Welcome to the Thanksgiving Table: a culinary battlefield where feuds are born and alliances are forged. While the turkey may be the star of the show, the real test of character (and where battle lines are drawn) is which side dish fills the rest of your plate. Is stuffing better than mashed potatoes? Do marshmallows pair with sweet potatoes?
Now think about your talent acquisition team and their different styles (or side dishes). That’s what makes your team effective! Who is the highly organized process architect who loves complexity and sees the value in details? Who is the simplifier who wants to figure out the quickest way to achieve the goal?
We’re serving up five essential hiring styles based on your favorite holiday side dish. Read on to find your side dish hiring style — and discover what you need to keep your entire hiring team happy, compliant, and thriving this holiday season.
Consider your different team members: the recruiter focused on candidate experience, the HR manager obsessed with compliance, and the hiring manager demanding speed. These various needs — your team's "side dishes" — are what make your team successful. Discover which hiring styles align with your team, as well as the specific tools they crave to accomplish their goals.
Mashed potatoes are the smooth, non-controversial, and reliable foundation of a Thanksgiving meal. Similarly, the Fundamentalist values tradition, rigid compliance, and established procedures above all else. They are at the core of HR, ensuring every process is repeatable and scalable. The Fundamentalist is often wary of any new solution that might deviate from the norm or introduce process risk.
The Fundamentalist needs standardized workflows that ensure every part of the hiring process remains efficient and compliant. They crave the comfort of knowing that the necessary forms, approvals, and record-keeping for every candidate are correct and auditable.
Key Traits:
Stuffing is more complex than people give it credit for. It’s a layered, savory masterpiece that requires blending multiple ingredients (breads, herbs, celery, sausage) to create a single, flavorful creation. Similarly, the Process Architect loves complexity, deep integration, and seamless system connectivity. They understand that a process is only as strong as its weakest link.
The Process Architect needs technology that communicates seamlessly. They crave streamlined, efficient ATS and HRIS integration that automates data transfer, eliminates manual tasks, and ensures every part of the hiring pipeline is working in harmony.
Key Traits:
You know that sweet potato casserole loves flair. Whether it's topped with marshmallows, pecans, or both, it’s a creative blend of sweet and savory that delights all of your senses with just the right amount of controversy. Similarly, the Creative Recruiter values innovation, candidate engagement, and speed over methodical routine. They are focused on attracting and securing top talent, often experimenting with new ideas to make a fast, positive first impression.
The Creative Recruiter requires a hiring process that is quick, creative, and reflective of their modern employer brand. They crave a seamless candidate experience built on smooth, mobile-friendly processes and transparent communication. While maybe a little out of the box, that’s how they secure top talent before their competition.
Key Traits:
Mac & cheese is the ultimate comfort food: warm, creamy, and delicious. It delivers high-impact results with minimal effort (especially if you bake it!). Similarly, the Efficiency Expert values speed, satisfaction, and simplicity. They seek powerful and reliable tools that deliver high-quality results quickly. They hate wasted steps, double data entry, and any process that requires unnecessary clicks.
Like mac & cheese, the Efficiency Expert needs a hiring system that is universally loved and easy to use. They crave user-friendly platforms with intuitive designs, automated queues, and clear dashboards, enabling them to complete tasks more efficiently and focus their energy on the next hire.
Key Traits:
The Leftovers Sandwich is a quick fix: a pragmatic assembly that combines all the best parts of the meal into one final, highly satisfying package. Similarly, the Fixer values problem-solving and efficiency. They focus on quickly resolving roadblocks and bottlenecks, ensuring the entire hiring process runs efficiently. They are the person who steps in to make sure all the necessary pieces of data are in place to finalize the hire.
The Fixer requires a system that eliminates friction and turns complex data into clear, actionable answers. They crave centralized reporting that compiles the necessary candidate information into a single, intuitive dashboard.
Key Traits:
A great Thanksgiving meal isn't just about the starches and sweets. You can’t forget the gravy: the one consistent, unifying element that ties every single dish together perfectly.
You know your team: The Process Architect is deeply involved in system integration, the Creative Recruiter is focused on a delightful candidate experience, and the Fixer is ready to streamline the final offer. Their individual styles are effective, but every single hiring style must adhere to the same standards.
What does that mean? Everyone must converge on one area: compliant background screening.
You can (and should) have five different types of people on your team, but you cannot have five different background screening processes. If the approach varies, you instantly open the door to inconsistent results, legal risk, confusion, and friction. In hiring, the gravy is your background screening solution. Regardless of which side dish/personality type you are, you need a single, reliable system robust enough to support all your needs.
Verified First is more than a screening tool. It’s the gravy of consistency — the unifying ingredient designed to streamline your entire hiring process and satisfy every style at the table.
This holiday season, don't let your team’s different styles of recruitment and hiring clash. Whether your goal is the stability of a Fundamentalist or the speed of an Efficiency Expert, you need one singular solution to manage compliance and risk consistently across the board.
Instead of trying to find five separate systems to keep everyone happy, rely on the solution that makes every hire compliant, fast, and safe. Ready to unify your team and season your hiring process to perfection?
We are proud members of the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA)
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