Regardless of how good you think your current hiring process is, chances are if you asked for feedback on the experience from newly hired employees, you'd see there are several ways it could improve.
Hiring the right people is what allows your business to thrive. However, you must first learn the proper technique for effective talent management. Is your company growing the right way? Do you have a streamlined process for hiring that's comfortable for all involved? Here are 10 ways to ease the hiring process for your company.
1. Understand the components of the hiring process.
The first step to mastering anything is to truly understand it. The recruiting process can span quite a length of time and executing the steps correctly will ensure that the hired employee is the right fit for the company.
From the time your company decides there's a need to hire someone to when the new employee goes through training, recruiting is underway. Start to finish, this process includes these steps:
- Deciding what the company values in an employee
- Recruiting talent and managing the application and interview process
- Selecting an employee
- Onboarding them once they are hired
Recruiting isn't a single step – there are multiple stages that come together and flow through one streamlined process.
2. Use technology in your process.
Technology helps with just about everything else in your life, so why not use it to enhance your business?
Talent management technology, like that of VeriKlick, is available to help you find qualified candidates who meet your specific set of criteria in today's competitive environment. Think about tasks that could benefit from automation, such as the following:
- Finding candidates
- Sorting through profiles
- Filtering out unqualified resumes
- Verifying credentials
- Scheduling interviews
Use tools to your advantage to streamline the way that you vet employees and eliminate unnecessary costs. Chances are you can improve your hiring process by including technology in some manner.
3. Involve more of the right people.
It's common to say, "The more, the merrier." However, this perspective is only half right when it comes to hiring.
You should only include more people in the hiring process if they're the right people to be involved. They should be stakeholders – people who know and understand the position in question and can offer perspective into the skills and qualities needed. If an individual doesn't understand the talent management aspect of the hiring process, they probably shouldn't be involved.
Find a variety of qualified, appropriate peers to work with so you don't have the same people always doing the groundwork in your company's hiring.
4. Improve job descriptions.
Job descriptions can often be difficult for hiring managers to write. They want the description to sell the benefits of working at the company, but when it becomes too much of a sales pitch, it detracts from the point of a description in the first place.
The job description should serve as a concise way for a candidate to see if they're a good fit for the position before asking more questions. Don't try to fill the description with every possible detail about the job. Paint broad strokes, describing the job's responsibilities, the necessary skills and the level of experience that a candidate should have.
5. Keep applications short.
This may be contrary to your instincts, but it follows the best practice for job descriptions. Research shows that candidates who must spend more than five minutes on an application (think more than three pages or several "next" clicks on a website) aren't likely to complete it.
According to a study from recruitment company Appcast, recruiters can boost the conversion rate of candidates who view a job ad and ultimately complete an application by up to 365%, just by reducing the length of the application process to no more than five minutes.
If you have a long application process, you could be losing out on talent. Just like an applicant doesn't want to spend too much time with questions and answers, you probably don't want to spend a lot of time on the receiving end. Do you really need all that information now, or could you get it later in the hiring process?
A streamlined process could be a short process that looks to start a conversation quickly.
6. Try the blind resume read.
Bias can be a significant issue in the recruiting process. One of the ways that employers have attempted to negate bias in recent years is through a blind resume read. Before your prospective employer even sees your face, they can pass judgment on your name and background just by reading your resume. It's why some female candidates even go as far as to eliminate their full name from their resume, electing to only show their first initial to avoid bias.
The idea of a blind resume read (removing the name and any other personal information from consideration) is to level the playing field and truly let the candidate's qualifications speak for themselves. Employers who use this tactic typically do so through automated software that strips the resume of the name upon its submission.
7. Structure interviews.
It's tempting to let the cards fall where they may during an interview, skipping an agenda in favor of being laid back. You just have a conversation, take notes, and you're done.
However, unstructured interviews can be stressful for the candidate who isn't sure what to expect, and this style of meeting ultimately doesn't reveal as much about the candidate as a structured interview would.
A structured interview has more than enough benefits to justify implementation. It keeps everything clear for the interviewer and the job candidate by providing a set of questions that you work through together. This style helps minimize bias, as each candidate can answer the same set of questions. Streamline your hiring process by creating questions and sticking to them throughout your interviews.
8. Streamline the feedback process.
If you want a streamlined process, then you need to make sure that feedback from interviews comes back quickly, efficiently and fairly. The sooner you hear from the interviewers, the sooner a hiring decision can be made.
Consider using an online or internal form that interviewers complete right after conducting the interview. This way, all feedback is in one centralized place and you don't have to worry about any papers getting lost.
Some companies also implement a "silent" interviewing policy, which can help eliminate bias. Employees don't talk about a candidate among themselves until after written feedback is submitted. In this method, their thoughts can't be influenced by other employees.
9. Emphasize quality feedback.
Naturally, you want interviewers to submit their feedback as quickly as possible to help the hiring process move along, but the feedback needs to be of high quality and not rushed.
Would you rather have feedback right away, or would you rather it be thoughtful? The obvious answer is both. In a perfect world, interviewers would be able to get you thoughtful feedback in a timely manner, but they also have other responsibilities as employees of the company. Prior to interviewing, discuss the best types of feedback that can be provided. Here are some examples:
- Statements about a candidate's interview that tell more about them than what's on their resume. What did their interview truly reveal to you about them as a candidate? What are the soft skills and characteristics that make them a good fit?
- Traits that a candidate possesses that would be essential to the job. If an interviewer and the candidate really connect, it can be easy for the interviewer to stray from the Q&A structure, talking about interests and hobbies. This may be a secondary consideration in terms of office culture and personality fit, but feedback on previous experiences and challenges will provide more insight into a candidate's abilities.
10. Don't forget the post-hire survey.
Whether you realize it or not, new employees probably have plenty to say about the hiring process once they've been through it.
The time to strike is while the iron is hot. Have employees complete a post-hire survey where they reveal their thoughts on the process and how it could be better. Encourage them to provide constructive criticism and ideas that could be implemented to ease the hiring process. Most importantly, make this type of survey anonymous so employees aren't afraid of being reprimanded.
Talent management can be an intimidating process, but these 10 methods can ease the hiring process for all involved. Work with your team to find and choose the best people for your company. Understand what you're looking for, involve the right people, and get feedback to constantly re-evaluate. While this process may seem never-ending, it's healthy to update accordingly to ensure a streamlined process.