How to Fix Your Broken Recruiting Process

Whether you’re prepared to admit it or not, the success (or lack thereof) of your recruiting process is going to have a huge impact on your business.  

Even beyond the more obvious negative outcomes, such as: not getting the best talent on the market in your employ (and working for your competitor instead), less-than-stellar hires, those with unenthusiastic personalities and/or limited abilities, poor recruiting can have a damaging long-term effect on your staff overall. It can create ever decreasing morale and productivity. 

If this sounds like what’s happening in your workplace, don’t despair; fixing a broken recruiting process is not as hard as it may seem.  It’s simply a process of asking yourself the right questions.

What

Before you even get started with recruiting candidates, you’ll need to ask yourself exactly what it is that might make a potential employee the right fit.  Things like what type of education or certifications are essential are the easy answers, but determining what characteristics will tip the odds that a potential employee will succeed is a little more challenging.  

If possible, speak to others who are working or who have worked in that position and ask them what they think it takes to be successful and include those qualities in your ads and your interview. 

Where

Now that you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to take a look at where you’re looking.  If you’re relying solely on posting on job boards and running newspaper ads, you may not be getting access to the best candidates.  

You’re going to have to be a bit more proactive.  Use your resources (the staff you already have!) for leads on not just former co-workers, but also where your staff goes, either online or in terms of conferences and trade shows.  Using a reputable headhunter who knows where to look can also net you the best options for filling your position.

How

Once you’ve gotten some candidates, how are you handling the interviewing process?  Too many employers treat potential employees as though the company were doing them a big favor by even talking to them rather than actively engaging in identifying and hiring exceptional candidates.  

Prepare a list of positive, professional questions that are designed to reveal a positive candidate rather than grilling a potential hire, looking for reasons why he or she isn’t a good fit.  Ask these same questions of every interviewee so that you’ll be able to compare them effectively, even after a week or two has gone by, instead of “going with your gut.”

Why

Another important question to ask yourself when assessing your interview process is why would this candidate want to work for my company?  As much as the interview is a chance for you to find out more about the candidate, so too is it an opportunity to share why your company is a better choice than your competitor.  

Not only is this good for your company’s image, it can also be a good gauge of a candidate’s enthusiasm and may very well be the reason he or she chooses your company over another.

When

As with most things in life, timing is everything.  So what’s the timeframe like on your recruiting process?  Is it slow and cumbersome, so that by the time you make an offer to a great candidate, they’ve already gone with someone else?  

Keep your process streamlined: review resumes as they come in, call good possibilities immediately, schedule multiple interviews with the same candidate on one day, and follow up with the best ones immediately.  

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