5 ways to optimise your recruitment process

Recruitment is important for any organisation interested in its expansion and success within the competitive market. Where effectively managed, it aids the companies in acquiring appropriate and suitable talent even in niche areas, and filling hard-to-fill positions by ensuring a team that guarantees higher productivity, lessened employee turnover, and good employer branding. An unplanned recruitment process could bring about high turnover, low productivity, and destroy your brand. That’s why it’s crucial to optimise your recruitment process, making it more efficient, effective, and engaging for both candidates and hiring managers. Here are five ways to achieve that, with insights from Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton.

Talent Acquisition Strategy

A talent acquisition strategy is a plan that outlines how you will source, attract, and hire the best talent for your organisation. It has to relate to business goals, values, and culture and address current and future needs of the organisation. Herein are the key elements that should be contained in a good talent acquisition strategy:

A clear definition of your ideal candidate profile, including the skills, competencies, and personality traits that you are looking for.
A deep analysis of your talent market, including the availability, demand, and competition for the talent you need.
A selection of the most effective sourcing channels and methods, such as job boards, social media, referrals, networking, and events.
A compelling value proposition demonstrating why your organisation is a great place to work and what benefits and opportunities you offer your employees.
A set of key performance indicators and metrics that measure the success and impact of your talent acquisition strategy, which will typically include time to hire, cost per hire, quality of hire, and retention rate.

Justin Somerville-Cotton explains, “a poorly defined talent acquisition strategy makes the recruitment process difficult to manage effectively”.

However, with a well-defined strategy, you can access top talent in the market, quickly fill niche and hard-to-hire roles, and reduce both hiring costs and risks.

Employer Branding

Employer branding is described as a process of creating and promoting the reputation and image of your organisation as an employer of choice. It is the way of communicating your mission, vision, values, culture, and work environment both to potential and existing employees. A strong employer brand can help you attract, engage, and retain top talent, as well as enhance your customer loyalty and market share. To create a good employer brand, you should do the following:

Conduct an employer branding audit to assess your current strengths and weaknesses, while ascertaining what gaps there are and opportunities for improvement.
Create an EVP that summarises what makes your organisation unique and desirable as an employer, and what you expect and offer in return.
Formulate an employer branding strategy on targeting an audience, carrying key messages across, selecting channels and platforms, and setting goals and objectives.
Activate your employer branding strategy by creating and distributing relevant, authentic content, showing off your EVP, your culture, your employees, and success storeys.
Monitor and assess your employer branding strategy by collecting and analysing feedback, data, and insights from your candidates and employees, and stakeholders, and adjust accordingly.

Investing in employer branding will help you differentiate from the competition. As Justin Somerville-Cotton says, “A strong EVP is crucial for successful employer branding. With increased transparency through digital channels, it has never been more critical to articulate your business’s vision and objectives, describe your values and principles, and define what your organisation stands for to help attract the right talent into your business.”

This will help you with diversified talent, better quality of candidates, and more satisfying and loyal employees.

Technology

Technology is a very strong helper that could help you optimise your recruitment process, making it more streamlined, scalable, and data-driven. The automation and simplification of lots of tasks and processes can be facilitated by technology itself, such as sourcing, screening, scheduling, interviewing, testing, and onboarding. Technology can even further improve candidate experience and engagement with speed and personalisation in communications, feedback, and support. But remember that technology is not a solution in itself; technology needs to be used smart and strategically. For improving your tech stack on recruitment, you must conduct a tech audit to assess your current tech, identify gaps and challenges, and further prioritise the needs and solutions.

Research and compare the technology options available such as ATS, recruitment marketing platforms, video interviewing, assessment tools etc.
Choose and implement technologies that meet your organisation’s goals, budget, and culture; ensure seamless integration with your existing systems and processes.
Train and educate your recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates on how to use the technology to greater effect and be more productive.
Regularly review and optimise your technology by gathering and analysing feedback, data, and results, then make the necessary adjustments and improvements.

