Refining Your Recruitment Process
When you are a small business owner, the things that keep the business running are the people that work for you. They are the ones that are completing the daily tasks and getting all the day to day things done. Plus, they will be the ones that are going to help your business to thrive if they are doing all that they need to.
When you are a small business owner, the things that keep the business running are the people that work for you. They are the ones that are completing the daily tasks and getting all the day to day things done. Plus, they will be the ones that are going to help your business to thrive if they are doing all that they need to. So having a recruitment process that is refined and productive is so important. Not only will it make it an efficient, pleasant, and productive space for you, but it will be for the candidates too (which is always good to give them a positive first impression about your business). So if you need a little help with hiring and recruitment, here are some of the ways that it could be improved.
Clear Job Ads
Having an effective job ad will help you to evaluate candidates on a selected job-related criteria, as well as help those applying know if they really will be right for the role or not. So whether it is you doing the recruiting or you use an employment agency or HR department, it is important to get a job spec that is clear and useful to all. Examples of what it should include are:
- Give some useful and specific details about the roles that you want filled. There should be a lost of duties, as well as talking about projects that they may have a part in completing, as well as an overview of the teams that they may work with (size of people in teams, for example).
- Being able to distinguish between something that is a must-have for the job role or and what is just a nice-to-have skill or qualification is always important too. That can open up your application pool for those willing to learn.
- A lot of job seekers do look online for jobs. So you need to be clear with your job title to make sure that you’re going to be attracting the people that you want for the job. Saying that you have a great role for graduates could be good if you are looking to train someone up. You don’t want to have any titles that could be described as clickbait, as then people will be disappointed when they click though.
- Giving a clear overview of your company and what you do is important, so they know how the role fits in, and if they have interest in what your company does. A small list of perks and benefits to working for you is a really good idea too.
- Make sure that you avoid using terms that aren’t inclusive, such as saying that you’re looking for someone young and energetic, when someone older could quite easily fulfill the role.
Widen Your Search Pool
Even people who are employed and are happy in their current role like to keep an ear to the ground, so to speak, to hear about new job roles. Sometimes your ad could be just enough to persuade them to apply. But you have to be on more places than just job-search websites, as those aren’t the places they will be looking. So widening your search pool can help you to make sure that you are able to recruit the right people. Ideas to help this are:
- Get social on social media. You can post things with hashtags for people to find, as well as following conversations and then seeking people out. You can share on sites like LinkedIn too.
- Attending events can also be another really great way of being able to expand your search pool. If you go to industry specific events and conferences, then you’re likely to find people that have an interest in what you are doing, or perhaps they work for a competitor already.
- Many large companies have an employee referral scheme, as it takes a lot of the leg work out from the employee. So that could be something that you introduce, that gives candidates an incentive to ask their friends and be a mini-recruiter for you.
Talent Pipelines
Talent pipelines, if you’re not sure what they are, are groups of candidates who you can have ready to fill roles in the future. If you take time before there are even vacancies available, then you will have plenty of time to talk to them and know they would be ideal for the role, meaning that the whole recruitment process is much more efficient. Then you can just hire them if they’re available when a role becomes available. If you want to build a talent pipeline, then it is worth thinking about the following:
- Think about the roles in your business that perhaps have quite a high turnover of staff, and those will be those that need to have a talent pipeline ready with some potential candidates.
- You could look to people that have applied before, as well as past employees, as they could all be in your talent pipeline.
- Reach out to these potential candidates to engage them and then stay in touch with them until you have an open role for them. If they are responsive, then you know it is a good sign that they are interested.
Make the Candidate Experience More Enjoyable
Each and every interaction that candidates have with your business is going to shape what they think and feel about it. So being able to create a positive experience for them. If they enjoy the process, they will see you as a good employer and would want to work for you, rather than feeling disheartened that you’d be a tough employer. So even something as small as keeping the application process short can be helpful, rather than there having to be rounds and rounds and a seemingly endless process, even for roles that require very little experience or qualifications. Keeping the candidate in the loop is important too, and that could be through asking for interview feedback from them, and keeping in touch if the decision to make a job offer is taking longer than expected.