How do you conduct an efficient and effective hiring process?
A good hiring process conducted in an efficient and effective manner can save you and your business time and money. Without proper organisation and the right support, the process can be time consuming and distract you from your day job. Making sure you find hire the right candidate first time will avoid problems and additional costs further down the line.
So what are the key elements of the hiring process?
Know who you want
You will need to define the sort of person that you are looking for. For this, you will need to have an in depth understanding of the role you are recruiting for and must consider your company’s brand values and work ethic.
Have a clear picture of the type of person who will succeed and excel within your organisation, be productive and complement your current workforce.
Above and beyond qualifications and experience, consider personality traits that will be required such as compassion, honesty or humour – and although these would not necessarily be detailed in the job description, you should be looking for them during the interview.
Consulting with others in similar roles can provide valuable insight into the best type of person for the role. This may take a little more time, but in the long run getting it wrong will cost you more time and money.
Present what you offer
All too often companies will write a job description that describe the role and duties well but doesn’t tell the candidate ‘what’s in it for them’.
It’s important to include anything your staff like about working for you; opportunities to progress, social elements, up to the minute facilities, benefits.
Write a good job description
If you find you are always being contacted by the wrong candidates – whether they aren’t meeting minimum qualifications or just don’t seem to “fit” within your culture – how you are writing job descriptions might be the culprit.
A common problem while writing job descriptions is that they fail to clearly and accurately articulate the requirements and the specific characteristics of the job that would make it noticeable and attractive to the right candidates. Many job ads can be generic and bland.
A good job description should not only clearly define responsibilities and requisite qualifications, but also the challenges that the role will face, the working style, the temperament required, details of the company culture and vision – all so that you can attract the right people.
From here you will be able to develop high impact interview questions and your interview evaluations.
Efficient screening
Pre-interview screening is essential as it will save you precious time and shorten the process. For this you will need to ascertain the basic and minimum qualifications and skills that candidates require.
A big help here can be automation via applicant-tracking systems which streamline the process – applicants can be filtered automatically based on the criteria that you put in. But if you do not have this functionality in place, it can take time to set up from scratch.
Taking on a Recruitment Consultancy can make your hiring process more efficient. They will already have both automated tracking systems in place to identify the relevant candidates on paper and, more importantly, most reputable consultants will undertake face to face pre-screening interviews before they even send the candidate’s details on to you.
Clear evaluation process
Consistency is key here so that you can make accurate comparisons. Making sure that you have a well-defined selection process and standards, and that all involved in the hiring process are briefed in the same way, will make it easier to compare candidates.
Don’t ask unusual questions
Stick to questions that will showcase or demonstrate they skills and experience, and whether they can perform the tasks required.
Getting to know them is far more important than throwing in a curve ball question to see how they react under pressure. Asking anything unusual that is totally unrelated to the job could put the candidate on the back foot and skew the rest of the interview
Sell your opportunity, company and role
Interviews are a two-way thing, that candidate should leave the interview with an eagerness to join you. Build relations, make them feel comfortable and talk to them to reinstate all the things your staff like about working for you.
When interviewing sales and marketing staff, describe the bonus scheme to ensure it’s transparent as you want to attract the best possible candidates.
In the current competitive job market, good candidates are in demand, if you don’t sell your opportunity, your competitors will sell theirs!
Fast Decision-Making
Poor communication, not setting clear timelines and a lack of consistency can all lead to slow decision making when it comes to recruitment. Making sure your hiring team know the timescales you are working to and have all the relevant information can speed up the process. A faster decision can lead to an early offer, improving your chances of securing the best talent before someone else takes them on. It will also allow you to get back to your work – and with a full team.
Getting Support
Hiring the right people can be a time-consuming process but if you plan ahead, stay focussed and maintain the momentum, you will get results.
If work is busy and there never seems to be enough time in the day to give your recruitment needs your full focus, outsourcing to an agency can be the best option. They can manage the whole process for you to keep the energy going, provide professional guidance at every step and help you make the right decision.
How we can help
At TN Recruits we always take the time to understand your business, your values and your culture, and with a pool of over 4,000 candidates, we can always source the best candidates.
Our recruitment consultants are experienced in finding the right people from trainee to board level in many sectors such as finance, marketing, IT, customer service and law and are always happy to help.
Call us now on 01892 571105 to talk through what you are looking for.
