RECRUITMENT PROCESS EFFICIENCY - 6th of a Series

When roles are likely to be tough to fill, the last thing you want is to duplicate effort or waste time pitching to the wrong audience.

In addition, when you receive CVs and other applications you might well be swamped. Time taken to sift through this pile will be considerable.

Quite often you may even be sent duplicate applications, which is not ideal. It is important to keep business costs low.

How much is it costing you to ?nd a new member of staff if you manage the whole process yourself?

?What is the cost of not ?lling a role?

?Is it impacting on existing staff on hours worked, morale and potential burn-out?

When lots of time is spent inefficiently on recruitment tasks, it can actually create a substantial cost to your business.

Yet, when calculating the cost-per- hire metric, many businesses don’t factor in the time and resources spent on these kinds of tasks?

If your recruitment process is efficient and high-quality applicants are speedily found. It can have a really positive impact on your hospital or clinic.

When organizations are operating without the full complement of staff it can affect production, care, and staff morale. The aim is to simplify the complex recruitment process. Bring in the right number of highly qualified people, that are the best fit.

ARE YOU ATTRACTING GREAT TALENT?

In our opinion the process of attracting great talent begins well before you need a new member of staff.

Recruitment doesn’t start the moment you hire a recruitment team, place an ad, or instruct your HR team.

In 2021 potential candidates are already assessing a company brand before they even consider writing an application.

Your reputation comes before you and therefore it’s worth undertaking an audit to assess how your organization is perceived in all the relevant channels.

Your company brand is affected profoundly by its reputation.

Not only should your assets be attractive, meaningful, and truthful, but they will affect any potential recruitment drive.

Candidates see an application as the beginning of a two-way relationship. People want to know what the company will do for them, not just find out what a business needs from them.

A bad experience during the recruitment process will not disappear under the radar.

Word of mouth is powerful, and people are not shy about broadcasting a bad experience.

This can be extraordinarily damaging to your reputation and your chances of filling a vacancy.

RIGHT NOW, ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES I SEE COMPANIES STRUGGLING WITH IS HOW TO BOTH PRESENT AND DELIVER A TOP-QUALITY CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE.

This is a risk and also an opportunity.

Excellent candidates can be very hard to come by and therefore to lose them at the 11th hour seems careless in the extreme.

Your candidate experience sends many messages about company policy, philosophy, and the quality of care a potential candidate might receive should they be offered a job.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES YOU CAN MAKE TO THE WHOLE PROCESS IS THE QUALITY OF YOUR COMMUNICATION.

Even if this is outsourced delegated, people need to know that the process they are undertaking matters to the company.

You may take 21 days to get everyone’s say so on a short list but tell the candidate this in advance. If they don’t hear from you, it is likely they will go elsewhere. This takes us onto a particularly Covid-focused challenge.

When countries starting imposing lockdowns across the world it looked as if business might stop.

It was a huge threat to all kinds of organizations, but we have all read about the ingenuity and creativity that has saved many companies. This has been achieved through being extraordinarily agile. Big businesses quickly followed suit and began remote working and also remote interviews. This was almost unheard of, pre-pandemic but rapidly everyone pivoted to accelerate a comprehensive digital revolution.

BEING ABLE TO TRAWL FOR CANDIDATES ACROSS A MUCH WIDER MARKET HAS BEEN EXCITING

It increases inclusion and diversity, but also brings in new knowledge and experience. Undertaking the recruitment process on-line can work really well and we have placed candidates that have never set foot in their new workplace until their first day.

However, this only works when communication and a blended approach is used well. Improving the experience by open communication can be transformational. Personalized automated email is a bottom-line tactic.

SMS responses at each stage of the application process helps candidates know they have not applied into a faceless non communicative organization. If you acknowledge applications and even give additional information about the role. This helps maintains interest and momentum.

Explain everything, work hard at communicating wherever there is a beneficial reason to do so or employ a team that will professionally represent your interests.

ELIMINATE BAD HIRES

Quite often there is significant pressure to make a hire. This is understandable. As we discussed in the previous section staff shortages are impactful in many respects.

However, this rush can lead to shortlisting candidates that are not wholly appropriate for your needs.

These bad hires have costs attached to them. Research and experience suggest that more than 30% of an employee’s first year earnings might well be the business cost.

On that basis alone, recruiting appropriately is crucial wouldn’t you agree?

?Although due diligence is a time- consuming process it will save time, money, and frustration later on.

There are a number of ways you can undertake this essential task. You can screen using digital tools, even undertake initial interviews using A.I.

There are behavioural assessments and video profiling. Parsing?CVs?is?also?useful to explore the cultural and experiential fit.

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