We’re getting into the thick of a candidate-driven market, and the following New Year’s Resolutions for recruiters will help you with successful hiring in 2015:
Focus on your employer brand.
Top candidates have a choice in where they work, so make sure they want to work for your company! Determine what makes your company unique – ask your current employees if you have to – and make sure everyone knows about it.
Do you want your company to be known for promoting from within and building out long-term career paths for its employees, do you want to be the company with the fun culture where everyone hangs out after work, or do you want to be the company that gives back to it’s community (note: you can be all three if you want to)? Once you’ve established an employer brand, make sure it’s promoted on your career site, in your job descriptions, and throughout your web presence.
Optimize your application process.
With more jobs to choose from, candidates won’t even bother to apply if you have a tedious application process, so take yourself through an application to see how long it takes you to apply. Does it ask for unnecessary information, or ask the candidate to do too much, for such an early stage in the recruitment process?
Think about what information you really need for your initial screen and leave everything else for later. Also take a spin through your application process on a mobile device or tablet to see if the application can be completed, or at least saved for later. If you find that your application process is a little on the tedious side, it may be time to change it – or risk losing candidates.
Provide a great candidate experience.
They way you treat your candidates can affect your employer brand, for better or for worse, so it’s critical to give each of them the experience you would expect in their position. When someone takes the time to apply to your position, you should confirm receipt of their application, explain the next steps, and let them know once they’re no longer being considered.
This should be repeated for each step of the recruitment process – let the candidate know next steps, and if they won’t be moving on to the next step. While it would be painstaking to do this manually for each applicant, many ATSs will automate this process – so take advantage of technology to provide a great experience. Also be sure that the interviewers are all providing a great candidate experience – showing up on time, being present in interviews, and being prepared for interviews. The candidate is expected to do all of those things, and so is your team.
Shorten your time to hire.
Great candidates are likely to receive multiple offers, and probably won’t be on the market long. So, if you want to hire top talent, make sure to keep your hiring process quick. Get back to candidates soon after they apply, start those phone screens and get the best candidates in for an in-person interview as quickly as possible.
Don’t draw out the interview process longer than you have to and don’t include unnecessary steps (does the hire really have to interview with every single member of your team, or could a team lunch work instead?). Once you’ve found a candidate you like, get an offer out as soon as possible so you don’t let a perfectly good candidate slip away. Candidates have options and may be moving quickly – so you have to move faster than them.
Hiring in 2015 will be different than in past years – so follow these tips to be prepared for the new candidate-driven market.
Are there any other tips you’d add?