In today’s employment market good candidates are spoiled for choice. Now more than ever it is critical that companies review their recruitment processes to ensure that every candidate applying with their organisation are left with a positive experience. We live in an age where your brand is everything and unfortunately, small missteps in the recruitment process can leave candidates with a negative impression and through word of mouth this could impact the impression of other potential candidates. The companies who are nailing their recruitment process are increasing their brand awareness and are securing better quality candidates than their competitors.
Here are 5 areas that are commonly overlooked by companies, which could be the key to improving your recruitment process:
1. Not booking in interviews fast enough
If you want to secure the best possible talent for your team, time is everything. The nature of Recruitment is that it is extremely fast moving. It may seem like an obvious one, but the faster you move, the more likely a candidate will choose you over your competitor. Moving quickly on candidates makes them feel special and keeps them fully engaged in the process. In the opposite scenario, candidates feel like the role isn’t a priority to your organisation and can lose interest.
2. Interview style
It’s important to remember that an interview is not just about determining if the candidate is the right fit for your organisation, it is also the candidate determining if you’re the right fit for them. It’s critical to think thoroughly about what you want to achieve from interviews and create a structured interview questionnaire that reflects these requirements. Here are some tips to ensure you’re getting the most out of interviews:
a. Structured interviews
Collaborate with stakeholders to determine what skills and personal attributes are required to fit the role and your organisation. Create a structured interview questionnaire that is used for every candidate, so the results are accurate.
b. Spend 1 hour with candidates
Aim to spend at least 1 hour with candidates. This will make them feel that you’re interested in understanding them and will make them feel less like a number.
c. Reduce the number of interviews
Whilst it’s important that potential candidates meet all relevant stakeholders, by having 3, 4 or even 5 step interviews will increase the risk of losing candidates. Reduce multiple stage interviews by having a panel interview.
d. Selling the job
Remember that candidates are interviewing you as well. They want to hear why you love working for the company and what makes your organisation great. Prepare your sell and create an emotional connection for the candidate to your job.
3. Unwillingness to negotiate or offer staff benefits
When trying to secure the best possible talent in the market an unwillingness to negotiate can be a costly mistake. Negotiation doesn’t just refer to salary. People are seeking flexibility in their hours, working from home days and benefits such as gym memberships and discounts on insurance and banking products. The companies that take the “take it or leave it” approach will fall behind and lose the best talent to their competitors.
4. Taking too long to provide interview feedback or make offers
Candidates go to a lot of effort to attend interviews often having to juggle their current employer. Candidates are always eager to hear their feedback and to delay giving it to them can leave them with the impression that they are not important. Even if you’re not able to decide on the role, provide candidates with the positive and negative feedback within 1-2 days of their interview and give them an accurate time frame of when the decision will be made and stick to it.
5. Breaking trust
So, you have found the candidate you want to hire and its time to make the offer. They have been clear about their salary expectations from the beginning. If you offer them below their expectations this can be perceived as a massive break of trust for the candidate and dramatically increases the chances of them declining the offer as they feel undervalued by you. If you agree to interview a candidate knowing their expectations, you need to be prepared to offer them that salary if you want them on board.
It is well documented that the flow on effect of attracting the best talent on the market will improve every aspect of your organisation. It is understandable that Recruitment can sometimes get lost among the many other conflicting priorities of everyday life but as outlined above, simple mistakes can prove costly and ultimately decrease productivity in your organisation.
My final advice is to find a Recruiter you trust and let them do the work for you! A good Recruiter is an extension of your organisation and by partnering with a Recruiter and addressing the above issues, you will be able to secure the best talent on the market.