How to improve your recruitment process

How can you make sure you stand out from the crowd to attract and retain the most qualified employees? The recruitment and selection process goes beyond posting a listing on a job site. Here’s what you need to know.

What is the recruitment process?

The HR recruitment process is designed to find the best possible fit, both in terms of employee skills and company culture. It’s worth investing significant time and effort into recruitment as there are many potential benefits:

• Reduced hiring costs: by getting it right the first time, you can avoid spending more money on continually filling vacancies with a high turnover rate.

• Higher-quality candidates: a chaotic, disorganised hiring process will cause top talent to look elsewhere.

• Improved productivity: with a streamlined recruiting and selection process, the HR team can fine-tune its focus on training and development.

Your organisation’s size and structure will determine who conducts the recruitment drive. Individual department managers might choose to lead stages of the recruitment process in a smaller business, while HR professionals take the lead in a larger company. Many organisations rely on recruitment process outsourcing to whittle down the field of candidates to a select few.

Recruitment process steps

To get started, it’s helpful to identify the stages of the recruitment process. There are a few key steps to follow, no matter the size of your organisation.

1. Define the role

There are many reasons why you need to start recruiting candidates. Perhaps an existing employee is moving on and needs to be replaced, or your business is expanding into a new market. Think about the gaps in your organisation and what an ideal candidate would look like.

With this information, you can write a more effective job description. This is one of the most important recruitment process steps, as it creates that vital first impression for candidates. Clearly outline your company’s expectations, including all relevant duties of the role. The more specific you can be with communication, the more likely it is you’ll avoid wasting anyone’s time.

2. Create a recruitment strategy

With your tentative job description in hand, it’s time to determine how you will source the best candidates for the role. Delegate responsibility within your team or determine whether you’ll be using recruitment process outsourcing services at this stage. Post your job listing in relevant job sites, and don’t be afraid to lean on technology to assist you. Mobile hiring apps, keyword filtering tools, and HR software all help narrow the field. You’ll need to be ready to act when you see a CV you like, since top-tier candidates are snapped up quickly.

3. Conduct interviews

Once you’ve created a shortlist of the best CVs, it’s time to make contact. Schedule phone screenings to touch base and discuss your organisation’s needs. After the initial screening, schedule an in-person interview. This is your recruiter’s chance to ask and answer questions. The best interviews will be a two-way conversation rather than an interrogation.

4. Make an offer

Some businesses make the mistake of assuming that recruitment has finished at this stage, but making an offer is one of the most crucial moments in the entire process. Reach out as quickly as possible to present your initial offer, including salary and benefits. Be prepared to negotiate.

5. Onboard your new team member

Transform fresh hires into productive team members with a comprehensive onboarding process. Without onboarding, you run the risk of the employee not making it past the trial stages. Look beyond the HR paperwork to provide plenty of support, both from managers and fellow team members. Take the new employee out to lunch to get to know them, and schedule a full-team meeting during the first week so they can see how the company structure works.

How to improve the recruitment and selection process

As you can see, there are many facets to the recruitment process. Here are a few final tips to ensure you make the most of it:

• Use automated tracking systems to control job listings and CVs from a central dashboard.

• Consider using internal sources of recruitment like transfers, promotions, and employee referrals.

• Focus on creating a strong brand identity to encourage candidates to seek you out.

• Use data analytics to learn from past recruitment drives and tweak your process.

• Keep in touch with previous applicants. Although they didn’t make the cut the first time around, your future needs may change.

• If you anticipate a high volume of openings, set up a designated careers site to showcase your company culture and benefits.

By spending some time to refine your recruitment process, you can both increase employee engagement while decreasing turnover rates.

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