5 Steps To Perfecting the Recruitment Process

The modern recruitment process is linear, often starting with a search for potential candidates who match available job positions and ending with the onboarding process. However, HR professionals and recruiters such as yourself can refine this recruitment procedure to fit your company’s unique needs.

A refined recruitment process makes everything more efficient and cost-effective for your recruitment team and potential candidates. The big question is: How do you streamline your HR process so it fits like a glove along with your company’s unique hiring needs?

How to perfect the recruitment process

Tailor the recruitment process to your company’s unique needs by improving each step of the process flow so it works smoothly for your company.

1. Hire to address your company’s needs

In order to hire candidates that will be the best fit for your company, you need to make sure you know what your company needs. Think in terms of what the role requires, but also the type of candidate that’ll be the best fit for your company. For example, an SMB welding company might have a strong focus on the technical skills of potential welders, while a media company looking for a social media manager might want a strong focus on both technical and personality skills. To help you streamline this process, it’ll help to ask yourself the following questions:

• Why is a new employee needed, and is this a new role? If so, where does this role fit in your business structure?

• What are the duties and responsibilities of this new employee?

• What skills, education, and characteristics do these new candidates need to have so they can succeed in this role?

2. Create an attractive and practical job description

A job description is often a candidate’s first interaction with your company. Well-crafted job descriptions attract suitable candidates, while poorly written ones are often ignored. How do you perfect your job description? You can start with the following:

Make job descriptions clear and concise

When writing your job description for a role, be specific and concise about what you want. Be clear in the role’s responsibilities, be non-comparative when describing the basic qualifications needed (education, work experience, etc.), and include behavioral capabilities for the job. An excellent guide for you to look at is Harvard’s hiring tool kit[1].

Create simple but clear job titles

Creating industry-standard and concise job titles will make sure your job description appears in search engine results. This is important because potential candidates can’t apply if they can’t find you. Avoid using terms such as “rockstar,” “ninja,” or clickbait titles such as “Great opportunity for Millenials!” Instead, use industry-standard titles such as TIG welder, fullstack engineer, social media manager, etc.

Use inclusive language

Make sure your job description is free of biased or discriminatory language[2] that may deter qualified candidates from applying. For best results, run your job description with an AI-based software that detects and ideally suggests alternatives for you to use. Also, let potential candidates know about your company’s dedication to DEI[3] by posting an inclusive statement on all your job descriptions.

3. Post and monitor job ads

Recruitment is a lot like going fishing––you need to know where the fish are. There are many channels in which you can post your job ads, but the key to success is knowing where to post them.

To know where to post your job ads, you need to know who your potential candidates are and their preferred channels. You can even be unconventional and post jobs on Tinder[4] (a dating website) like Amazon did when looking for engineers. Or you can skip the written job posts altogether, create video job ads instead[5], and post them on Youtube and other social media channels.

After posting your job ads, you’ll want to monitor which channel you receive most of your job applications from. Knowing from where you get most of your job applications is a form of recruitment KPI[6]. This data helps you track which channel brings in the most qualified candidates that are a good fit for your company. Whichever source brings the most conversion is where you should channel your resources.

4. Create an interview team

Instead of having just one person interview a candidate, create a team. A team will be able to get different types of information from the candidates and eliminate any personal bias that may creep in during interviews. When creating your interview team, consider people with diverse backgrounds and characteristics who will be respectful of different cultures and situations. The FAS in Harvard[1] suggests limiting your interview team to no more than four members. When you’ve assembled your team, be clear about each team member’s role, and assign one person to be the decision-maker in the group.

5. Help new team members settle in during onboarding

Solid onboarding can make a big difference to a team member’s success. The sooner your new team member is working, the sooner they will feel integrated and valued. Research by Glassdoor says companies with good onboarding improve the retention of new hires by 82%.[7] Below are some ways you can ensure an excellent experience for your new team members:

• Ensure new-hire paperwork is complete before your new team member comes to work. Make sure the new employee can electronically sign as much as possible before their first day.

• Assign a work buddy to your new team member to show them the ropes and be the point of contact for any further questions.

• Have them meet their core team on their first week. This will allow the new employee to feel integrated into the team more quickly and to know their resources, so they can hit the ground running.

• Make sure to get feedback from your new team member a few months after they are onboarded so you can continuously improve your onboarding process.

Create the recruitment process perfect for your company’s unique needs

Fine-tuning your recruitment process with the right strategies to fit your company’s needs ensures you’ll be getting a diverse set of applicants so you can find the perfect team member—all while being cost-effective. Remember there is no perfect recruitment process, only the process that’s a great fit for your company. Are you looking for tools that can help refine your recruitment process? Take a look at some of the top recruiting solutions that can help you.

Sources

1. Staff hiring at the faculty of arts and sciences, Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences

2. Do your job ads use discriminatory language? You may not realize they do., Recruiter.com

3. DEI definitions, The University of Iowa

4. Amazon advertise new job openings on tinder, Global Dating Insights

5. 21 of the best video ads of all time, Wyzowl

6. 9 recruitment kpis to measure success in your organization, AIHR

7. The true cost of a bad hire [PDF], Brandon Hall Group