The recruitment process is the first step of the hiring process and helps to determine if an individual will be able to successfully fill a position within an organization. In order to prevent the selection of a poor fit, it’s important to utilize strategies that increase the effectiveness of this process. If it fails, your business can lose time and money while being forced to hire and train less-than-ideal employees who are unable to perform their job functions effectively due to lack of proper experience or skill set deficiencies.
1) Daunting Candidate Experience
So many companies are focused on technology and flashy logos that they forget what candidate experience is all about. And when it comes down to it, having a great candidate experience means being responsive, helpful, communicative, honest—just like any good customer service or sales representative. (Plus it’s a lot easier for your candidates if you speak their language.) Luckily there are a few relatively simple ways you can take advantage of modern technology without compromising how your candidates interact with your organization. Read on for 10 reasons why recruitment process is failing – and how we can fix them!
2) Alignment with Company Culture
If your organization has a clear company culture, there’s no reason why you should do things any differently. If your organization doesn’t have a clearly defined culture, it will be hard for new employees to know what is expected of them or for them to feel part of your team. Your recruitment process should reflect what kind of people you want at your company. For example, if you run an environment where collaboration is key, then perhaps there’s no need for an interview at all – just get people working together on projects in small teams from day one. Similarly, if your core value proposition is speed, then maybe you could use a different type of recruitment strategy than other companies that take their time when finding new talent.
3) Lack of Transparency in Hiring
During recruitment process, it’s easy for things to get lost in translation. Whether it’s intentional or not, companies can sometimes make a hiring decision that seems counterintuitive. There may be a disconnect between what was communicated during an interview (for example, about salary) or about an applicant’s skills and experience level. To keep everyone informed throughout the process, consider posting all of your open positions on job boards that are free for candidates to see from start to finish. Candidates will appreciate knowing exactly what’s happening throughout every step of their interview.
4) No-Deal Compensation Structure
Companies have different plans for compensating employees that aren’t aligned with their corporate strategy, vision or mission. One of those plans is a no-deal compensation structure. This can be a bad thing for employees who don’t share their manager’s opinions on how things should be done, or even what needs to get done in order to further the company’s success. If a company doesn’t have clearly defined roles for all its employees, there’s no way for everyone to succeed in an organization — so make sure everyone knows what they’re supposed to do! Take your time hiring people who want what you want. Hire someone because they see eye-to-eye with you instead of toe-to-toe.
5) An Overly Long Review Process
Many companies go way overboard when vetting candidates. If a company wants new hires who are smart, focused, and have relevant experience, they need to make sure they don’t end up with people who don’t. But by extending your hiring process beyond three months in an attempt to be as thorough as possible, you run into all sorts of problems. Candidates will often find other opportunities before you make a final decision; it can negatively impact employee morale (especially if your current team members have been carrying more of their own weight while you make up your mind); it can affect your ability to execute quickly; and there’s also a chance that over-vetting will actually lower your standards by making candidates less selective about what positions they accept elsewhere.
6) Lack of Innovation
While it may seem like a good idea to remain consistent with what’s worked in the past, sticking with how we’ve always done things means that more often than not, you’ll lose new talent. To prevent your recruitment process from failing you need to keep evolving your hiring strategy. Look at how technology can help attract talent, take advantage of social media platforms like LinkedIn (which boasts 200 million users) and even seek out niche job sites or location-specific resources where you can connect with skilled candidates. These are all avenues for building a new approach that will help draw better talent without fail.
7) Inconsistent Data Collection Practices
Data collection practices are a major issue because they have a direct impact on how your recruitment process looks. When you create inconsistent data, you’re going to get inconsistent results. The quality of your data can make or break your entire recruitment process, so it’s critical that you implement uniform practices across all departments involved in gathering, organizing, analyzing and using data from job applications to employer branding campaigns. To fix recruitment process failures (and improve engagement), start by developing an actionable strategy for standardizing all data collection activities as much as possible.
8) Ineffective Applicant Tracking Systems
A big part of managing an effective recruitment process involves your applicant tracking system (ATS). If you’re in charge of hiring within your organization, you know that one of the most challenging parts of your job is finding good talent. Without a robust ATS, it’s almost impossible to find those top performers—let alone sort through all those candidates who aren’t qualified for your jobs. That’s why ATS are so important: they help manage your recruitment process by providing tools that allow you to post jobs on multiple platforms, filter applicants based on criteria that matters to you and gather comprehensive data about everything from application rates to interview scheduling.
9) Indecision Over Which Hiring Model to Use
There are hundreds of ways to fill an open position, but no two hiring strategies are exactly alike. Many business owners hire like their competitors do, which leads to confusion over why their own recruitment process fails so often. If you haven’t tried your hand at some innovative methods for finding a new employee, now might be a good time to start.
10) Insufficient Post-Interview Feedback
Receiving a callback after an interview is a sure sign that you’ve made it past first round. The only problem? You might not actually make it past that first round if you don’t have something specific to talk about on your second interview. Post-interview feedback has become essential in determining which candidates are right for your company. To ensure your recruitment process works, encourage job seekers to share as much information as possible during their interviews. If there’s one thing you take away from reading this post, let it be that recruiters need more than just I felt like I was a good fit for the position feedback; they need specific examples of how these people would perform well in their new roles!