The Four Key Tenants the Best Hiring Managers Share and Why I Wrote the Handbook for Hiring Managers

Recruitment isn’t just about filling vacancies. The people you bring into your team shape culture, performance, and ultimately long-term success. That makes it one of the most important responsibilities any hiring manager faces.

A great hire can elevate a team and save/generate hundreds of thousands of pounds. The wrong one can set you back months. Yet identifying and securing the right candidate is rarely straightforward. The UK market for procurement and commercial professionals in construction is competitive, and top candidates often have multiple opportunities on the table.

That’s where the Handbook for Hiring Managers comes in….

A Guide for Hiring Managers Recruiting Commercial and Procurement Specialists

For most procurement or commercial managers in the construction sector, recruitment is an occasional task, not a day-to-day responsibility. Unsurprisingly, many say they would benefit from more structured training and support.

The Handbook was designed to bridge that gap. It walks you through the process from start to finish and is divided into four guides:

1. Engaging a Recruitment Agency
2. Briefing Agencies on New Roles
3. Managing The Interview Process
4. Post interview & Preboarding

Recruiting in our niche requires specialist insight. The Handbook not only offers a clear framework for a streamlined yet thorough process, but also includes practical tips for every stage. It even tackles the “awkward” questions managers often hesitate to ask, such as:

• How much do recruitment companies get paid?
• What’s the difference between contingent, exclusive, and retained search?

It has been written so that you can read the Handbook cover to cover or dip into specific sections as needed. For less experienced managers, it provides the reassurance of a best-practice framework. For seasoned managers, it delivers detail and insight you can draw on as and when required.

Going Deeper

I’ve distilled as much of my 20+ years’ experience in procurement and commercial recruitment as possible into the Handbook but have also kept it concise.
If you’d like more depth on any topic touched on in the guide, visit the blog section of our website, where I have developed a library of practical advice on how to attract and secure the best candidates.

The Four Key Tenants of the Best Hiring Managers
Over the years, I’ve noticed the very best hiring managers consistently demonstrate four key behaviours and it may be worth keeping these in mind as you read the Handbook:

1. They plan. Before starting, they clarify the role, involve HR and key stakeholders, and set a clear timeframe. The result: smooth processes, confident candidates, and fewer losses to competing offers.
2. They prepare. They distinguish between essential and desirable skills, then use structured scorecards to assess CVs and interviews systematically. It’s more preparation than average — and it pays off.
3. They anticipate the candidate’s perspective. Great managers don’t just assess whether a candidate can do the job — they actively sell the opportunity. They prepare for likely candidate questions, understand motivations, highlight benefits, and position the company’s EVP alongside a vision of how the role could evolve.
4. They stay engaged beyond the offer. Integration begins the moment a candidate accepts an offer. Skilled hiring managers maintain momentum, knowing that counteroffers are common and engagement is critical to ensure the new hire settles quickly and successfully.

I hope you find the Handbook for Hiring Managers useful.

You can download the four guides from the Insights section of our website, look for the Hiring Manager Guides section.