8 Recruiting and Hiring Best Practices Every Company Should Follow
When was the last time you evaluated and updated your employment process? If it’s something you’ve never done and your system is stuck in the Middle Ages, it’s time to sound the alarms. All companies want to attract top talent. If you plan to get ahead of the pack, you should start implementing up-to-date recruiting and hiring best practices.
As more people seek jobs, companies have to keep up by streamlining recruitment master plans. Unfortunately, many still face common hiring mistakes that waste time, effort, and resources. What worked a couple of years ago may not be suitable to the demands of the times and of talents. How do you fill positions as effectively and efficiently as possible? Follow this guide and learn what you’re doing wrong and how to avoid hiring mistakes.
Why Should You Avoid Common Hiring Mistakes?
Simply put, it’s because you want to save costs. You could have dedicated more time searching for top talent than spending it with a subpar candidate. Your hiring managers could have directed all their efforts to screen better jobseekers. That money shelled out for a bad hire could have been funnelled to help improve your current pool’s skills. If you hire right, you’ll lessen problems down the line, including quick turnovers. If your employees leave you quickly, you go back to the start of the hiring process and incur more costs.
What are Common Hiring Mistakes and How to Solve Them?
Ignoring reference checks. How do you know if the information in a candidate’s resume and interview answers are true? You conduct reference checks. Unfortunately, many companies skip this step because it can be too tedious. But if you want to know a jobseeker’s background, you should exert some effort.
Reach out to these references and discuss their relationship and interactions with the candidate. If you don't have the time for a call, send them a questionnaire. From here, you’ll know if they fit into your organisation’s culture. These checks also test their honesty. Who wants to hire someone who lies from the get-go?
Preparing confusing job descriptions. You attract what you put out there, as the adage goes. The law of attraction also applies to recruitment. If you release a vague job posting, then you’ll also receive obscure applications. If the description leaves an exemplary candidate confused, chances are they’d skip you and search elsewhere.
Write job descriptions, outlines, and requirements well. You can even hire someone to do it for you. They have to be clear, purposeful, concise, and thorough. Limit the information to the essentials. Specify your needs explicitly by using keywords related to the position. Also, don’t pad it with words that make your company look good.
Limiting job postings. Some companies know exactly what they want, so they limit job postings to those that cater to their needs. But this limits the possibility of attracting a wider set of talent. If you only choose a few platforms to announce your openings, you’re disregarding untapped candidates that might offer what you need.
Widen your reach and attract a diverse group of jobseekers. Even if it will require more effort to screen, having a larger pool is always advantageous. Consider all means of announcing your postings, whether via referrals or online portals and your company’s website or social media accounts.
Fast-tracking the recruitment process. Maybe the position you need to fill is crucial to daily operations. Or you immediately need someone to manage a new account. But that shouldn’t mean rushing recruitment. If you skip steps to fast-track the process, you risk missing out on crucial details that ensure you’re hiring a good candidate.
Don’t jump at the first potential employee right away. Take your time to go through the rigorous hiring process. Jobseekers will also appreciate this, as it suggests how much value the company puts in every talent. A hurried hire can also lead to a quick turnover, costing you even more. As with other important life matters, discern well and don’t rush your decision.
Not paying attention during the interview. Just as a candidate can come to an interview unprepared, a hirer can also come disengaged. It’s easy to go through an interview showing a lack of interest. It may be your nth for the day, or you have a top pick in mind already, so why talk with another jobseeker? You can also choose to just let them talk and not listen to anything they say. That should make your job easier.
But does it, really? An inattentive hiring manager risks losing potential candidates by not hearing crucial information. Show interest and ask critical questions. Candidates know if you’re still listening to what they’re saying. Treat the interview as a dialogue between two equal entities. Hirers have to hear.
Not involving the entire team. Recruitment is a team effort. If you leave all the work to hiring managers, then you might not get the specific talent a team needs. As with any task, collaboration leads to better results. A singular perspective on a candidate may also be biased and skewed to particular decisions. Asking for help from the team ensures objectivity.
Involve your team members in different parts of the process. Everyone can help in promoting the job posting. You can assign someone to aid in screening and another in the initial interviews. Some can even sit in during the interviews. Conduct deliberations by putting together a group of diverse personalities and hearing comments from opposing standpoints. If the recruitment process requires a portfolio review, make sure it goes through several sets of eyes. Be a team that champions impartiality.
Post-Pandemic Hiring
The recruitment process has also been greatly affected by COVID-19. Here are some post-pandemic practices to consider integrating into your system:
Brand building. How do jobseekers perceive your company? How did you treat your employees during the pandemic? How do you help during calamities and disasters? These questions point to the culture bannered in your organisation. Is it enough to paint a positive image to attract top talent?
Virtual recruitment. No, the vaccine rollout was not a ticket to reverse back to the old normal. As companies and jobseekers realise the full potential of virtual hiring, more processes are moving online. Better get used to facing a screen during interviews.
Flexible working arrangements. The pandemic showed that work efficiency does not automatically dwindle when done at home. Candidates will search for companies that allow flexible, hybrid, or remote work arrangements.
Creative job postings. Gone are the days when you could rely on extensive job postings. The truth is, most candidates don’t have time to go through all that. It’s time to be creative and use media tools to sell the position you’re trying to fill. It might even be the time to consider getting on TikTok.
Internal hiring. Why look out when someone from within shows much potential? The pandemic highlighted that internal mobility helps defray recruitment costs. Instead of spending on job posting efforts, why not use that budget to reskill current talent instead?
Recruitment Best Practices to Attract Top Talent
Fish in both the shallow and deep parts of the sea. Cover all bases by offering feeds to fingerlings and bigger sharks.
Deal with passive candidates effectively. Consider directing job postings toward people with current jobs. Plan a strategy that will best make them consider moving into your fold.
Ask better questions. Plot a definite questionnaire that will lead to the answers you need. Don’t think of questions when you’re already in the room.
Banner diversity. A team with the same backgrounds and work experiences won’t be as effective. How do you expect to come up with innovative solutions if everyone’s thinking alike?
Establish a relationship with jobseekers. You never know when you’ll call them back even if you turn down their application the first time. Keep them updated on job postings and company activities related to their skills.
Send feedback to all candidates. Not just those who pass and are moving to the next step. Take the effort to improve the talent pool out there.
Establish an onboarding system. Recruitment doesn’t end when the candidate signs their offer sheet. Make sure they get briefed on the tasks, the ways of working, and the entire company culture.
Be best friends with numbers. No, this doesn’t mean inflating your stats to make it look like you’re the most sought-after company. Run the numbers and use data to make informed hiring decisions.
Integrate these recruiting and hiring best practices in your system to attract top talent in the market. Learning these solutions might require extra effort, but they help limit costs and save resources. From here on, expect only a smooth recruitment process for you and every candidate.
Attract top talent for your company by register now at Jobstreet by SEEK and checking Talent Search. If you want to gain more insights on recruitment best practices, visit the Employers Insights page.