Hiring new employees is inevitable, but in today’s tough candidate’s market, employers need to step it up and be on their A-game. For some, this might mean needing to improve their hiring process. Giving your hiring process a little TLC can attract and retain top talent.
What is the hiring process?
The hiring process is a step-by-step method that, when properly executed, will find, recruit and hire new employees. While each company should follow a different process, they should still strive for efficiency. The hiring process is complex and multi-faceted. Each step should be purposeful, serving a specific function without wasting time.
Though each organization has their own unique process, a typical hiring process looks like
- Create a job description detailing the vacant position
- Promote and begin recruiting for the position
- Review and assess candidates’ resumes, cover letters, applications and other relevant material
- Preliminary screenings (i.e. phone interviews)
- In-person or video interviews
- Skill assessment
- Check references and conduct background check
- Choose a candidate to hire
- Send job offer
- Employ and onboard new employee
7 strategies to improve your hiring process:
-
Have a strong employer brand
Many working professionals are passive candidates. So while they aren’t actively searching for jobs, they are interested in new opportunities if they should present themselves. A strong employer brand can reduce turnover (reduce the need to hire) and attract these passive candidates.
Actively promoting and managing your brand through updating company profiles and publishing updates on work culture will make candidates more likely to apply. Creating a well-known and robust employer brand might also reduce the need for active recruiting
-
Automate the hiring process
Good candidates can get swooped up fast, so we have to be quick. Unfortunately, the hiring process can be lengthy, so we want to figure out how to make it as fast and efficient as possible while still being effective.
Utilize AI to automate the resume screening process. This will cut down hiring time without sacrificing quality decision-making. 65% of 100 resumes get ignored when manually screening. Companies can’t afford to miss out on good talent, especially in a candidate’s market.
-
Incorporate employee value proposition
If you’ve ever sat and read through job descriptions, you might notice a lot of them all feel the same, i.e. boring. They are long, filled with technical jargon, and even worse; they typically focus on the company rather than the candidate.
When revamping your hiring process, consider how your job posting holds you back. Consider focusing your description on the job-candidate fit rather than just the company’s needs. You can do this by including your employee value proposition.
The employee value proposition should look at what makes the job and company different from its competitors. These differences can be flexible hours, perks, career development opportunities, etc. You essentially want to answer, “why should I work here?”.
-
Embrace social media and digital trends
Most people like to work for companies that keep up with digital trends, especially those working in tech. Social recruitment helps you reach and meet both active and passive candidates naturally and organically. This entails increasing and maintaining an online presence, reputation and promoting corporate culture through social media. Doing so can improve your organization’s brand and set you apart as an industry leader.
You can also use social media to research candidates. You should be doing standard background checks like any employer, but social media profiles can offer more details about potential employees. Be careful not to let a candidate’s online presence cloud your hiring decisions. Only look for qualities and information that would affect your candidate’s performance ability.
-
Fit personality to the job
We often think of skillset as the most crucial factor in determining a candidate’s suitability for a job.
During the interview process, consider how a candidate’s personality would be suitable for the day-to-day tasks of the job. If you are hiring for a cybersecurity position, you want someone who is altruistic, inquisitive and persistent.
Both skills and personality should be equally considered when selecting a candidate. Who you hire should depend on the company culture and the type of job.
-
Improve candidate experience
A CareerPlug survey concluded that 57% of job seekers decline offers because of a poor candidate experience. Other surveys have discovered that 84% of candidates expect personal email responses to their applications, along with 52% who expect phone calls.
As we’ve already spoken about efficiency, you probably think that personal emails and phone calls don’t scream efficiency. But if you automate your resume and application screening process, you can save time implementing more personal touches to your candidate experience.
Part of the candidate experience also includes interviews. Be sure to find an interview procedure that best suits the job at hand and can adequately identify candidate suitability both in skillset and personality. Strengthening your interview process and avoiding common interviewer mistakes.
-
Monitor reviews
It’s not uncommon for potential employees to hunt for information about companies they want to work for. Candidates will look for salary estimates, interview tips and even reviews from former employees or past candidates. Many candidates prefer to do this before sending in applications. Even if your pay rates aren’t as competitive, some applicants will still apply if a company has good reviews.
Bonus tip: Work with a recruitment agency
Working with a recruitment agency is the best way to implement some of the above strategies and still cut down on hiring time.
Recruitment agencies already have access to a large pool of candidates, all with unique skillsets ready to fill your hiring needs. A recruitment agency is always keeping up with the market and industry trends to give you the best hiring recommendations that you otherwise wouldn’t have considered.
Be sure to do your research to find an agency that will work best for you. If you are in the Toronto area and looking for an IT staffing agency, look no further than Live Assets, Toronto’s #1 IT Staffing Agency.
Top Staffing Agencies in Toronto | About Live Assets | IT Staffing Solutions
Live Assets is a boutique IT Staffing/Recruiting firm specializing exclusively in building IT teams of excellence for the Information Technology sector.
We are a small, but productive team that works closely together and has had a 96% success rate for the past number of years!
We have a diverse number of clients and industries and focus on both full-time and contract I.T. opportunities.
You can find out more about our company on LinkedIn – Twitter – Facebook –Youtube – Glassdoor