Improving the Recruitment Experience
Marc Benioff is the CEO and Founder of one of the world’s most popular CRMs, Salesforce. He once wrote that “acquiring the right talent is the most important key to growth. Hiring was – and still is – the most important thing we do.” Nothing you do for your company will have quite the same impact as spending time to make sure the right people are there for you. The people you hire will be the foundation of everything you do, so you must do everything in your power to bring in the best and brightest! To that end, we’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks to help you do just that!
Go Modern
Gone are the days when people sat down in the morning with a pen and a newspaper to check the classified ads for a new job. Disappearing too are the days when candidates would walk into a place of business and ask for a paper application. These days it is all about technology, so don’t be afraid to leverage that to your advantage!
This first step is to get social. Social Media is a great way to advertise your company’s products and services to customers, but it can also be a great way to share your company culture with prospective candidates. Post pictures and stories of employee life and events on your page. Give candidates a peek at what daily life is like at the office for you and your team. Company social media pages can also be utilized to post jobs. In fact, over 90 percent of businesses utilize social media to locate talent. Indeed, for many businesses, social media is currently the preferred method of recruiting people. It essentially outranks advertisements, employee references, and even online job boards.
Keep the Experience Candidate Centered
Candidates need to be treated in the same way you might treat a customer. You might not be selling them your product or services but what you are selling is even more important to your company! 43% of employees say leadership support had an impact on the company they chose to work for. The first view of leadership seen by any prospective employee is your recruitment team and process. So, you must make a good impression.
First and foremost, be respectful of your candidate’s time. If you must be late for an in-person or video interview, let the candidate know in advance. Another way to be respectful of your candidate’s time is to shorten the application process. The most effective applications should take only about five minutes to fill out. Any longer, and candidates often quit before finishing.
Request that candidates upload their cover letter and resume, as well as answer a few qualifying questions. Stick to straightforward, pertinent inquiries and avoid eliciting information that can easily be garnered from resumes or online profiles. Redundant questions are more likely to dissuade candidates from finishing an application.
Don’t be afraid to give updates and feedback. Communication is key. Nobody wants to work for a company that shows from out the gate that their communications will be sparse or nonexistent. Be sure to follow up with any applicants you have vetted or interviewed. There is software now that includes built-in email templates that can aid in communicating at every level of the hiring process. It's also a good idea to send excluded candidates rejection emails and offer to provide interview comments. They may not be right for the position you are hiring for now, but the candidate may be perfect for another at a later date. You do not want to lose out on a stellar candidate due to a lack of communication.
Be open and upfront! To attract the top candidates, it is vital to be genuine about the position you are hiring for. Dishonesty can cost you a great deal in the end. When the truth is out, you will have squandered everyone's time at best. At worst, you risk losing the newly hired employee if they discover that the position does not match their aptitudes, interests, financial expectations, or personality. Then you would be back to square one.
Leverage Referrals
Loren Weisman once said that you should “maintain your reputation by referring only those that you would stake your reputation on.” Most professionals will also live by this rule. Talented people usually surround themselves with like-minded and equally skilled individuals. Your employee network is a great resource for your company.
While many employees may already share vacant opportunities with qualified contacts in their networks, a successful employee referral program may drive your other employees to promote your organization to talented individuals in their professional network as well. Consider giving referral bonuses and contests to generate interest in the program. Your employees are going to know better than anyone else what their position entails and what day-to-day life is like in your place of work. They will know who in their network is a good fit.
Call in the Experts
According to a recent poll conducted by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average cost per new hire is around $4,000. This cost includes job boards posts, assessments, background checks, and other internal recruitment costs. There is also the issue of time. For instance, Recruiters spend an average of 25 hours a week on the phone, implying that they are multitasking or working extra hours to meet their weekly responsibilities. If your team’s sole focus is not recruiting, this can mean less time is spent on other tasks or more money spent on overtime. This can all be mitigated by turning to experts, and staffing agencies.
Staffing agencies have been key players in multiple industries for over one hundred years. Established staffing agencies frequently have a ready-made database of skilled individuals from a variety of sectors. This means that the period between job posting, and job fulfillment is significantly reduced, saving your firm money on current employees' overtime. It also implies that if you need to fill many roles, you have a one-stop-shop for doing so.
Staffing agencies today also have a broad range of skills and positions they staff for. This means that no matter what your needs are, you can rest easy knowing that the staffing agency you work with has your back! From computer programmers, marketers, and general labor, staffing agencies can staff them all.
With a staffing agency, you also know you are getting the best of the best when it comes to candidates. Candidates sent to you by a staffing agency are typically thoroughly screened as well. Candidates are seldom added to a hiring agency's database unless they have passed a rigorous criminal record check and all of their papers have been authenticated. Staffing agencies sift over resumes as well as other documents with eagle eyes to ensure that nothing is missed.
Staffing agencies work hand in hand with the companies that hire them. They ask deep probing questions to get a clear understanding of the roles you need to fill and the culture of your company. They make sure that any and every candidate sent your way is a perfect fit not just for the role you have open but for the company at large. This ensures that you are not employing someone just to terminate them a few weeks later unless the need to fill the position is simply temporary.
Staffing agencies are the greatest secret weapon for recruiting your company can have in their arsenal!