A while ago I mentioned that I was having a chat about whether I had an idea for a book with a genuine, real life publisher. As it happened I had two which is just as well as one of them has actually been bagsied elsewhere 😆

Now I don’t know whether the publisher will be interested as this is the niche-iest niche in all of Niche City but my plan is to write (a short) book about improving hiring (and onboarding) for digital teams in large organisations (honestly the Civil Service and adjacent things but my hypothesis is that it holds for most large organisations and some medium size ones as well.)

The stub of the idea is that it will be about helping hiring managers make better decisions in a way that HR rarely seems to support.

So it it will cover items like;

Making thoughtful decisions about what role you actually need to fill to improve your team. Too often we just swap like for like without considering if the requirements have changed.

Deciding what is the best route to fill that role when you have identified it. Do you need a permanent member of staff, a fixed term appointment, a contractor (or ‘contingent labourer’ in current HR speak 🤢) or some kind of managed supplier option? They all come with strengths and weaknesses – and financially the maths isn’t as straightforward as some people might think.

Talent spotting inhouse. What is your local pipeline for people. Who is keeping an eye out for the curious, insightful junior or parallel professional who keeps coming to Show & Tells, working on side projects, asking questions on Slack? What is their path to your team(s)?

Then the meat of the thing. The chapter I have been studying for over 12 years.

Writing better job descriptions. Writing them to attract the right talent for the role you actually need to fill in the team(s) that need the help. Not to meet some internal checklist. I love the GDaD framework job descriptions – but they are the starting point. They need to be supplemented.

You know I have opinions on all of that. I also have opinions on the promotion and storytelling aspect of hiring people. You need people to actually see the jobs ads! The more people who see them the more likely you’ll get the right candidates.

Now I know at the moment a lot of job ads attract wild amounts of applicants (due to use of GenAI) but quanity doesn’t mean quality. The people you want want to know what they are getting into! Why pick this role over that one. It isn’t always just the money – especially not in a market that has flattened out.

…and yeah GenAI and broader AI tools. I’ll have to write (and research) about that. Especially in regards to sifting I think. I really worry that a shift to automated sifting is going to mean missing out on some brilliant people and just create some really generic candidate lists. Plus all the prejudices baked in (though those exist with a human at the wheel as well.)

Doing better interviews. Designing them. Planning them. Considering and collaborating with your colleagues on what you want out of them. Making sure applicants have every opportunity to shine. They are an imperfect process no matter how much you put into them but there is so much room to improve for the vast majority of them.

If there is anywhere with the biggest ceiling for improvement it is surely post offer comms. We know things like security vetting is pretty broken but so often there is a liminal space between the offer and the start date that is just devoid of information. Of contact. There is a balance to be struck for sure – don’t be the hiring manager sending reams of reading to someone before they have started and still have a different day job! Don’t leave them hanging either though. Soften the landing.

…because onboarding in the hybrid era is rubbish. Almost always. Everyone is busy and everyone is increasingly everywhere but we need to be so much more intentional about this. Especially for people earlier in their careers. An old git like me can work out how to navigate the intricacies of a new team or employer with minimal help (but some help is needed even now) but that isn’t true of everyone and those first few weeks are so important.

There is definitely something that needs considering about the remote x hybrid x office based stuff for this. Also something about the expectations of Gen X vs Millennials vs Gen Z vs the terrifying incoming Gen Alphas.

So what do we reckon? Is anyone going to read this?

The one big side effect of me doing it is likely to be that I no longer sunset my jobs newsletter when it hits the 500th edition in December! Instead I’ll take a winter break and relaunch it in early 2027. Likely on a less frequent schedule and maybe a slightly different format but I’ll need that audience as research subjects 😂