It’s that time of year again; a time to sit back, relax (with a glass of your favourite tipple) and reflect on the year gone (flown) by.
It’s also the time to start thinking about your resolutions for next year. How will you improve on 2016? What would you like to change?
So this week I’ve come up with these five recruitment-related resolutions, to give you some inspiration.
Have a wonderful Christmas (and a fabulous New Year).
1. Be more creative.
Does your recruitment process look a little bit like this?
- Job advert.
- CV screening.
- Telephone interview.
- Face-to-face interview.
- Hire.
That’s fine, if it works for you.
But if you’re getting a little bit bored or find that you’re struggling to really find exceptional people to join your company then it’s definitely time to shake things up a bit.
You could…
- Try using Facebook ads.
- Send out jazzy flyers (old-school but cool).
- Give out gifts.
- Use video technology.
- Host an “open day” or an event.
- Try recruitment “speed dating.”
The more creative you get, the more creative your candidates are likely to be!
To find out more, click here to check out our blog post on the topic.
2. Be more efficient.
Time is money. The longer it takes you to hire someone, the more money you’ll spend AND the more frustrated you will get – that’s when bad hiring decisions happen.
And a bad hiring decision could well cost you thousands of pounds.
So what’s your bottleneck? Is it…
- The job boards you use? Cheap and cheerful could just cost you more in the long run.
- Your job adverts? Are they comprehensive, searchable and compelling enough?
- The interview process? Too many stages will put a candidate off, but too few and you may just hire the wrong person.
Once you know the answer, you can start planning ways to improve.
Click here to check out our blog post on the 14 best ways to speed up your recruitment process (without sacrificing the best candidates for your role).
3. Remove unconscious bias.
“Bias” isn’t just about the big things like race, gender, age etc. (I’m going to assume that discrimination of this kind do not exist at your company).
Unconscious bias and preferential treatment can slip into the recruitment process at every level and can be down to things as simple as:
- Someone liking the same hobbies as you.
- Someone being from the same town as you.
- Someone having a similar sense of humour to you.
We’re more likely to bond with people who share similar qualities and experiences to us and we’re bound to feel more inclined to hire them. But are they truly the right person for the job?
In 2017, do you think you could be making more of an effort to remove bias from your process?
Check out this blog from Recruiter Box, to find out how.
4. Think about social.
Social recruiting is definitely a love-hate thing.
Some recruiters LOVE it. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; you name it, they’ve tried it and have gotten some fantastic results in the process.
Others are more anti-social; it takes a lot of time, effort and they rarely find the person they’re looking for.
Honestly, I think for some industries it works well and for others, not so much.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it.
Recruiter Pro Tip Here are just five reasons to try out social media recruiting…
- You’ll reach more (different) people.
- It’s great for screening candidates.
- It’s free (mostly).
- It will help to build your employer brand.
- It attracts modern minds.
And if it doesn’t work, no harm done, move on and seek new ways to recruit.
Click here for some tips on social media recruiting.
5. Respond to all candidates.
Recruiters (both in-house and agency) have a terrible reputation when it comes to communicating with candidates.
Usually this is because…
- Some Hiring Managers don’t think there’s any point replying to candidates who fail to get past the CV screening stage.
- Some don’t even bother to thank and give adequate feedback to candidates who were unsuccessful at interview (telephone or face-to-face).
- Worse still, some find the perfect candidate but fail to provide an offer quick enough, leaving them feeling insecure, encouraging them to keep looking and to accept a job elsewhere.
Thing is; this makes your entire company look bad; lazy, rude and uncaring.
It’s just terrible for your employer brand, especially if candidates choose to vent on social media or on websites like Glassdoor and Trust Pilot.
It doesn’t take long to send a quick email out thanking candidates for their time etc. but it really could boost your company profile in the long run.
Inspired?
Hope you enjoyed this blog post and it’s given you some things to think about this festive season.
If you’d like to receive more blogs on recruitment, HR and employee engagement, in the new year, then please feel free to sign up to this blog here.
Happy New Year
This is our last blog post until January, so I’d like to take the opportunity to say a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Coburg Banks team.
Let’s hope next year’s a good’un.
