The greater pool of talented candidates with lower wage expectations than before can seem a very tempting prospect for employers and could easily be taken advantage of and misused. However, employers who want to take advantage of the situation – and think long term – value the benefits of a high profile candidate experience more than ever before.
Summary:
- What is important in the candidate selection and recruitment process.
- What is crucial for potential employers when filling positions.
- How to build good report with job applicants.
- What remains the Golden Grail of recruitment.
Grant Thornton’s latest labor market report shows that the number of new job vacancies is growing rapidly and is relatively slightly off from last year’s levels. Therefore, since companies are starting recruiting again, it is worth refreshing the key rules of recruitment and despite the intrusive employer market, do not allow themselves to fall into the potentially costly pitfalls of negligence on the part of new recruits.
Employers’ perspective
For obvious reasons for the employer, the value of candidates in the initial phase of recruitment is relatively the lowest – the application documents pass through the initial “sieve”. However, it must be remembered that from the very start of the recruitment process, both the scale and the opinion of all candidates can be significant (!). So it is worth taking care from the very first moments that their impressions are positive.
In the subsequent stages of selection, candidates usually already meet at least most of the employer’s requirements, which increases their value for the company. Good communication with these people, maintaining their involvement, is therefore of greater importance. Good contact with candidates then provides an additional benefit – to find out how interested a candidate really is in the employment prospect, e.g. in the field of employment. in the case of protracted decision-making.
Candidates’ perspective
When analyzing the recruitment process from the point of view of recruits, it is useful to know that initially they care a lot about constant contact and feedback – even if it is negative. According to research, as many as 9 out of 10 candidates at a specialist level want to know the reasons for rejecting the application (at least at one stage of the recruitment process). As many as 8 out of 10 are expecting the feedback to include an assessment of professional experience and competencies (eRecruiter 2019 ‘Candidate Experience’ survey). Thus, the ability to provide feedback to people who have not received employment is an important element in building an opinion about the company among candidates.
Engagement grows over time
When conducting the recruitment process, one needs to be aware that the level of involvement of candidates for the job varies at different stages, as well as the involvement on the part of a potential employer. Naturally, the more advanced the stage, the more it becomes mutually beneficial. However, it is a mistake for recruiters to rely solely on the involvement of candidates. The best results are provided by the coordinated actions of recruiters, aimed at maintaining this positive attitude. Especially for posts that are the most difficult or expensive to fill.
How to build good report with candidates?
The form and content of the messages addressed to candidates should be adapted to their level of involvement during the recruitment process. At the very beginning, simple information about the status of the application within the ongoing process (applied, considered, rejected). Then, in the following stages, the information should becomes more detailed. If you reject a candidate, it’s a good idea to include the reasons for the decision in your feedback. Especially “valuable” candidates can be encouraged to give permission to re-contact in the event of subsequent vacancies. It is also good practice to conduct a short survey of candidates’ opinions after the recruitment process has been completed. Appropriate communication policies and procedures for the processing of personal data (GDPR) may be required in the future.
Promising start: a good recruitment plan
Whether recruitment is carried out in the traditional way or online, a good plan is needed to succeed in the employment of the right people. Developing it in the form of a structured process allows you to maintain order and the desired level of efficiency. It allows you to increase the consistency of interviews, reduces the risk of bias and ensures the appropriate flow of information between participants of the process. The key to creating the right recruitment structure is to give the right answers to the following questions:
- what steps should be taken in the process?;
- who will be responsible for what steps?;
- when should each task be completed (at least approximately)?
The most important question: who are we looking for?
The experience of recruiters indicates that often employers don’t quite know who they really need. They succumb, for example, to the temptation to use the market benchmark, rather than looking at your own needs carefully and looking at what specific competences and experience are needed in a given position, in this particular company. Similarly, it could be disastrous to to add to an ever greater competences list – because these competences can become useful. Hiring an overqualified candidate over what his or her usual responsibilities would be can result in rapid demotivation. If the company is unable to effectively manage these competences (as well as professional challenges), it will result in the departure of such an employee.
Relevance of professional job descriptions
In an efficient recruitment process, preceded by getting an answer to the question of who the company actually needs, job descriptions help a lot. They are elementary and very important also when managing people. They are used not only during recruitment, but also at employee assessments or when valuing their performed duties. Therefore, it is important amongst other things to take care of job titles (factually correct) but also to update them regularly. Sometimes, companies operate on the basis of job descriptions which were developed a number of years ago, while the realities of the market or business practice have long since made the titles outdated and inaccurate. Recruitment can be a good opportunity to review and update individual job descriptions.
Our expert Magdalena Marcinowska is there to help.
How to create a good job description?
In order to develop a job description that will be the basis for an effective recruitment process, it is necessary to analyze the position from several perspectives. For this, you can use the following model:
- what professional tasks will be carried out in this position? (task area);
- what competences in the field of knowledge and skills are necessary in this position?; where should the candidate have had experience and where should the candidate have to meet the requirements? (area of knowledge and skills);
- what behaviors and attitudes are crucial to achieving success in this position? (area of behavior and attitudes).
Candidate personality and organization culture
Unfortunately, in many recruitment processes, the area of behavior and attitudes of candidates (mentioned above) is overlooked in the preparation of job descriptions, mainly due to difficulties in properly defining the requirements. However, this area is very important in practice in the selection and recruitment of candidates, and in many cases it can be of paramount importance – determining whether a person will succeed in a particular job in an organization. It’s about personality, emotions, attitudes and motivations that aren’t as easy to verify as industry knowledge and experience. After all, one of the key objectives of the recruitment process should be to understand what really motivates the candidate. The manager who will work with this person should be interested in what motivates the candidate and what his or her focus is, because it is likely that he will decide whether the goals set will be achieved. These issues should be properly refined and deepened already at the stage of building the candidate’s profile.
Golden Grail of Recruitment – “CE”
Currently, the Golden Grail of Recruitment is the Candidate Experience. It consists of the experience and impressions of candidates from the entire recruitment process. It covers all situations in which the jobseeker is in contact with the company, i.e. the from the stage of browsing the website, reading reviews about the company on the Internet, participating in job fairs, through taking part in the recruitment process itself (i.e. sending a CV, contacts with a recruiter, recruitment interviews, selection stages), to the process of hiring and implementing the candidate as an employee (i.e. onboarding).
Added value
Today’s candidates want the recruitment process to be short, engaging and, if not completed, at least given the opportunity to gain new experience. From the candidate experience point of view, it is important that candidates feel that competing process for a position is fair. For this purpose, you need ongoing feedback, which informs candidates where they stand, but also gives you a chance to learn about your own strengths and weaknesses (in the opinion of recruiters). It also allows you to build and maintain your commitment – first in the recruitment process and later (if you reject the application) to maintain a good reputation about the company. For example, a brief description of test results is sufficient for candidates and can be of significant benefit, even in the face of the company opting out of the application. Reliable feedback, even in the event of failure, does not end the prospects of working together in the future. Citing the classics: a company can also be judged by how it finishes. In this case – the recruitment process.
