All aspects of recruitment directly influence onboarding and performance on the job. Recruitment is not rocket science, it is a process, and the keys to any effective process is understanding your control points, simplifying access to the tools required, and standardising procedures.
Here are some high level tips to get you started:
Write a good Position Description
This is a very important step. The Position Description (PD) forms the basis of all expectation setting for performance in the future, so updating the title and a few duties on a “similar PD” just doesn’t cut it. Job analysis is the first step in writing a good PD. If this is a new role, take the time to be clear about what outcomes the role is designed to achieve. Ask yourself what activities will result in these outcomes? Be as specific as you can, think about weighting tasks or duties. For example, an employee whose role is 80% customer service and 20% administration, is very different from an employee whose duties are 20% customer service and 80% administration, and yet both roles will have the same two responsibilities listed on their PD.
For existing roles, research existing position descriptions, speak with team members, leaders, or previous employees to gather insights as to the role and the day to day duties in the role. If you are lucky enough to have someone in your business already in the role, why not ask if you can shadow them?
When thinking about what knowledge is required to perform the role, consider what is essential and what can be developed on the job. This will help broaden the number of candidates that are available to you, which is important in talent short markets.
Be creative with your sourcing strategy
Determining where to source candidates is a major decision. If you’re looking for candidates early in their career, you’ll probably find success with a social media recruiting strategy.
If you are looking for experienced candidates, they are more likely to be accessible via traditional job boards and databases.
Focusing on the right sourcing tools instead of trying them all will improve your quality of candidates and reduce the amount of work required to hire them. But remember, your strategy will only be effective, no matter where you are looking, if your messaging is right, so take the time to nail it. Be mindful to reflect the opportunity honestly. Misrepresentation of a role is likely to cost you in turnover, so make sure you are giving candidates a holistic and honest overview of the job.
Choose the right selection tools
Selection criteria is generally determined by ranking the importance of tasks and competencies required to do the job successfully, and then working out the best tools to assess a candidate’s experience, competency, or potential against each other. When choosing selection tools, there are two very important things to consider, validity and reliability. That is, how well does the selection tool predict the competency being measured and does it produce dependable and consistent results?
A big issue in the interview process can be a lack of structure. When companies allow for the interviewer or candidate to ask questions in an interview based on whatever they desire, it can be difficult to standardise processes and leaves room for bias and at worst, a lawsuit.
Standardised, meaningful evaluation and recruitment training for your hiring leaders are the best ways to improve your recruitment outcomes and foster a diverse culture.
Consider candidate experience
Ensuring that from the start of the hiring process to the end at whatever stage, is a positive experience for every candidate is integral. This means the experience is timely, simple to understand and transparent. Job seeking is personal, so act with honesty and kindness. This is potentially a candidate’s first point of contact with your company, f the process starts off as negative, you may not only lose out on talent, but also customers.
Track your results
You won’t have to start from scratch each time if you keep the resources you create and track their effectiveness. Look at which strategies had the best results and remove the strategies that didn’t. The more you track over the months and years, the more data you will have to create better processes for all involved.
Conclusion
Recruitment is not rocket science; it is a process. The key to any effective process is understanding your control points, simplifying access to the tools required and standardising procedures. A well-constructed recruitment and onboarding process based on validated principles saves time and improves outcomes. Consider things like writing an effective PD, being creative with your sourcing strategy, choosing the right selection tools, considering candidate experience and tacking your results. We can help you build an optimised recruitment strategy that produces better hires, faster. Let’s chat about how we can work together today!