best candidates. One practitioner even admitted that they like it when some recruiters write “SCRUM” and “AGILE,” as it’s a clear sign they don't know what they’re talking about, warning the practitioner to avoid applying for that role. Fundamentally, a recruiter’s lack of Agile knowledge will harm the company’s bottom line.

"Gez Smith is the Lead Agile Coach at HSBC. He periodically writes for AgileCareers. For more information on training to be a better Agile Recruiter and additional recruiting resources, including the AgileCareers Virtual Career Fair, please visit AgileCareers.com. or www.agileforrecruiters.com

In Talent Acquisition, the most rewarding Hiring Managers to partner with are those that are nimble, flexible and open to evolving their hiring techniques to match the trends in the market.These Managers will curiously say: “We want to hire the best talent available. What can we be doing better in order to secure them? Are there ways we can improve?” 

The short answer for most: yes, there are ways you can improve! Becoming a stellar Hiring Manager starts with fully understanding what candidates want, gaining a greater empathy towards their point of view, and taking action that provides them with an exceptional candidate experience. The market is changing rapidly, and candidates are becoming harder and harder to secure. 

The biggest disconnect I see exists between what some hiring managers do vs. what candidates want. These hiring managers are making it more difficult for themselves to secure top talent, and are creating unnecessary obstacles. Just ask: “What does this candidate want?” and then adjust actions accordingly.

A few common mistakes I see: 

1) Action of the Hiring Manager: Brings a candidate in 3-4 times to the office for interviews vs. What the candidate wants: To come into the office the fewest amount of times possible.

• Think about this from the candidate’s point of view. They are potentially working a demanding full-time job and must find excuses to leave the office multiple times. For most HR candidates, this can feel like a betrayal/disloyalty to their current job and is very stressful for them. They want to have a thorough interview process with your firm, but they are seeking convenience. Potential solution: you can have a cap on how many times someone comes to your office. One of my clients has a rule (for all levels of hiring), that the candidate should not have to come into the office more than 2 times. If there are additional interviewers, they can talk via telephone or skype/video conference at times that work for the candidate. Many firms are also considering a more streamlined interview panel, as opposed to including every single person. It can be tempting to have everyone on the team involved, but is that what a candidate wants? It will likely start to feel annoying to them and as if you are doubting their candidacy. So many candidates in this situation frustratingly say “They need me to come in again? Really? Are they having doubts about me? They’re really making this process inconvenient for me” This is a way to improve your reputation as providing a strong candidate experience!

2) Action of the Hiring Manager: Overly formal and cold during the interview process vs. What the candidate wants: To feel welcome and approached in a kind, friendly way.  

• Many Hiring Managers were taught that being formal, stiff and intimidating on an interview is a great way to gauge a candidate’s ‘thick skin’ and ability to ‘handle pressure’. This may have worked in past hiring markets, but this is now considered a very old-school style of interviewing that quickly turns off most candidates. Today’s candidate wants to have an authentic, genuine conversation with interviewers. They are looking for chemistry and rapport and they are strongly assessing cultural fit. A new approach is to be yourself and have a sense of humor; you can still dig into difficult questions/address concerns, but allow the approach to come from a kinder perspective. So many candidates in this situation frustratingly say “I really liked the firm, but wouldn’t go back. The interviewer was so cold and aloof. I can’t imagine working for him/her.” This is a way you can improve your employer branding efforts!

3) Action of the Hiring Manager: Present a candidate with the same job they are doing elsewhere vs. What the candidate wants: To continue learning and embrace new intellectual challenges.

• This often starts with the job-description, which too often reads as a list of ‘what the Hiring Manager wants’ (basically implying: we want a candidate doing this exact job at one of our competitors. The Hiring Managers think: the candidate will already know the industry, the role and will require less training time). During the interview process, Hiring Managers probe candidates to determine if they’ve done everything required for this role currently/previously. Here’s the challenge: today’s candidate won’t be likely to move for the same job elsewhere! They are seeking new adventures in their career. Hiring Managers must understand the candidate's point of view, and consider their own list of (potentially unrealistic) must-haves and areas that can be trained. Potential solutions: Ask candidates what they are looking for. Write job-descriptions that attract candidates to your brand/firm. A role can evolve for the right person, so ask them about their goals. So many candidates in this situation frustratingly say: “I really liked the firm, but am not interested in pursuing the role further. It’s clear it would be more of the same for me. I’m looking for some new challenges and new things to learn.” Providing candidates what they want in a role is a fantastic way to ensure strong employee retention down the line!

These are 3 areas for Hiring Managers to consider as they continue to court top talent in this market. Subtle changes in approaches can make a huge difference in securing the talent you want. When in doubt about how to take action, ask yourself: What do candidates want? Better yet, what would I want if I was a candidate? This will provide you with stronger empathy and a real opportunity to be a more successful Hiring Manager.

Laura Mazzullo is founder and owner of East Side Staffing, a boutique recruitment firm specializing in the placement of Human Resource Professionals. More information can be found about Laura and East Side Staffing at www.eastsidestaffing.com.