Guide to Improve the Recruitment Process

The Current employees

We are living in the era of “The Great Resignation”. Employees willingly are quitting their jobs because they do not feel fulfilled. Do not be misguided, this isn't due to a lack of financial compensation. The new generation puts a great deal of importance on work-life balance, flexible working hours, and career growth. Most companies haven't updated their recruiting strategy based on the changing trends of the market which causes them to miss out on attracting talent.  

The Modern Employee

As mentioned above, the modern employee doesn't just need a well-paying job. That alone will not keep him from applying elsewhere.  In order to improve your hiring process, you first need to empathize with the employees of this era. You need to have a deep understanding of their needs, their desires, and their pain points. You need to put yourself in their shoes to truly streamline your process and provide an easy hiring experience for them.

Keep up with Constant Communication

Candidate engagement is essential in any hiring process, you need to constantly update your candidates on what the next steps of the recruiting process are. Never leave them hanging. Even if you decide to not go forward with them, you need to let them know. Nothing is more frustrating than not knowing what to expect next. This alone will significantly improve the recruiting experience for your candidates and lead you toward hiring qualified candidates.

Always Keep Looking

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Always keep your hiring process ready to be deployed. Do not make the mistake of assuming that you and your employees are one big happy family and that no one will ever leave. People leave and that is just a fact. You need to be prepared for them to leave. This is why you need to be on a constant lookout for rising, fresh talent. Maintain a talent pipeline for positions that your company might be hiring for in the future.  

Use the Game of the Employee Referral Program

Implement an employee referral program in your organization and ask your employees for referrals because employee referrals are the gold mine of sourcing. They offer:

• Quality Leads
• Higher retention rate
• Helps promote a sense of loyalty  
• Increases trust in the brand
• Use LinkedIn and reach out to people.  
• Look at your current employees before you decide to hire someone from the outside.  

The greatest untapped resource in any organization is the people who are already there - Harvey McKay

Also, you need to be on top of the market compensations. Do not just look at the salaries. Look at the benefits, the working hours, and the different company cultures.  You need to be well versed in what other companies are offering and what is something special that you can offer your candidate if they decide to join.

Hiring top talent is the easy part, making them stay is unfortunately harder.

Craft a Crisp Job Description

Do not and I repeat, do not just go and copy-paste some job descriptions from the internet. Write it yourself. You need to be very specific about the experience level and the skills you want. For better results use popular keywords so that candidates have an easy time finding you on job boards. A well-written job description always consists of an aspect of your company culture.  

Choose your Hiring Team

"First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people. " - Good to Great (Jim Collins)

The next thing you need to do in your hiring process is to get the right people on the bus. You want to look for people who aren't just skilled at their jobs but people who embody your company's culture, vision, and values. You want your recruitment team to be filled with level-four leaders. Level Four leaders possess professional will and personal humility. They define their success by the success of their team.

Find the Best-fit

Okay, it's time to go through your list of candidates. You want to be looking at the least number of candidate resumes during your hiring process. To help you shorten your list use:

Pre-screening tests

These tests help you identify the job candidates who fit the minimum requirements for the role.

Personality tests

They give you input on candidates' work styles, behaviours, and drives. Use personality tests to get to know the candidates a little better before you interview them. An example of such a test is the Myers Brigs test.

Boolean Filters

They will significantly reduce the number of resumes you will have to go through.  

keywords

Keep an eye out for keywords, as they help you target the right audience.

Gut feeling

If you get a gut feeling that a candidate might not be the right fit, take a minute and consider the reasons behind your intuition.  

Build a Strong Employer Brand

Focus on building a perfect employer brand, not just to increase employee retention but it also attracts passive candidates. When you work on building a well-known employer brand, by updating the company profile and promoting a positive work culture and environment, it ultimately increases the reputation of the company.

Be Prepared for the Interview Process

Make sure all the members of your hiring team are on the same page during the interview phase. They need to be aware of the job requirements and the qualities they are looking for.

Create Scorecard templates to judge the candidates. This will help your team make better and more objective decisions.

Before the interview, the hiring manager and interviewer should go through the profile of the candidates so that they can ask more specific questions based on the candidates' experiences and skills.  

Red flags to look out for in job seekers during each step of your recruiting process:

1 . Lack of preparation

2 . Poor communication skills

3 . Resume fraud

4 . Lack of motivation

5 . Dishonesty

Gracefully Close the Deal

Your recruiting process isn't done just yet. Closing the deal is a vital part of it. This is the stage that is going to decide if all your hard work was worth it or not.

• Ensure your candidate gets fair compensation. This is a critical factor for employee retention, satisfaction, and engagement.  
• Be clear and concise about the job role and what you will be expecting from the candidate if he decides to join your organization.  
• Ask for any concerns they might have.
• Ask them what their long-term career goals will be if they decide to join and discuss how the company can help them achieve their career goals.
• Once you have given the job offer ensure that you follow up with your candidate.  
• If they decide to join then hurray else you need to respect their decision and thank them for their time and consideration.  

Use the Power of a Recruiting Software

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) helps recruiters to manage all hiring activity on a single platform. It is an all-in-one tool that automates the hiring process and aligns candidates with your business’s needs.

The features of an ATS, such as resume parsing, filtering, creating templates, collaborating with your team, taking notes, sending emails, and much more help you find out qualified candidates in a short time with minimum recruitment efforts.

Social Media for Recruiting

Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and many more are a great way to source potential candidates as they help recruiters spread the job information, quickly and efficiently.

Company's Career page

Construct a career page that is informative, user-friendly, and keeps candidates engaged throughout the year. Post all the vacant job positions on your company career page and provide its link on your company's social profiles. You can also showcase your company culture, activities, and much on it. As candidates visit your careers page, make sure it is updated and easy to navigate.

Measure, Learn, and Improve

You should try to implement a structured hiring process but you cannot improve what you cannot measure.  

1. Collect data during different phases of your hiring process.
2. After each recruitment cycle, you need to analyze your data. What worked? What didn't work and why something didn't work?  
3. Talk to your hiring managers, and recruitment team, and ask them for their feedback.
4. Ask the candidates about what their experience was like.  
5. Based on analysis and feedback, create measurable goals. This will help you to take more data-driven decisions in the future.

FAQS

How to make sure that your recruitment process is efficient?

An efficient recruitment process is one that is planned, structured, and organized, in order to minimize unnecessary hiring costs and time spent on finding the ideal candidates. It is a step-by-step approach to onboarding qualified candidates for open positions who can help the company grow in the longer run.

Does feedback help in improving your recruitment process?

Yes, feedbacks from candidates help you understand the flaws or mistakes in your recruitment process, that you might have not seen before and reviews help you improve those mistakes in order to make your recruitment process error-free.

What additionally your recruitment process can include, to differentiate it from others?

The addition of Artificial intelligence in the screening process can automate the hiring process to a great extent. As AI can filter candidates in an unbiased way, reducing the time to hire. AI bots help you keep the candidates engaged by answering the most commonly asked questions.

Postface

Above mentioned are the key strategies to adopt, in order to optimize your hiring process. From crafting excellent job descriptions, updating career pages, improving every hiring stage, and removing errors to closing the deal with a good impression, there are multiple ways you can strengthen the hiring process and hire the right candidates.

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