Recruitment can get a little overwhelming at times. Take it from us – we know the struggle of overflowing inboxes and clicking to the 23rd page of potential candidates who don’t quite fit what you’re looking for. We understand the disappointment of having a candidate back out at the last minute, or the costly mistake of hiring the wrong person. That’s why we’re sharing these 3 simple ways to hack your recruitment process.
1. Understand the recruitment climate
This doesn’t mean that you have to know absolutely everything about the state of recruitment at the moment. However, understanding how both businesses and candidates are approaching the recruitment process will help you make informed decisions about how to advertise, who to look for, and when to hire.
- Job seekers are willing to forego up to a whopping 12% of their salary if it means greater flexibility and more in-depth training?
- Up to a quarter of people on the job market say looking for a better company culture is their main reason for seeking a new job?
- An applicant who isn’t successful and doesn’t receive any feedback from the company is twice as like to never apply to or do business with that company again?
Do you know which are the most common benefits that candidates in your field are looking for? Is the salary you’re offering competitive enough?
You don’t need to be an expert on every aspect of HR and recruitment but having your finger on the pulse of the current job market will help you make more informed decisions. The more informed your decision, the less likely it will be that you lose great talent or hire the wrong person – both of which could be super costly for your business.
2. Speed up your recruitment by building and maintaining a talent pool
As a business owner, you’re likely already spending roughly 40% of your working hours on tasks that don’t directly generate revenue. The last thing you want to do is add to that time with a long sourcing process. So what’s the quickest way to find great talent? Simple – by only looking for it once. Save time by creating a database of reliable talent that can be your first port-of-call when hiring.
See an amazing candidate while sourcing that doesn’t fit any of your current roles? Reach out and see if they would be open to working with you in the future. Hear of an amazing up-and-coming graduate or intern? Let them know that you would love to help them navigate the start of their career. As you hire, hold onto your gold-star candidates, even if you don’t hire them this time round
Keep in touch and maintain these relationships. Reach out every few months and remember events like birthdays. Having a pool of candidates that you know are incredible and who already know and trust you will save you the time and hassle of having to start from scratch with someone new.
3. Automate your recruitment
AI is helping you everywhere, everyday – whether you know it or not. It can drive you around in relative safety, predict what TV show you’d enjoy binging pretty accurately, and even spot patterns and symptoms of diseases that it would take humans longer to find. And while machines can do some things faster and more accurately than a human being ever could, uniquely human traits like creativity, empathy, and effective communication are still out of reach.
When it comes to recruitment, a machine could never figure out which candidate is perfect for the role through a conversation or interview. But that’s exactly why you need it.
On average, hiring professionals spend a third of their week sourcing candidates. Even with most recruitment taking place online, sourcing is often still a process of scrolling through multiple job boards, conducting extensive searches, and screening hundreds and hundreds of applications. Imagine being able to outsource that to a machine that’s able to process exponentially more data in the fraction of the time it would take you.
AI Recruitment tools like Crystal save you time by scanning multiple web sources to create a shortlist of candidates that perfectly match your job spec, along with a way to contact them. This means that instead of spending your time overloading your brain with data and potentially missing someone amazing, you can focus on properly getting to know your shortlisted candidates. Not only will this allow you to recruit faster, but it will also give you the space you need to properly figure out if your candidates would be a good fit for your company. Meaning that you can hire right the first time every time.
In summary
Each person’s recruitment process is different and what works for some might not work for others. However, we think that these tips will help you focus on what’s important – finding the someone who will help take your business to the next level and in turn helping that someone find a role that will take them to the next level.
So, what are you waiting for?
For more great recruitment advice, check out some of our previous articles:
Hiring for the first time: what you need to know
Hiring Advice from Three Wise Women
