Recruitment is one of the most critical, time-consuming, and expensive undertakings your company will embark on.
Finding top talent is crucial to your company’s success, yet without a hiring plan in place, your recruitment is likely to go awry. In order to keep recruitment costs low, and your efforts on track, its important spend some prep time upfront.
In this article, we’ll discuss seven common mistakes that every employer makes, and how to avoid them, allowing you to find the best possible candidates for your role without any wasted energy.
Mistake 1: Lack of a Strategic Recruitment Plan
Hiring a great candidate starts with building a great recruitment plan. This means sitting down and planning out your process from beginning to end, and then sticking to it. Here are a few questions to ask while building your plan:
- What are the key responsibilities of the role and what are the critical skills your new employee will need to have?
- How many interview rounds will there be? Who will be involved in each round?
- What types of testing will you use, if any (i.e. psychometric or skills)?
- Will you do reference checks?
Ensure that you have thought through every step of the process, keeping in mind reasonable timelines for each step so that you are neither rushing nor dragging things out, and put every candidate through the same consistent process.
Putting in the extra effort up front to plan your recruitment process will save money and time down the road, and give you a much better chance of hiring a great candidate.
Mistake 2: Taking Too Long to Select a Candidate
Too often the recruitment process gets bogged down because hiring managers don’t have cohesive idea of what they need for the role, so it is important for employers to understand the difference between “must have” skills and “nice to have” skills. “Must have” skills are those skills that are absolutely essential to do the job, while the “nice to have” skills can be trained up after the hire. Differentiating between the two will help speed up your process, and ensure you see great candidates in a timely fashion.
Other times, the recruitment process slows down at the interview stage. Overly lengthy interview and testing processes that involve too many managers can create a bottleneck. It is important to keep in mind that great candidates are often interviewing with multiple companies at the same time. Build a thorough process, but keep reasonable timelines in mind, and ensure that you are involving only the people who are actually making the decision.
Recruiting software can also speed up your process without compromising quality, saving both time and money. Finally, continually reviewing your process to check for bottlenecks is an important exercise to ensure continued efficiency.
Mistake 3: Unattractive, Boring Job Descriptions
A quick look through any job board will show you that too many companies are posting job descriptions that have applicants glazing over before they’re halfway down the page. Most job ads consist of long bulleted lists of responsibilities, and overly broad qualification requirements that many candidates can’t hope to meet (see mistake 2). It is easy to forget that the word “ad” in job ad is short for “advertisement.” The best talent on the market have their choice of roles, so use your job ad as an opportunity to sell yourself, and show great candidates why your company is the best choice for them.
Here are a few tips for writing a great job ad:
- Include a brief overview of your company’s history
- Provide a real preview of your work culture and environment
- Explain why your company stands out from the competition
- Outline any cool perks or benefits you offer
- Post your salary range, especially if it’s above market trends
- Let candidates know about growth and training opportunities
- Have some fun, and show off your company’s personality
- Add casual testimonials from current employees
Your job ad is your opportunity to show off what a great company you have. Use it to engage with your candidates, and get them excited to apply.
Mistake 4: Asking for More than you Need
A job ad needs to be attractive, but it also needs to be realistic and practical.
Imagine you’re hiring a junior accountant. How much experience is actually required for this role? In all likelihood, a recent graduate, or someone in the 1 to 2 year experience range, is exactly what you need. Too often though, companies post “junior” roles that require 5+ years of experience, or ask for years of experience with a technology that has only just come to market. Such requirements just aren’t realistic.
An experienced candidate with 5+ years won’t apply to a junior position, and the junior candidates who are actually a great fit for the role will either not apply or get rejected. And if you do manage to bring in an experienced candidate for a junior role, they will likely get bored quickly and leave.
Understanding the true requirements of the role, and the needs of the existing team, is a critical part of making the right hire. Ensuring that hiring managers are asking for practical levels of experience commensurate with the role will streamline the process, and help bring on great candidates.
Mistake 5: Low balling Candidates with Below Market Compensation
When a company finally reaches the offer stage of the recruitment process, too many employers are derailed by offering below-market compensation. This is a critical mistake can be easily avoided with a little bit of research prior to making the offer.
First, take the time to understand the market factors that will affect your offer. If you are a Toronto-based company hiring in Toronto, you will need to pay a higher salary than if you were based out of Woodstock. If your role is one that is in high-demand, like a skilled trade, you’ll need to pay premium rates. Advertising for a mechanic at $20-$22 per hour will never get that hire, but increasing the range to $32-$35 per hour likely will. There are plenty of tools available to help you keep abreast of the market, and ensure that compensation is not an unnecessary barrier to making a great hire.
Second, understand your company’s overall compensation strategy, by taking into account more than just salary. Perhaps you offer a lower salary range, but have terrific benefits and stock options. Or maybe you have a middle of the road salary, but a highly attractive vacation policy. These days, great candidates are interested in more than just money. When presenting your offer, make sure you lay out the entirety of your compensation package so your candidates can see the whole picture.
Mistake 6: Creating a Poor Candidate Experience
Now that you’ve made your hire, it’s time let everyone else know the position has been filled. Just as your company has invested a great deal of time in the hiring process, so have your candidates invested their time in your company. Though giving someone bad news is never fun, it is critical to your company’s brand to show that you appreciate the work your candidates have put in.
The job market can often be a small world, and word of mouth spreads quickly. A company that routinely provides poor candidate experiences can often find that its brand value amongst job seekers is quickly diminished. The cost of this is real, as great candidates will avoid applying, or be warned off by previous applicants and conscientious recruiters.
Clear, candid, and empathetic communication is key to giving candidates bad news, and if delivered properly, is more often met with appreciation than anger. A one minute phone call or brief email is all that is needed to express thanks, and offer any appropriate feedback. Though uncomfortable, this small effort can mean a huge difference to your status as an employer and your ability to attract top talent.
Mistake 7: Not Maintaining a Candidate Database
Maintaining a candidate database means more than simply keeping a list of applicants, which your applicant tracking system does automatically. It also means keeping notes on interviews, reasons for rejection, and any other data relevant to a candidate’s application.
All this information will come in handy down the road, in a variety of scenarios. If you suddenly find yourself needing to fill the same role again, you’ll have a comprehensive list of potential candidates on hand to pull from. If a great candidate applies to a different role within the company, you’ll have all your previous notes to work from. And if somebody comes back asking why they weren’t successful in the process, you’ll be able to provide clear feedback.
In short, the more information you keep on hand, the better prepared you will be for your next recruitment challenge.
Conclusion
Everyone makes mistakes, but how you learn from those mistakes is what will set you apart. By working to identify flaws in your current process, understanding how to avoid potential pitfalls, and building on past experiences, you can ensure that your recruitment efforts run as smooth as possible, and more often than not, result in a great hire.
