“Houston, we have a problem.”

Recruiters are often stuck in a spiral that’s difficult to break. They’re constantly tweaking processes to find the best hire for every job opening, and doing it in as short a time as possible. But what if the right talent isn’t applying? Or if your job opening isn’t reaching your potential candidates? And when you have both, there are still obstacles, like budget, time to fill, employer expectations, pay scale, and more. Most HR teams and recruitment agencies face this struggle of attracting talent that meets their needs.

Candidates rule the market
We’re now part of a predominantly candidate-driven landscape. Competition for talent is fiercer than ever, and effective sourcing is no longer enough. Candidates are spoiled for choice, and recruiters need to go the extra mile to ensure they’re able to retain the talent they hire.

Communication is paramount
Having an effective communication channel, for both candidate and client engagement, is crucial. Your processes must ensure that both stakeholders are kept up to date on the progress of the interviews.

It’s all in the numbers
Hiring is a numbers game, and recruiters need to keep track of the key metrics that affect processes. Unless you’ve synced your database with a reporting tool to generate daily reports, it’s difficult to fix your time to fill, cost per hire, and several other KPIs.

Finding solutions

Define the role
An effective job description is half the battle. Recruiters need to invest time to ensure that aspiring candidates have a thorough understanding of the role, understand the minimum requirements, what’s expected of them, the value they have in it for them, and also address any potential questions candidates may have. One of the most significant factors to consider is having a simple application form.

Define your brand
If you want to hire the right candidates and retain them, know your brand and break it down. Determine the culture of your existing workforce, the company’s vision, mission, and employee engagement activities, and then paint an overall picture of what it’s like to be employed at your company. This gives candidates a sneak peek into what they’re signing up for.

Define your screening and interview process
Most candidates dread an interview process that keeps them waiting in the dark. It can be frustrating and time-consuming, pushing them away from the job. You always want to have a clear structure for your interview, screening, and assessment, and communicate it clearly to the candidate. Plan a hiring process that analyzes the candidate’s abilities in the right way, without wasting too much of their time. In addition, getting an HR consultant on board to validate your processes, and switching to an interactive assessment tool is a compulsory investment.

Sure, it will take time to revisit old processes and revamp them to fit changing recruiting needs. And, yes, the results will take time to pay off, but if your fundamentals are on point, you know that the right candidates will make their way to you.

Recruiting is hard, and takes a lot of effort, insight, and presence of mind—but, it’s definitely not rocket science. 

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 This is the first of three posts in our special series focusing on hiring lessons that are essential for every recruiter. Here we broke down the basics on effective recruitment, and our second post will discuss more of the art of team building. We also have a huge announcement coming up, and we would love to keep you notified.Learn more.

Stay tuned!