Marketplace Uncertainties? Recharge Your Recruiting Processes

Layoffs Sweeping The US!

The national headlines are full of these types of headlines. Just yesterday Accenture announced 19,000. If you are a company who needs to hire and hire right you know what it is time for? It is time to improve your hiring and talent acquisition processes, create needed change and bring in some new talent that may be newly available. Which brings me to rule #1 in business, at least small business. Use any setback you can as an opportunity to shift, improve, grow and change. Here are some ways you might rethink recruiting right now.

Recruiting is a fundamental aspect of any organization that seeks to attract and retain talent to drive business change and growth. However, most talent and human resources professionals face numerous challenges in recruiting the right employees, especially in a volatile economic climate. Recruiting can be a demanding process, especially when businesses need to hire employees quickly, deploy them with little training and the job market is highly competitive. Companies often don't have time to mentor, train and wait months and months to see a return on their human capital. What can HR and talent leaders do?

Fortunately, there are several ways that HR professionals can improve the recruiting process for their organizations. This article will examine several strategies that HR professionals can use to recruit top talent.

Streamline the Recruiting Process

One of the biggest challenges that HR professionals face is the volume of resumes they receive for every open position. Lack of time and resources means that many recruiters often spend only a few seconds per application. This can lead to the rejection of qualified candidates. A solution to this problem is to streamline the recruiting process by automating some of the necessary steps. Technology tools such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can help recruiters manage resumes, schedule interviews, and reduce turnaround time. Automated systems minimize time spent on administrative tasks, allowing recruiters to focus on identifying top talent.

Leverage Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool for recruiting qualified candidates. Popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are great resources for reaching out to potential employees. HR professionals can use social media to post job openings, showcase their company culture, and engage with candidates directly.

LinkedIn, for example, has a job posting feature that allows HR professionals to post job openings, search for candidates, and share content about their company. This provides an opportunity for recruiters to establish their organization as a thought leader in their industry, building brand awareness and attracting talent to their organization. But be careful you may get an avalanche of resumes and unqualified people who find the Easy Apply button and other means as a short cut. That short cut can create a lot of action but sometimes not a lot of quality. Quality candidates are the key. Social media must be tempered but done right it can bring the attention you need.

Focus on Employee Referrals

Employee referrals can be an effective way of finding top talent. By leveraging their existing workforce, HR professionals can tap into a source of trusted referrals. Referrals are generally of higher quality than other candidates as current employees have an understanding of the company culture and the necessary skills needed for the job. Moreover, employee referrals reduce hiring costs while improving the time-to-hire metric. According to a study by Jobvite, employee referrals have an average hiring time of 29 days, compared to 39 days for career websites, and 55 days for job boards.

Emphasize Soft Skills and Change Up Your Standard Talent Acquisition Team

Qualifications and certifications are essential for any job, but soft skills are equally important. Technical abilities can be acquired, but soft skills like communication, teamwork, and adaptability are critical to success in most roles. HR and talent acquisition professionals need to focus on recruiting candidates who possess the soft skills necessary for success in the organization. A candidate's personality, attitude, and work ethic should be a significant factor in hiring decisions. Conducting behavioral interviews laced with some assessment work to assess a candidate's soft skills can ensure that HR professionals are recruiting employees who align with the company culture. Who can provide you some out of the box ideas in recruiting? Your current agency? Do you have any other choices? Find them.

Constantly Review and Evaluate Recruitment Strategies

HR professionals should continuously review their recruitment and selection process to identify areas for improvement. Evaluating past recruitment strategies and analyzing what worked and what didn't will help identify areas for improvement. HR professionals can also measure recruitment success by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, candidate quality, and retention. By evaluating and adjusting recruitment strategies, HR professionals can streamline the recruitment process, reduce costs, and improve the quality of candidates.

Partner with a Smaller, Innovative Recruitment Agency on Key Projects

Partnering with a recruitment agency can be a cost-effective solution for organizations that need to recruit top talent quickly. Recruitment agencies have extensive candidate databases, and they often have a deep understanding of the industry and the available talent. Working with an innovative recruitment agency can also save HR professionals time and effort by handling all aspects of the recruitment process or perhaps a small piece of the process. Hire a small, boutique firm that can assist you in gaining critical talent. Be open to new ideas. Don't just do it the same way. This process includes sourcing candidates, screening resumes, and conducting preliminary interview rounds and ultimately finding talent in an increasing sea of candidates who may not stand out.

Pulling It Together

Recruiting the right employees is crucial to the success of any organization. HR professionals must continuously review and evaluate their recruitment process to attract the best qualified candidates. Streamlining the recruiting process, leveraging social media, focusing on employee referrals, emphasizing soft skills, evaluating recruitment strategies, and partnering with a recruitment agency are just a few ways HR professionals can improve their recruiting practices. Even if you are facing a downtime it is the perfect time to upset your current, age old strategies and improve your prospects to recruit and retain the best talent.

By adopting these strategies, HR professionals can hire the right employees and onboard them into a company that values their skills and cultivates their career growth.

Here are some sources that discuss out-of-the-box ways to recruit top talent:

1. The Wall Street Journal, "The Secret to Better Hiring? Treat Candidates Like Customers" - This article discusses the importance of creating a positive candidate experience during the recruitment process and provides tips for companies to improve their recruitment practices.
2. HR Technologist, "7 Fresh Recruitment Strategies to Attract Top Talent in 2021"- This article provides innovative recruitment strategies that HR professionals can use to attract top talent. These strategies include considering social media ambassadors, employee support systems, and using innovative technologies.
3. Glassdoor, "5 Creative Recruitment Ideas That Will Help You Find Great Talent" - This article provides tips for HR professionals to create unique and compelling recruitment campaigns that will attract top talent to their organization. Strategies include employer branding, video recruitment campaigns, and internal referral programs.
4. Harvard Business Review, "5 Recruitment Strategies for the Future of Work" - This article discusses recruitment strategies that are geared towards attracting talent for the future of work. Strategies include targeting young talent, focusing on non-traditional career paths, and using innovative recruiting technologies.
5. Forbes, "From Chatbots To Candidate Matching: Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Recruitment" - This article discusses the ways in which artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the recruitment process. It discusses how chatbots, candidate matching, and predictive analytics are helping HR professionals to identify top talent and improve the recruitment process.