Let’s face it, recruiting is a race. You have to pace yourself so that you don’t fall behind at the beginning and don’t lose your steam at the end.
Recruiters want to make sure you reach the best candidates before the competition does, so that you can bring home the gold medal for your team. However, you don’t want to go so fast that you make a mistake. While just running the race would be enough, there are also obstacles in your way–the “hurdles” (if you will). The HR department is tasked with other responsibilities aside from recruiting, so it is important to stay on point. Thankfully, preparing for your recruiting race is a little easier than training for a real marathon!
These three tips can help you clear each hurdle you face, and not let anything slow you down.
#1. Fight Off Applicant Overload
Of course you hope when you post a position, you will come into work and have tons of applications sitting on your desk. Lots of candidates translates to tons of options. But what happens when you have not started to look at resumes and the department is suffering without an employee? You had no prep and then suddenly the recruiting horn sounded, but you are still in the locker room!?
To avoid this scenario, make it a priority to pace yourself. Set aside an hour or two each day to review applications. By keeping a steady pace, you can see things more realistically and the likelihood of making a mistake decreases. You won’t have a massive headache from looking at resume after resume, and the candidates won’t start to blend together. More importantly, the candidates who would normally stand out won’t blur together with the average applicants. If you are looking at applications as they come in, you can avoid an angry department manager asking why you put off going through the applications when someone was needed yesterday.
#2. Always Keep Track of Your Team
If there are no formal recruitment steps outlined, the recruiting process can quickly go off course. Having a formal plan outlined such as (1) Human Resources will do the first screen, then (2) the hiring manager will conduct interviews, and finally (3) the action returns to HR to make the final offer, can go a long way!
If your relay team doesn’t know who is next up, how will you know who to hand the baton to? Similarly, if a hiring manager doesn’t know he or she is up next, quality talent is ignored, which can cause you to lose your first choice applicant. A misunderstanding of what each person’s duties are can also lead to disgruntled employees. If the manager who is conducting the interview seems unhappy, what kind of message will that send to the candidates he or she is interviewing? You don’t want the message to be “If you want to be miserable, work here!” The culture you are trying to sell should be a positive one. Focus on “passing the baton” as efficiently as possible.
#3. Fix Your Overwhelming Onboarding Process
Once you have found your perfect candidate, the race is still not over (but you are in the final leg!). There are still I-9s, W-4s and Company Handbooks to sign. HR is moving to a more paperless methods thanks to Applicant Tracking Systems. However, once a candidate has been hired, the onboarding process can still be heavily paper-based.
Electronic Onboarding software, like Hyrell, can make this final leg easier. This way the person can be hired in the ATS, and the onboarding documents can be sent electronically. Since the applicant can type in responses (and have generic information pre-filled) it saves time (for both of you). Better yet–you are no longer looking at mysterious handwriting and wondering, “What is this word?” Once completed, the files are returned to the applicant’s file, so everything from the general application to an I-9 are stored together. If you are not running the final stretch of the race holding stacks of paperwork, you can run a lot faster!
Every new employee brings new knowledge and talent, which can help your team meet its strategic goals. This ultimately guarantees that you are all members of a winning team.
Ready to get your head in the game when it comes to applicant tracking? Explore the Benefits of Recruiting Automation with our free guide.
