What happens when you have a vacancy for a job and you just can’t find the right candidate for it?
A few things:
- A dip in productivity
- Financial costs of having a role unfilled
- A lot of time being spent in inefficient recruiting processes
- Lots of general frustration
So, remember these six things in order to avoid the major pitfalls of hiring:
1) Figure out who’s your ideal candidate before you begin the hunt
Who do you want to hire? Think about the skills you need, the type of personality you think would be best, and any other details. Have a similar discussion with the rest of your team and get their input.
2) Your key to finding the best person for the job is your job description
We couldn’t stress this enough. Much like an interview is a candidate’s first impression, your job description is the first impression of your company/role. If important details are missing, your role and company can appear unorganized. You need to make sure you’re providing as much information as you can so candidates can get an understanding of the nature of the role in a quick glance.
Lay out what exactly the hire will be doing. If the description doesn’t provide information on what exactly the job entails, job seekers won’t know whether they should apply for the role or not. It can also make the opportunity appear unattractive. Make sure you use clear, simple language to explain what the candidate will be required to do as part of the job. Include any information about special skills needed, unique projects, and extra requirements (for example, is a driving license necessary? Will the candidate need to be proficient in a second language?). Make all your expectations clear.
If you need some inspiration to get started, use our guide on writing a great job description (and our job description templates).
3) Invest in your company brand
A powerful employer brand represents a strong company culture, working environment, and general happy employees. You receive 50% more qualified applicants to a role when you have a strong company story than without. This is something that should be manifested in not just a job description, but the initial email/call, interview, and onboarding process too. And this also means you find the right candidate in half the time, with half the cost.
4) Keep the application process simple and easy
The job searching process is already a long, gruelling, and exhausting one for candidates. If your application process is too long, you will end up losing the majority of top talent halfway through the process. By making your application process simpler, more quality candidates will follow through with the entire application. It comes to no surprise that some of the world’s most sought-after employers (Amazon, Facebook, Apple) have an application-time of one to nine minutes.
5) Put your best foot forward when reaching out
Job seekers often judge an offer based on whether they’d like to work with their interviewer or not. So it’s always best to keep the hiring process as close to the vacancy as possible. What does this mean? It can be tempting to delegate the first few hiring steps to an external team. However, in order to make the candidate understand the role, team, and organization, it’s best for you, or the team they’ll be working closely with, to provide those introductions and initial details.
6) Create a talent pipeline
Whether you’re hiring for an internship or entry-level role, the goal should be to develop a talent pipeline. And the best way to develop a talent pipeline is with internships as they provide the right amount of exposure and challenge to nurture emerging talent, while instilling a level loyalty from the very beginning.
Approaching the hiring process with a long-term perspective means developing relationships and talent pipelines for the present and the future. So the next time you’re looking to expand your business and hire for a role that you just can’t seem to fill, you’ll have some talented young professionals you can reach out to.
Tooba Dilshad, Content & Community Manager – Oliv.com