Recruitment is a challenge, there is no getting away from it. You are either bombarded with too many candidates or can’t seem to attract enough. If you outsource (to an agency for example) you can quickly feel aggrieved if you hire a candidate, pay a fee and they then don’t work out. You are back where you started but a few thousand pounds worse off!
So what are the pitfalls and what can you do to mitigate them?
It may be obvious, but don’t put a dry, boring list of duties within the advert. But equally, don’t oversell as people will be disappointed and leave quickly. However, you can bring the role to life with good wording, enthusiasm and maybe a very short (30 second) video about your workplace!
Company culture is a key attraction amongst many new hires now – in fact The Harris Poll in June 2019, found that over three-quarters (77 percent) of adults across the UK would consider a company’s culture before applying for a job there, and 79 percent would consider a company’s mission and purpose before applying!
Once you have your message clear, you need to make sure it is in the right place for people to read it! Indeed account for around 40% of all applications across the whole of the Jobtrain/JTGO client base.
You can post your advert, for no charge at all, with Indeed, NHS Jobs, LinkedIn, Adzuna, Twitter and Facebook when using the JTGO recruitment system.
That is key for SMEs who recruit infrequently and into different parts of the business.
Once you have candidates starting to apply, then work with pace! Don’t let people sit for days at a time as this reflects badly on your brand and good candidates are applying for multiple jobs. You snooze, you lose!
But when acting with pace, remember your culture and remember to be personable! An extra line or two in each bit of communication just to refer to the candidate by name; to show them you are thinking of them as a person and not a commodity – this can make all the difference when it comes down to candidates choosing who to work for.
One danger with urgent recruitment is that you quickly lose sight of your actual needs. So have clear criteria about what you are looking for (relevant experience; evidence of successfully working in a team; clean driving licence? Customer service experience – face-to-face or over the phone? Etc, etc).
Having clear criteria will help avoid either the ‘halo’ effect (wanting to believe someone is better than they may be because of a factor such as how they look or how they sound)! It will also help avoid the panic buy – offering someone a job because ‘they will do’ rather than being the person you really want!
Once you have started interviewing and making offers, don’t ease up with communication! All of us who have ever been a candidate will know that doubts creep in. Will the new job be right for me? Will the new people like me? Am I making a mistake?
Don’t let a communication vacuum be filled with self-doubt and after all that work you can lose your preferred candidate. And that is so frustrating. So, to try to ensure this doesn’t happen, keep messaging; keep the candidate informed and keep telling them how much you are looking forward to seeing them at the next stage… and even when the offer has been accepted, help them through the difficult process of handing their notice in!
Recruitment is an activity that is often painful for everyone – candidates and employers alike. But if you adopt the 5 steps above you could fine the process a whole lot more simple and from a candidate experience perspective, they could find applying to your organisation an enjoyable and rewarding exercise.