Lateral Hiring - What Is The Meaning Of Lateral Hiring And Its Importance | HRMantra Hr Software

Lateral Hiring - What Is The Meaning Of Lateral Hiring And Its Importance | HRMantra Hr Software

 6-8 minutes

Definition of Lateral Hiring

Lateral hiring is where you pick people who are presently working and are in some or the other company in the same kind of role that you are looking at. These are called passive candidates who are not active in the job market.

Table of Content

• Lateral Hiring Definition
• Lateral Hiring Process: Step-by-step guide.
• Advantages of Lateral Hiring in Recruitment
• Difference Between Lateral Hiring and Vertical Hiring
• Good Practices for Lateral Hiring

Lateral Hiring Process: Step-By-Step

Understand the Needs and Define the Job

What''s important is that organizations first really understand why they are going for Lateral Hiring. The hiring manager and head of a department should be really aware of the reason for this kind of recruitment and why it is so important.

When the purpose of hiring is clear, you can quickly identify candidates who meet the requirements.

To facilitate this, the top-level executives in the department who have a position need to be involved.

Defining the Requirements: After having defined the requirement, the organizations need to develop a job description which should contain all relevant information regarding the business and role information and specifics of the required skill set.

In the form of job specification, lists the best described necessary skills and technical knowledge that is needed to perform the job.

Now that you have found out what you need and you have done the job analysis, you have to do an assessment framework. In other words, you have to establish the way you are going to assess your employees.

It is, again, essential that the methods of assessment are in agreement with the required skills, and allow the capability to assess the candidate''s knowledge effectively.

Selective Outreach

This is the tough part, now, in finding your perfect candidate.

The talent that you are targeting is only comprised of passive job seekers.

Finding candidates who''re willing to leave their present situation for a fresh job can be really far and in between.

Thus the first thing you will need to do is see if this applicant is indeed seeking a career opportunity.

If the applicant is yes, then you can request a resume or any other information relevant to your requirements.

Assess the Candidates Shortlisted

By short-listing resumes and job history you probably have the final line of resumes at the recruitment process.

Now is the time to contact these candidates and appoint a day for the assessment. It can be done by arranging a meeting or another method stated in the form.

The purpose of the assessment is to judge the compatibility of the company with the job candidate.

While you proceed along the interview, make sure you ask questions which are related to the qualification, e.g. questions pertaining to their system of assessment and testing of performance of the candidate.

Make an Offer

It is the time of the latter stage of the lateral hiring process for making an offer.

Once you have decided whom to hire, it is important you make an offer to the candidate.

Remember, more likely than not, the candidate is passive and has to do nothing — no persuasion, no reason — to negotiate or leave his or her current atmosphere.

Actually, a job offer lateral in nature can be to a candidate''s advantage because they can use that as a bargaining chip to ask their organization for a raise or promotion.

By now, at this very stage, you would have invested in searching for that candidate who expressed his willingness to arrive at a conclusion to the process.

Although one may never find it possible to get the exact outcome, running values data-driven hiring judgments through assessments and analysis may reduce the likelihood of this outcome.

Benefits of Lateral Hiring in the Recruitment Process

1. Widen the Efficiency: One of the advantages of the hiring process is increased efficiency. When hired through a recruitment process, a candidate will go into their new position with the required skills and knowledge, which will help in improved productivity.
2. Expertise in Meeting Skill Gaps: With lateral hiring, an effort is made to bring in those individuals who have a skill inventory to bridge certain gaps within a team. The leadership candidate to be hired would have such kinds of skills and knowledge through which an organization can improve its operations.
3. Networking Opportunities: Hiring a leadership candidate opens several networking opportunities for the organizational setup. It helps to collaborate in the professional domain and create better contacts.
4. Fresh Perspectives: An experienced hire can bring a few perspectives. This not only helps in solving existing problems but enhances overall operations.

What is the Difference Between Lateral Hiring and Vertical Hiring

Both lateral and vertical hiring indicate career growth. They involve employees moving up in their journeys.

What makes the two different?

Vertical hiring is the process in which an individual is promoted or offered a salary based on the refinement of his skill sets developed over a period of time within the organization. Most employees stay waiting to climb up the vertical hiring ladder under the organizational field as they start making progress in their career.

Lateral hiring refers to the process where an organization transfers its employees from one department to another or to some role within the same division based on their relevant skills.

For example, an Operations Team Lead could get recruited as a manager at the marketing firm.

Best Practices for Lateral Hiring

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you lateral hire, for your benefit:

• Outline your needs.
• Make sure that the job description is right for you.
• Set up an assessment process.
• Practice caution in reaching out to prospective applicants.
• Evaluate candidates based on recognizable criteria.
• Be equitable and truthful in framing your dialogues with candidates.

FAQs

1. For what reasons do businesses often lateral hire?

Organizations select lateral hires because these hires can be more effective and productive in their jobs compared to strangers since the lateral hires are already familiar with the procedures and modalities of the given organization.

2. What do you think are the gains of lateral hiring to an organization?

Lateral hiring not only saves the time for the employees in an organization but also the costs that are involved with hiring from outside an organization, such as hiring recruitment agencies, interviews, assessments, advertisements, and many others.

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