A monthly
online publication designed to help employers recruit, recognize,
reward, and retain their workforce.
Create More Time to Hire the Right Candidates
(By Mike Zarnek)
It’s no secret that we live in a candidate-driven market
these days. Superstar candidates are at a premium, and
those companies that can find a way to uncover them and hire
them will be the ones that thrive during the coming labor shortage. Although
you can’t create more candidates, there is one thing you
can create—time. Time that you can use to assess whether
or not a candidate is the right person, and time to hire candidates
more quickly.
One way to do that is to streamline your interview process. Wasting
time during the interview stage of your candidate search is the
easiest way to miss out on a great hire, somebody who might bring
incredible value to your company. There are six key techniques
for accomplishing this, which I’ve listed below:
- Re-evaluate the job description after someone leaves. The
person who left that role brought their own talents with them,
and most likely that role “evolved” into something
different than what it was previously. Make sure that
the description is accurate and reflects the current needs
of the company in every way—not the company’s needs
prior to the previous employee.
- Circulate copies of the job description so that everybody
is on the same page. If there are issues with
the job description, get those worked out before beginning
the search. Miscommunication is the surest way to derail
any process.
- Conduct phone interviews to eliminate candidates. You
don’t want to waste your department’s time in face-to-face
interviews with candidates you could have eliminated via phone
interviews. In order to move the process along more quickly,
schedule phone interviews during early morning, lunchtime,
or early evening so that work schedules do not have to be rearranged.
- Combine steps of the interview process. Instruct
candidates to fill out an online application prior to the interview,
or e-mail the application so the candidates can fill it out
and bring it with them to the interview. If testing is
needed, have the candidates come in a few minutes early instead
of asking them to come back at a later date.
- Show everyone involved the advantage of keeping the
process moving. Candidates now have multiple
offers, and if your interview process bogs down, you will
lose top talent. Instead of saying that you want to
hire somebody “ASAP,” decide on a firm date you
need someone employed and work backwards. Make sure
to deal in specifics, not generalities.
- Become more “results-oriented” or “ability-oriented” in
your job description. Utilize this approach
instead of asking for X-amount of years of experience. These
days, what a candidate did during their
years of experience is more telling than how many years they’ve
have.
There are two more related aspects of the overall process that
you should keep in mind. First, be sure
that everyone in your organization is actively selling the company.
They should know how to differentiate your company, stress its
benefits, ensure its street reputation is a good one, and be
able to recite their 30-second “story” of what they
like about the company and why they stay.
Second, arrange exit interviews with those
employees who are leaving the company. These interviews
should be conducted by an unbiased third party. By knowing
why candidates are leaving, you can correct any potential problems
that may exist within the organization and be able to position
the company in its best light.
Everybody knows the saying, “He who hesitates is lost.” Well,
he (or she) who hesitates in this market can lose excellent candidates. There’s
another saying in our industry: “Things that drag get dirty.” Sometimes
it’s easier to get the process rolling, but more difficult
to bring that process to a close. Don’t hesitate
to streamline your interview process with the steps outlined
above. You’ll position yourself to hire more of the
talent you need to take your company to the next level.
If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to contact
First Search.
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