SDHRC Combating Candidate Scarcity
The competition to hire top talent is more challenging than ever before. One way you can set yourself apart from the competition is by providing a stellar candidate experience. From the initial contact to the point of offer or rejection, candidates are forming opinions and feelings about your business, and you want them to be left with a positive impression.
How can you provide the best experience? Start by making sure your website, career page, the application process, and communications are consistent and represent your mission and brand. As the saying goes, you only have one opportunity to make a great first impression.
Successful hiring requires a well-defined and planned hiring process. Ensure the jobs you are hiring fulfill a distinct need in your organization. Candidates want to feel as though you value them as an individual who can provide specific value rather than just a body filling a seat. Determine who will be on the interview team and make sure they understand the specific role they will play in the hiring process. Divide and conquer so the same questions are not asked repetitively throughout the process. Inform candidates of the process and what to expect. How many interview stages will there be? Will you be conducting interviews via phone, video call, in person? Will you be requiring an assessment? If so, ensure the assignment is clear, have a realistic deadline for completion, and provide information on how the assessment will be critiqued. Assessments can be a great opportunity for candidates to showcase their skills.
Once you have your plan in place, take a good look at your job descriptions. Job descriptions should accurately reflect the skills and experience required for the candidate to be successful in the role. Try to avoid taking the long wish list approach and focus on the real skills that will be used on a day-to-day basis. It also helps to provide information on how success in the role will be defined. If you use KPIs or other metrics, let candidates know what to expect when they start the job.
Now that you have your hiring plan in place, and great job descriptions are written, it is time to set your plan in motion. Communication is crucial from this point forward. If you plan to use automated messaging or templates, make sure they are well branded and engaging. Sending a simple thank you for your application email is OK, but sending a thank you email that includes a timeline for the next steps and links to information about your company, current employee profiles, or information about upcoming company events your candidate may be interested in is even better! If you want to go the extra mile and really impress your candidates, consider creating and linking to videos that show your company culture or “A day in the life” of what they would be doing as a new employee in this new role. The most important thing to remember is to communicate with each and every candidate after each interaction throughout the process.
When you reach the end of the process, you will need to make the decision to either offer the job or let the candidate know they were not selected. Offers are always fun so that is the easy part, rejection is never fun but is even worse when a candidate is simply ghosted. Always take the time to thank the candidate and if possible provide constructive feedback so they know how they can improve. They may not be the right fit or not the right fit right now but either way, you want them to remember you and your process as being professional, organized, and respectful and that you valued them and their time.
Focusing on these tips will help you to provide a candidate experience that will be enjoyable for all parties involved and will encourage top talent to seek opportunities within your company.
At SDHR Consulting, we partner with you to find candidates who are not only a cultural fit for your company but also who are well qualified and an accurate representation of your organization’s goals. Our unique RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) model combined with our match-making approach to recruiting results in prices less than 1/2 the cost of average agency rates and a 95% or higher retention rate. We not only save you money upfront with no hidden fees, retainers, or minimums, but we also save you money in the long run by finding you candidates who are committed to your organization for the foreseeable future.
Author: Julie Reed
