Recruitment Strategy

6 ways your recruitment strategy may be falling short

1. Technologise

It’s too easy to rely on trusted methods. Instead of placing traditional job ads and sifting through piles of inappropriate applications, really test what recruitment routes are working for you. Recruitment software lets you easily see where each applicant found the job offer or - when candidate seeking - was identified as a potential recruit. Then you can cut back on the low-grade options and focus your attention on the ones that bring best results

2. Record

However you find your new employees, it’s vital to keep records of each candidate’s path through the recruitment process. Two reasons:

A. Word of mouth recommendation - being a good company even to those who don’t get the job boosts your reputation and brings you better talent in the long term
B. Future hiring - many of your future staff could be those who made contact because of a job they didn’t get. Effective record-keeping allows you to spot them and prioritise their candidacy when a more suitable job emerges or falls vacant.

3. Respond

Too many businesses fall into the habit of making vague promises about ‘getting back to you by Friday’ and then don’t do it. Cloud recruitment software with an applicant tracking system means you can keep your word, even if it’s just a brief line to let the candidate know that the decision got pushed back. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, with web based recruitment software you can keep your key candidates in the loop.

4. Revisit

Times change, and so do priorities. That stellar candidate who turned you down to move to the USA? They could be back and looking for work. The candidate who lacked the right experience a year ago? Maybe they’ve got it now. What about the one who dropped out of the process because they got another job or were in second place when you hired your current top performer? A sophisticated recruitment database can be easy to use and enormously powerful in re-sourcing previous candidates into new jobs.

5. Reduce costs

One of the biggest areas of waste is time. Don’t have your top recruitment staff sorting through CVs or entering data when more junior team members could be doing that, freeing up your key players to use your recruitment software to identify top candidates for vital jobs.

6. Simulate

There’s nothing like applying for one of your own jobs to find out how well your applicant tracking works. Creating a ‘dummy candidate’ to run through the application process shows you how easy it is to apply, whether the cloud-based CV upload really works, whether candidates are getting an automated acknowledgement of their application and an outline of what happens next … your recruitment software should be streamlining and fast-tracking your best candidates - but it’s only as good as its operators so it may be time to upskill your team to ensure they are using your recruiting platform to the max.