Recruitment problems are changing and growing in number as we begin to embrace an increasingly work-from-home culture. The hiring process is different. The onboarding process is different. Keeping employees on board is different.
From the top, down, CEOs to human resources, talent acquisition is getting a makeover. While technology is, in part, creating the newest problems in these roles, there is also plenty of technology to help us along.
Today, we’re going to talk about a few hiring problems you’re likely to face on the road ahead. We’re also going to recommend a few technology solutions that can help you solve those problems for good.
Let’s get into it…
1. You’re not attracting the right candidates
It can get confusing defining different roles. Some jobs have five different names. Some names have ten different jobs. You want to attract the right candidates for your specific opening, but you need to know exactly what they’re looking for.
The solution is formulating a more precise job description. You can do this with a tool called Textio. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to see what parts of a job description work over time and perfect your pitch.
2. You’re not going for passive prospects
“Passive” jobseekers make up 70% of the job market, according to LinkedIn. This means a huge chunk of the workforce is made up of people not actively searching for the job you’re hiring for. But there might be qualified candidates already sitting comfortably at other jobs. A common mistake is thinking they wouldn’t be interested in working for you.
Develop a social media following and polish your “employer brand” to help with this. Reeling in passive candidates usually calls for developing a longer-term brand relationship.
3. You don’t have an “employer brand.”
Your brand is everything from your logo to your social media, to your core values as a company. If anything is unattractive or ambiguous, it could keep people from jumping on board. LinkedIn says this matters to 75% of jobseekers. It can determine whether you land the right employee or not.
The solution here is to not remain silent. Create a blog to keep your message out there, and get help to polish your website, copy and logos.
4. You’re not using data
Analytics are becoming increasingly important to your hiring process. Data helps you document and eliminate bottlenecks in your hiring process, so you want a team that focuses on the data and improving whatever metrics you’ve laid out.
This starts, of course, with establishing solid metrics. Measure how long it took to hire certain prospects, how closely the candidate pool met your criteria, and watch those numbers over time.
5. Your data is not secure
Hiring can be an extremely sensitive process if you consider how much personal information is passed between you and people that may not even end up working for you. This will only be a bigger problem with time as companies go full-remote.
You can better protect everyone’s information and stay compliant with data security rules by using a data security software like GoCo.
6. Your reach is limited
It’s been reported that there may be a shortage of up to 18 million qualified candidates for open jobs. The battlefield to hire qualified candidates is getting more vicious with time. You need tools to reach out to qualified candidates in the right pools.
The solution for that is to ensure openings are advertised across multiple channels, on various job boards, newsletters and forums. That means making the most of social media and blogging to cut down on ROI for reach.
7. Hiring takes forever
It can be hard to schedule several interviews, with several interviewees, then spend time splitting hairs between candidates. People can take several months to get a job. But the research shows that most desirable candidates are usually not on the market more than 10 days, on average.
You can remedy this by automating your scheduling workflow. A tool like XOR can use AI to help with this. For more hands-on scheduling, Calendly.com has come in clutch for many companies working remote.
8. Your workflow is clunky
“Streamlining” is a favorite word in the tech business these days. It’s what technology helps us do. And a big part of that is the automation we hear so much about There is so much that you once did manually, that you no longer have to do.
You can enlist an all-in-one tool to help automate your hiring workflow, like BambooHR or JazzHR. Tools like these deliver a variety of options to save you time and cost, as much of what you need to be more efficient are concentrated into a single platform.
9. You’re not looking in the right places
Before even attracting the right candidates, you need to ensure you’re picking out of the right sample. That’s how you get to the challenge of building a proper talent pool for your job opening.
The easy solution here is to create a talent network. You can reach people interested in your company through a Facebook group or your LinkedIn page, and you can learn about them in the process.
10. Your candidates don’t remember you
Job offers for great candidates are more often than not rejected because the candidate was unhappy with the experience communicating with the company. CareerArc says 63% of candidates reject offers due to a bad experience. 72% of those spread the word. What’s worse, 64% even stop being customers down the road.
You can protect your company from this by having a communications infrastructure that keeps your candidates informed consistently through the process. Using a Customer Relationship Management tool specifically for job candidates can automate this process. HiringSolved is an example of software that can keep you in touch with prospects through it all.
11. You’re not diverse
Diversity and inclusion are a growing priority in the workplace. LinkedIn reports 78% of HR professionals say they make it a top hiring priority. 67% of job seekers said the same about prospective work environments.
One way to bring employers and employees together on this would be to send out periodic employee engagement surveys. SurveyMonkey is a simple example of this. It helps employers get a feel for the culture of their workplace.
12. You’re not a “team”
Another trend you should expect more of in the hiring world is better collaboration between executives and HR professionals. There is more information and greater ability to share it across teams. That means better vetting of your candidates before hiring.
What you can do here is establish several digital communication channels between everyone who needs to be in-the-know. Create a group in Slack or a regular email chain to go over prospects with those people.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, your hiring struggles are going to boil down to having out-of-date technology and failing to adopt the latest. You can stay up to date by following the latest digital transformation trends at Newman’s International Associates.
