Recruiters drag their feet and present the applicants to the hiring manager. End up in a loop where the most common responses are “We’ll get back to you ”. The reason can be a snag in the recruitment process but when digging into the root problem it’s always complicated.
We’ll drop some truth bombs about recruitment here: Hiring managers has this unapproachable quest for the ‘purple squirrel’s–a candidate with extraordinary skills, where it becomes impossible to balance the expectations of the candidate with the actual talent of the pool. And let’s not forget the episode where recruiters are haunted by the rising phenomenon of the candidate ghosting.
Plus, 93% of employers are doing some sort of hiring and find themselves amid talent draught. In such scenarios, fixing the recruitment process is the only spur for recruiters and hiring managers.
In this blog, we’ve tried to simplify the recruitment process for you in ten simple steps which can help you to battle with contending talent shortages, chasing the perfect candidate, combating candidate ghosting, and battling biases.
So without further ado, let’s get started!
What is the recruitment process?
A recruitment process is an ongoing search for potential candidates to fill a skill requirement. The process looks simple outside but once dropped down, includes a journey where the recruiter has to take the candidate through multiple steps of hiring:
- Initial application
- where the recruiter seeks a resume or a portfolio
- recruiter tries to understand the intent of the candidate
2. Screening
- Here recruiter checks the candidate’s fit-in capacity and availability
- Done either via phone call, or a video call
3. Interview scheduling
- A video call with the hiring manager where knowledge and technical skills are comprehended
- Usually to trust the candidate’s skills, the hiring manager assigns the assessment to quality further rounds of the recruitment process
Why is your recruitment process not successful?
There are many reasons why you are not getting results from your process. But let’s first define what a failed recruitment process looks like.
- Getting the wrong fits for roles in your company
- Targeting talents that are not aligned to your brand’s vision
- A process that drains the energy of candidates to the extent they give up moving on with the recruitment process.
- Poor behavior of your hiring managers — according to a survey by Bamboo HR 83% of respondents say they’ve had bad experiences during the hiring process, including being ghosted or facing discrimination.
An effective recruitment process will ensure you can find, and hire the best candidates for the roles you are looking to fill.
Now, you understand the reasons why you are not hitting it big in recruitment. So what next?
Few solid reasons why you need a recruitment process?
The recruitment process is an absolute necessity if you’re looking to build a robust team. Here’s why?
1. Hire the best candidates:
A structured recruitment process gives you the power of selection. When your recruitment process is in place it helps you to handpick the cream talent. Not only this but also allows you to hit your hiring goals. The rigorous selection process sets the foundation for amazing team members and also helps you to hire the best fit for the roles.
2. Alignment with organization goals:
The recruitment process gives you the opportunity to align with company values, vision and vibe. It is important to resonate with the culture, size, and industry you operate. And the basics will always be the same behind creating an effective recruitment process which is hire the best talent.
3. Building consistency:
An organization is only as strong as its people. The recruitment process allows you to screen individuals who not only contribute to your present success but also shape your future legacy. This ensures long-term growth with consistency and effectiveness in recruiting top talent.
So, there you have it– the reason why you need a recruitment process, now let’s take you through the gateway on how to gear your recruitment process.
10 Steps Necessary for Recruitment Success
- Give a detailed and clear description of the open roles in your organization
If you want to win in recruitment in 2023 and beyond, giving detailed job descriptions should be one of your aims before hiring.
We live in an age where ChatGPT can be used to assemble a fast job description in minutes — no human edits, no uniqueness — and boom! We see the job ads on lever, workable or other freelance communities.
Neil Morelli, a Forbes Councils Member of the Forbes Human Resources Council had these to say concerning job descriptions:
“Done right, job descriptions are an essential road map for many people management functions, including recruitment, engagement and development. Job descriptions can have an outsized impact on the trajectory of younger, smaller companies through their talent.