Justin Sommerville-Cotton identifies that utilising technology can definitely enhance your recruitment efficiency, effectiveness, and overall quality, giving you a competitive edge in the talent market.

He notes, “Emerging technology such as AI and automation can streamline the recruiting process by keeping candidates informed, scheduling interviews, and making recommendations based on candidate data. When investing in such technology, the business should understand their end-to-end process, identify any pain points or inefficiencies, and then bridge those gaps with the right tech solutions.”

Hiring Process

The recruitment process is a critical series of steps and activities which determine how well you identify, evaluate, and hire the best candidates for your organisation. It directly influences both candidate and hiring manager experiences, and overall hiring outcomes. A badly managed recruitment process can lead to the loss of qualified candidates, poor hiring decisions, and wastage of resources.

Justin Somerville-Cotton highlights how important it is to avoid common pitfalls such as “poor feedback, excessive stages, disorganisation, and inconsistency.” Smooth the process: clear timelines for when things will happen, effective scheduling of interviews, and automation of communications through an applicant tracking system pay great dividends in candidate and hiring manager experience.

For an optimal hiring process, pay attention to:

Document and define your hiring process with roles and responsibilities for each stakeholder, the stages and steps for the process itself, the criteria and methods of evaluation, expected timeline, and expected outcomes.
Align and communicate your hiring process with recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates to ensure onus is one, expectations are the same, and everyone is on the same page.
Streamlining and standardising your hiring process, by eliminating unnecessary or redundant steps, using structured and objective assessment tools, and following the best practises and guidelines.
Enhancing and personalising your hiring process, by providing clear and timely communication, feedback, and support, and by creating a positive and memorable impression of your organisation.
Measure and refine the hiring process through collection and analysis of feedback, data, and metrics such as candidate satisfaction, hiring manager satisfaction, time to fill, and offer acceptance rate, and implement necessary changes and actions.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are the processes and procedures that cover how your organisation should value and respect all of your employees and candidates, and how all should be afforded equal access and opportunities to contribute to its success. The dividends for an organisation having a diverse and inclusive workforce are well-documented. These include driving new insights and innovation, creativity, and problem-solving; increasing your customer satisfaction and loyalty; and strengthening your employer brand and reputation, all of which impact the bottom line. To promote diversity and inclusion in your hiring process, you should do the following:

Set up and communicate your vision, mission, and goals regarding diversity and inclusion, and how these align with your organisation’s values and culture.
Building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive talent pipeline by expanding the sourcing channels and networks, reaching out to underrepresented groups and communities, and partnering with organisations and initiatives for diversity and inclusion.
Reduce and eliminate biased and discriminatory recruitment practises by using inclusive and neutral language and imagery, utilising blind and anonymised screening and assessment methodologies, and providing training and education in diversity and inclusion to talent acquisition teams and hiring managers alike.
Showcase and celebrate diversity and inclusion within your organisation by drawing out how you embrace it; this should be in cooperation with any employee resource groups you have to help communicate progress.
Monitor and assess your diversity and inclusion practises by gathering and analysing feedback, data, and indicators, and take the appropriate activities and initiatives that will help boost the group.

By embracing diversity and inclusion, you can attract, engage, and hire a workforce that brings innovation and fresh perspectives, while creating an inclusive and welcoming work environment.

Discover how to optimise your recruitment process

Optimising your recruitment process is central to any organisation’s pursuit of success in a highly competitive market. Paying attention to a competent talent acquisition strategy, enhancing your employer branding, making the most of technological capabilities, refining your hiring process, and embracing diversity and inclusion will significantly enhance your recruitment outcomes.

It is often hard to gain complete visibility into your recruitment process and understand where improvements lie. Our Recruitment Process Audit will help you understand the maturity of your recruitment process and determine areas to further develop. Once completed, you will be able to download a bespoke report with clear actionable advice on how to refine your recruitment strategy. Find out how to improve your recruitment process by completing our Recruitment Process Audit.

Discover the effectiveness of your recruitment process

August 19, 2024