The recruitment landscape has changed significantly over the last couple of years, for reasons we’re all too familiar with. Have your recruitment efforts evolved to respond effectively? It’s a strong strategy to invest in several functional areas of HR to minimize your challenge with recruitment. This article explores possible solutions that HR leaders should have ‘on their radar’ to ease the pain of recruitment and increase the likelihood of securing top candidates. Additional considerations will be shared in Part Two.
Website Accessibility
If your website isn’t inclusive for all, you’re eliminating upwards of 20% of qualified candidates. To cast the biggest net possible, ensure your digital platform(s) are accommodating (if not delighting) for those living with disabilities. The ideal starting point is an audit of your website to understand what improvements can be made to enhance their experience while visiting your site, getting to know your organization, and applying for roles to attract more talent.
Employer Branding
What is your story? What makes your organization unique? Why would someone who is actively seeking new employment want to work for your organization? Are you putting yourself in a position to acquire the strongest candidates? It’s imperative that all your employee-facing materials (website, tools, messaging) embody what makes you special as a company. A well thought out message is an impactful way to attract the right candidates. Finally, this is best left to a professional who understands the art of writing. If you have someone internal with this skill/expertise, great. If not, do not hesitate to lean on a professional in this space, as it will be well worth your investment.
Consider AI
To succeed as a recruiter, you must be good at so many things (it’s almost unfair if you really think about it). Consider what might be automated for an improved recruitment process and a more manageable role for recruiters. Understand how it could complement your team by eliminating tasks that may not be desired by those on your team. Start with an assessment of your current state to determine if you’re able to succeed with AI. Do not proceed until you’ve performed due diligence in this area, as it too often leads to a failed initiative. A far better investment is an assessment and roadmap to align yourself to succeed. Lastly, partnering with a vendor-agnostic professional is ideal to ensure you ultimately have the right technology in place to meet your requirements.
Assess / Review Your Recruitment Process
As noted earlier, the recruitment landscape has changed significantly in recent years. Therefore, your process needs to evolve to have any chance of being successful. Understand the steps in your process. Are steps in place just because that’s what you’ve always done? Assess the risk of eliminating steps and determine what you can accept to establish the most effective process possible. The pace at which candidates are snapped up in the market today is extremely quick, and an efficient process is key to allowing you to secure you top talent before another organization can. To significantly increase the success of your new process, involve your recruiters and other key stakeholders in the planning. Zoom out to understand what frustrates them in their role and, if possible, modify or eliminate their least desirable tasks. Lastly, an external set of eyes is often most beneficial as strong bias often exists internally.
In summary, it’s more important than ever that HR leaders perform their due diligence and be aware of what can be done to ease the pain of recruitment for their team and acquire the talent their organization is seeking in today’s tough market. The road ahead varies greatly from what we’ve experienced in the past and the same tools and processes are not going to ‘cut it’ any longer. With a more manageable recruitment process, you can minimize the reactive work within your team and devote resources to strategic pieces of HR to propel your organization to extraordinary success.