Businesses must update hiring processes or risk falling behind in the race for talent

Companies are competing for talent more than ever before. We call this a candidate driven market, and it certainly looks like candidates are set to stay in the driving seat in this year.?

Such is the demand for superstar hires that, for the first time in years, candidates can have the pick of the bunch. It’s a really interesting flip of the market, and it’s not something that recruiters, hiring managers and business leaders are likely to be used to.

When it comes to hiring talent, we’re used to a certain process. A company posts an open role, multiple candidates apply and then, after rigorous sifting, the role is offered to the best candidate. Job done!

But this change in market dynamics has rendered old processes unfit for purpose. For businesses, good quality talent has become the holy grail in their vision to build back post-COVID, and snapping up the right candidate requires a major overhaul in hiring practices.

The problem we are facing

Simply put, organisations which aren’t responding to the market dynamics are putting themselves at risk of falling behind in the race for talent. Leaders who are on the look out for the best people should not be recruiting in the same way they were either during or pre-pandemic. Having a process that involves lengthy CV sifting, three rounds of interviews, a test, and then a lengthy waiting period to decide between two potential hires is only going to drive the candidate into the arms of another, quicker business.

This is even more true when it comes to temp and contract roles. Organisations which need interim support to keep business areas ticking along whilst searching for a permanent hire can’t be putting candidates through these types of lengthy processes anymore. Other companies will move faster and have a more modern approach that’s appropriate for the current market.

How can businesses adapt?

Hiring managers wondering why they just can’t find the right talent may not have reflected in enough detail on why that might be, and what they can do to change it. In this landscape, businesses need to adapt to hire, and one of the first ways of doing this is by looking at the hiring process, making it shorter and moving faster.

Another thing to consider is moving away from an 80:20 approach, whereby companies expect the majority of the process to be candidates selling themselves to employer with just a small percentage of the opposite. Instead, this should now look more like a 50:50 approach – companies increasingly need to sell their story to make the best candidate think: “yes, this is exactly where I want to be”.

It’s not about lowering the bar

Let’s be clear, businesses do not need to lower the bar in terms of quality when it comes to the hiring process. It doesn’t mean that the right approach is to give an offer to the first applicant, or overwhelming candidates by rushing three interviews into three consecutive days.?

What it is about, though, is getting in there quick enough to snap up top talent before anyone else does. If a candidate stands out at first glance, and impresses in the first interview, there’s no need to see five other people and wait a standard four weeks to offer, just because that’s always been the way it’s done.

Just like we have with everything else over the past two years, when it comes to hiring, we all need to adapt. The most forward-thinking companies will, and they will emerge as clear winners in the war for talent.