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Start with some actual ground rules

Hiring managers aren’t trying to be difficult — they just don’t know the rules. They’re busy, no one’s told them what’s expected, and “ASAP” isn’t a plan.

Set some simple standards:

• Review CVs in 24–48 hours
• Interviews booked within 2 working days
• Feedback back the same day (next day max)
• Final interviews don’t get booked until after a team debrief

Don’t over-engineer it. Just make it clear from day one what “good” looks like.

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Help them understand the real cost of delay

Sometimes they think a couple of days won’t hurt. But you know the reality:

• The best candidates drop out
• The whole process loses momentum
• You end up making a rushed hire 3 weeks later out of desperation

Bring receipts. Show how long it took to fill the last role because feedback got stuck. Or how many candidates ghosted after final stage because they had no idea what was going on.

Numbers > nagging.

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Make them feel like owners, not passengers

Too many hiring managers think recruitment is “the recruiter’s job.” That they’re just there to do an interview and thumbs-up someone.

Shift that.

Let them own the brief. Get their input on the scorecard. Ask them what’s worked well in past interviews — and where they’ve messed it up.

When they feel like part of the process (not just a checkpoint in it), you’ll get way more buy-in.

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Give them tools — not just tasks

Here’s a wild one: most hiring managers have never been trained to interview. They’re just copying whatever their last boss did.

Help them out:

• Share structured interview questions
• Walk them through a scorecard
• Offer to do a mock interview or a calibration session
• Teach them how to spot bias and dig into actual behaviour, not buzzwords

This stuff doesn’t need to be formal. But it changes everything.

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Wrap every hire with a debrief

When it’s done — debrief.

• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• Where did we get stuck?
• How can we move faster next time?

Every hiring loop is a chance to improve the next one. And the more involved hiring managers are in that reflection, the more they’ll start thinking like partners — not just participants.

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Final thought

If you’re a recruiter, you know the pain of chasing hiring managers for CV feedback, interview availability, or offer decisions. It’s draining.

But when you get this stuff right — when hiring managers are aligned, responsive, and part of the plan — hiring becomes 10x easier. And faster. And better for candidates.

This is what we help companies do every day at RecruitMend.

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Let’s talk about how we can reduce your time to hire and increase your offer acceptance rates – while delivering a candidate experience that sets you apart.