This article is part of the Hiring Process Guide. Read our related articles on identifying your hiring needs and how to create a hiring process timeline.
You are at the beginning of your recruitment career and are looking for innovative ideas to improve your recruitment process.
Good news! You landed in the right place.
We will share with you 7 epic ideas to improve your recruitment process.
The benefits of getting your hiring process right
First things first!
What is a hiring process?
The hiring process contains all the recruitment aspects: from identifying the positions to prospecting, interviewing, and eventually onboarding the new employee.
Why is this process so important?
People are the foundation of every business. They implement the processes, do the work, and eventually bring the vision to life.
Without the right people, the business will eventually collapse.
That’s why having a hiring process from the beginning of your business is crucial. It’s the indicator of how your culture, services, and positioning will further unfold.
The single best measurement of success regarding the quality of your recruitment process is the quality of the people who end up being in the team.
Issues that lead to an inefficient hiring process
Although most entrepreneurs are aware of the importance of a qualitative hiring process, there are a few common situations that lead to an inefficient hiring process.
We will touch upon 4 of the most frequent ones:
Lack of understanding of the role
One of the most frequent reasons why hiring efficiency fails is the lack of clear understanding about what role will be open and what the candidate profile would suit. Most of the time, managers try to define a broader role without specific details. The idea behind this approach is to have a larger pond in which you can fish. However, in 99% of cases, this approach backfires since the time spent interviewing the wrong profiles ends up being wasted.
No clear communication process with the Recruitment Manager
Another reason the new hiring process might be trickier than expected is the relationship with the Recruitment Manager. This doesn’t mean that it is something personal but rather is about having the clarity we have discussed at point 1 and a defined debriefing and shadowing process during the interviews.
Promotions strategies
What we often see is that Recruitment Specialists don’t have in mind their target audience. That’s why a crucial step for an improved process would be to put your candidate hat on and understand the things that resonate with them.
Interview process
One of the main reasons people decline offers is related to their experiences before, during, and after the interview. Your process should include a separate section for this flow only.
How to Improve your hiring process
Understanding what can throw apart a hiring process is important but let’s focus on how you can improve your hiring process.
Collect and analyze feedback from candidates
Do you remember that we mentioned that one of the main reasons people reject offers is because of their interview experience? You can use this insight by integrating a “Request for feedback” step in your hiring process. Our recommendation would be to request feedback from people who accepted your offer and those who didn’t accept your offer. This is important because those people can become your promoters or detractors.
It doesn’t have to be something complicated. You can use a simple Google or Typeform or have a short phone call with them.
Make sure you have a fantastic careers page
Imagine that your candidates are window-shopping and have plenty of stores and offers from which they can choose. Most probably, they will choose one store over another by the way the store has managed to catch their attention. This is also applicable in recruitment. Your career page is the window for your business. The career page should be a direct reflection of the organizational culture. It should also have clear details about the roles, values, and professional opportunities for your candidates.
Streamline your background check strategy
Having an interview might not be enough to decide if a candidate is suitable for the company or not. That’s why we recommend adding the background check to your hiring process list. You can do it by yourself, ask for a referral, or even work with companies that are offering this type of service.
Write the perfect job description
We previously mentioned the importance of role clarity. This has a direct reflection on the way you write the job description. It should reflect your expectation about the role, the growth possibilities, and the benefits that you offer. Think of your job description as being one of the tools that help candidates auto-filter themselves and decide if they are suitable or not for the role you are trying to recruit.
Understand how important the onboarding process really is
Put yourself in the shoes of your new employee. Everything is new and overwhelming for them at the beginning. When planning the onboarding process, you should also consider the emotional aspect of the experience. The onboarding process’s role is to guide the beginner through the processes/structures/history/culture of the company he joined.
Use tools to eliminate bias and boost efficiency
You are human, which means you also carry biases that you might not even be aware of. Try and use tools that help you eliminate these biases and make your work more efficient. You can sneak into LinkMatch and read more about how our integration with LinkedIn can help you do just that.
Start hiring for attitude and training for skills
There is a paradigm shift in the industry. People learned that skills can be trained but attitude is more often than not something you can’t control. Netflix has a Manifesto in which they mentioned that they don’t hire brilliant jerks. We invite you to follow their example and recruit culture-fit people and candidates that have the right attitude.
We hope this article gave you insight into what are the important things to consider when working on defining your hiring process.
Improving the Hiring Process FAQ
What is the hiring process?
The hiring process contains all the recruitment aspects: from identifying the positions that need to be filled to prospecting, interviewing, and eventually onboarding the new employee.
How long do hiring processes usually take?
The usual hiring process takes up to 42 days. It obviously depends on the industry, role, and even season of the business.
What does the term ‘fit’ mean with regard to the hiring process?
It’s a relative term that is personalized for each company. However, the general understanding is hiring employees who are a good match with the company.