Top 5 Basic Recruitment Process Errors being made in the current skills shortage market
Publish Date:Posted over 5 years ago
Author:by Rory Walsh
Are you making any of these errors?
1. Not taking 5 minutes to discuss the 5 biggest benefits of working in an organisation and role like this.
Employee engagement initiatives
Training and development structures
Case studies of staff who have progressed in the organisation
Upcoming exciting projects
Discuss why interviewers like working in this organisation
Many interviewers are too busy to spend 5 minutes at the start of every interview discussing the 5 biggest benefits of working with their organisation. This is an opportunity to promote your brand to a candidate in your industry. In any outcome, you need to take this opportunity to promote your organisation and culture to all candidates. Of course, they could be successful but have 3 offers on the table and they could accept another offer. Then, you will have wished you had taken this 5 minutes at the start of the process.
2. Not managing feedback to all email applications and close out the process positively.
The candidate could’ve applied to a role that they didn’t have experience for or a role that’s gone to offer. However, remember, the majority of applicants work within your industry and are your target audience for positive branding. They will have a direct network who potentially are a fit now and any negative experience will spread like wildfire. Also, they may be right for a role in the future and a negative experience may put them off.
3. Not managing feedback to all interview regrets with respect and close out the process positively.
Any candidate who takes the time out to visit a site, takes time off from work and even attends an interview, deserves some detail in relation to feedback. They may have been pipped at the post by another candidate, or be slightly too junior or senior for the current opening. This should usually be done by PHONE. If the candidate has taken a day off work for this, the least they deserve is a 5-minute phone call. Once again, they could have friends who potentially are a fit for the role and any negative experience can be damaging to your company’s reputation. Also, they may be a fit for another role that comes up and a negative experience could put them off building a future relationship.
4. Don’t create bland job specs – Create job and company ADVERTISEMENTS.
The first paragraph of a job advertisement should focus on the value proposition the role and organisation are offering a candidate. Do not jump straight into the duties! In particular, take time out to put yourself in the candidates’ shoes before writing this. For example:
Career development initiatives and career path for this role
Upcoming exciting projects and learning opportunities
Strong benefits and package details
Flexible working if applicable and any work-life balance initiatives
Opportunity to progress in a fast-growing industry with a specific technology
5. Slow recruitment process resulting in low-quality hires – Speed of the recruitment process is critical.
If you start the process with 8 potential applications moving to interview, within 2/3 weeks, you will find the top 3 (cream of the crop) are gone off the market and you will be left to progress with the remaining 5. Of course, it is important not to rush any big hiring decisions, but hiring managers need to prioritise interviews to ensure momentum is not lost and also putting an SLA in place for 10 days or 2 weeks from the first interview to offer is a stepping stone in the right direction. 3-5 days for contract roles. Simply put –Increasing the speed of the recruitment process = Increasing Quality of candidates hired.
With the skills shortage just gaining momentum month on month, brand management has become critical in the current market. Subsequently, we now see big funding going into this, such as extensive community engagement projects, brand ambassador initiatives, big funding on advertisement campaigns, a significant increase in internal referral programs, etc. However, it always surprises me that many of the basics around candidate communication, highlighting the value proposition or speed of the recruitment process, that can have the biggest impact on your brand, can be left behind. In conclusion, getting the communication basics right is the first step to improving your brand reputation and the increase in applications will follow!
