10 Ways To Improve Your Recruitment Processes And Attract Better Candidates More Easily

10 Ways To Improve Your Recruitment Processes And Attract Better Candidates More Easily

Together with being unrealistic about market rates, a poorly run recruitment process is one of the quickest ways to make your company unattractive to the best candidates.

The good news is that, according to a Linkedin poll, if you want to make a good impression, the chances are your competitors are setting the bar low! Of 88 respondents to the question "What percentage of job applications where you've got to interview stage have been well run?"

• a staggering 33% answered that fewer than a quarter of processes were well run;
• a further 32% said between a quarter and half were well run;
• 22% said between 50-75% were well run; and
• 14% said at least three quarters of processes were well run.

10 Tips to run a Good Recruitment Process

Take time to scope the role- changing the job spec during a recruitment process will, at best, make the company look disorganised and indecisive. At worst, and all too commonly, it will end up with the whole process needing to be restarted.

Brief your recruitment consultant thoroughly and listen to their questions and challenges- if your recruitment consultant is to consistently identify relevant candidates then they need to be well briefed.

Plan your employer value proposition (EVP) and how to sell this opportunity to candidates- while salary is typically the most important consideration for candidates it is far from the only one.

Plan the application process- a disorganised or drawn-out recruitment process will often result in the best candidates accepting offers elsewhere before your process finishes.

Train staff on how to interview- a candidate's rapport with interviewers is often the most important factor in their decision as to whether they want to progress with a process or not.

Brief the interviewers- investing time to ensure that each interview is structured and with clear objectives both makes it easier to identify the better candidates and reduces the need for additional interviews that draw out the recruitment process.

Prioritise debriefing- too often interviewers don't prioritise debriefing colleagues thoroughly or in a timely manner after interviews.

Feedback to recruiters about each candidate after each interview- successful or not, candidates value and deserve feedback.

Offer promptly and within the stated salary range for the role- there is rarely a good reason not to get a role signed off before the final interviews are complete.

Keep in contact with the candidate- once the preferred candidate has accepted the recruitment process is NOT over.

Running a good recruitment process isn't rocket science but it takes planning and discipline and requires everyone involved to buy into the importance of sticking to the process.