So, how do you craft a quality job description that makes you win at recruiting great candidates:
- Add a clear and unique statement of your company’s mission, vision, work environment, culture and differentiators
- Add the job’s mission
- Add list of most important roles/duties
- Add critical experience requirements and competencies needed.
- Set a standard of values for your fellow hiring managers to attract employees
A B2B marketing and tech firm uses core values and professional development to attract and retain employees for an average of 2.5 years
Br8kthru’s (Minneapolis digital agency) full team developed its core values, which are also used as a framework when interviewing potential candidates
The managing director has this to say — We’re continuing to evolve our work environment based on what’s most important to our team. Leaning into our core values helps us create a culture that is stronger, more cohesive, and more distinct for potential candidates and clients alike,” said Jon Lenz, Managing Director, Br8kthru.
One of the ways to recruitment success is ensuring that you first imbibe great qualities and core values. What are these core values:
- A good work culture
- Committed to excellence in all departments
- Character — responsibility, accountability and being intentional about growth
- Collaborating with employees.
So what next? Look beyond the technical skills of the candidate. Find out if they match these qualities and values. Vet them through certain processes. It can be checking the quality of a writer who has been given instructions for a paid writing test — after the writer submits, you can decide to make edits and find out the writer’s reactions, fuming? Or willing to accept feedback?
If you don’t set these standards, you will fail in recruiting, worst comes to worst, you hire incompetent employees.
- Go Beyond and above
If you want to hire talents that get results for your brand, you must be willing to go beyond and above to identify them and attract them to your organization.
The ultimate tool in going beyond and above is networking. And it’s in two different dimensions
- Searching for great talents in your social network
- Asking your network to recommend a talent
These are underrated ways to scale recruitment. Jakub Rubnik, previously head of content at Scribe did something fascinating last year and there’s no doubt that this yielded results for C-suite leaders and hiring managers.
He asked leaders and HR team leaders to fill a form to get access to a bank of writers ready to work.
Spoiler alert — Hiring managers who aren’t willing to go beyond and above won’t have access to these opportunities. Accessing this kind of opportunity shared by Jakub feels like a giveaway.
But come to think of it, what prompted Jakub to share this form. There are two reasons, I guess.
- A leader must have made inquiries — the Power of Network
- He just wants to share to his network
Another way to get a great hold on successful recruitment is — using your social media channels.
- Be intentional about distributing your job descriptions to a large network — leverage communities
One of the keys that unlock the door of success in recruitment is distribution. There are many communities across different social media channels — Slack, LinkedIn, discord, Twitter mention it.
For example, at Superpath group — managed by Jimmy Daly, hiring managers and C-suite leaders leverage the slack group to post freelance job opportunities.
Don’t think you’d get results just by posting a gig on your company’s careers’ page, no. But don’t get it wrong, it’s not bad to post on your page. There’s room for more leverage on the internet and these communities are your go-to for hiring great talents.
- Leverage employee Influencers and maximize them in targeting great talents
An employee influencer is someone working for a company vetted with authority to increase awareness of the company’s brand and products among a specific demographic.
Many times, your employees have pre-baked topical knowledge about the hiring space and they can help you out by targeting great candidates who are fit for your job roles.
Recently, some employees at Animalz got laid off,you need to see the rate of promotion from their previous and current colleagues about them being open for opportunities. So you see, it’s a better way to recruit.
Talk to your employees, let them know your needs and collaborate with them to ensure you get the best results.
- Don’t hide your payment plan for any role (competitive pay is a red flag)
How long do we continue to see job descriptions with payments as — “competitive pay, 401k or high pay based on experience “?
Can we just be clear? Clarity and specificity is the key to recruitment success. Don’t let future employees ask you about price, make it known before they apply — if you do this, you save them time and save your team the time.
Imagine having 100 application forms for a “competitive pay remote software engineer gig”, then after an interview, you state your price of “5k dollars a year” , some candidates fume at that because they are “$10k / year engineers”, what next? You lose them, you fail at recruiting.
What if you stated the price? You sieve out those who are not your targets and attract more serious candidates who are ready to work for your company.
- Use data driven decision making and metrics to rate your applicants
Another vital step to your success in recruitment is leveraging data and analytics to make informed decisions.
You must monitor certain metrics like — source of hires, application format from candidates and the candidate’s experience.
This helps you improve your future recruitment. This way you strategize your job ad description, where you post it to target candidates and state the kind of work experience you want.
- Promote a strong employer brand that candidates can love.
Do you know that 75% of active job seekers are likely to apply for a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand?
Have you ever wondered why some job seekers don’t wait a second when they see the job post of a brand? Well, that might be the reason why Buffer had over 1500+ applications for their recent content writer role and just recently, Superpath had over 1200 applications for an open freelance writer role too.
What does this tell you? One thing — improve your employer brand and see how you attract great talents to your brand. It’s not magic or some kind of made up tactic. You must be intentional about marketing your employer brand.
HubSpot defines Employer branding as the reputation you have as an employer among your employees and the workforce. It’s also how you market your company to job seekers and internal employees.
So what are the steps to take to promote employer branding:
- Know your company’s unique value proposition.
- Conduct an employer brand audit.
- Write an employer value proposition.
- Use videos, blog posts, photos, and slideshows to tell your company story.
- Be transparent, honest and genuine about your company’s offerings.
Alyssa Cole, Associate Emerging Talent Recruiter, U.S. at HubSpot had this to say: I love that I get to talk to candidates about the great things the company offers and by truly enjoying the culture and people, it makes it so easy to talk about life at HubSpot. The secret — employer branding!
- Embracing mobility by considering candidates with different backgrounds, locations and career histories.
“Remote role but only in Canada “, yes I understand that your company’s standard or modus operandi might not accommodate operations from a far distance but that doesn’t mean you should ignore more competent talents just because of their location, background or career histories.
If you want to succeed in recruitment, you must see beyond your borders and continent. There are a lot of special job candidates out there who might not be as privileged as you are but have the skillset and character to help your company get results you never imagined.
So if you want to succeed in recruitment, widen your best of target, look beyond diversified backgrounds and embrace mobility. Actively promote diversity and most importantly, pay every hire what they deserve or merit. It’s not a call to just hire and pay them way below the value they can offer in your brand.
- Give back to your candidates
Picture this: You are a job candidate,How would you feel if you got ghosted by a hiring manager midway through the hiring process? Sad, right? And even frustrated.
Okay. Another example: how would you feel as a freelance writer after doing a paid test and you get no feedback on your work? Or after applying for a gig that you feel you should have been hired and yet no feedback?
Crazy right?
Okay. That’s great. You see,you must learn to give back to your candidates, don’t assume that your job applicants aren’t concerned about the reason why they weren’t chosen to be hired.
The solution — be intentional about giving back to your candidates. The Buffer content team played this step perfectly in their recent recruitments.
After reviewing 1500+ applications, they wrote an article detailing reasons behind the choices they made. Here’s what Hailley Griffis had to say in the article:
“Applying for a job can be time-consuming, and we had a detailed application process. It’s understandable that after receiving a rejection email, some applicants were keen for feedback to learn why they weren’t moved forward. We can’t reply to everyone at that volume of applications — though I wish we could!”
They talked about: Themes they saw in applications they didn’t move forward, how they assessed values of applicants, and how they assessed experience.
From these few checklists,you can testify that they had a successful recruitment process. It takes having a system of these 10 best practices to succeed as a recruiter or hiring manager.
Takeaway — What does Success in Recruitment look like?
Successful recruitment builds a workforce that is fit for the organization’s future. Your recruitment process needs to offer a great candidate experience without compromising on any other element that is required. The question is — are you ready to implement all these practices?
Arm yourself with our advice to level up your recruitment process!
Need a helping hand with recruitment? Contact us, and let’s talk about your project.