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When looking to fill key vacancies, it is important for sector managers to be able to trust that the recruitment process has been thorough, and that candidates are being assessed effectively before making the hire. However, no business works on an unlimited budget, and hiring processes, therefore, need to be completed within a fixed time frame.
If your management team is short on time to dedicate to recruitment, it is essential to find ways to simplify and streamline the hiring process in order to eliminate needless bureaucracy, wasted time and unnecessary spending, while still retaining confidence that the right candidates are being hired.
Here, we will look at some of the most effective ways that companies can make their hiring processes more efficient and straightforward, without needing to compromise on the end results.
Six steps to a simpler recruitment process
Every company’s hiring processes are likely to be somewhat unique, depending on their specific requirements. However, considering the following steps will always be a good starting point when looking to simplify your recruitment process:
Offer clear and descriptive job listings
One of the keys to an efficient recruitment process is making sure you get the right applicants through the door, rather than wasting time with ill-suited candidates, or interview processes that ultimately come to nothing. Creating a clear and descriptive job listing is one of the best ways of achieving this.
If your job description is overly vague or does not include all of the necessary information, it will mean having to sift through potentially irrelevant applications from candidates who did not fully understand the role; it could also mean having to respond to a lot of questions from candidates who are unsure whether they should apply, or potentially it can put talented professionals off applying entirely.
All of these factors will greatly increase the time it takes to hire someone, and the overall cost-per-hire, so it is essential to get this right.
Streamline the application process
Many opportunities involve a lengthy application process that asks a considerable amount of form-filling, aptitude assessments and waiting periods from candidates. Although some of this will always be necessary for highly technical roles, managers should assess the process to make sure it has not become unnecessarily bureaucratic.
This could mean simplifying the application process through your jobs portal, or working to remove time-consuming administrative steps; it may also mean accelerating the timescales involved to ensure that applicants receive better communication and faster feedback, as well as transparency on how long they should expect the process to take.
Develop a trusted pool of talent and contacts
Recruitment is difficult when your company has to essentially start the process from scratch every time you need to make a hire. This can be avoided by developing a database of high-quality candidates over time, as well as industry contacts who can help to refer you to prospective applicants.
This can be achieved by remaining in contact with unsuccessful but promising job applicants, or by utilising social channels and networking events to develop industry relationships over time. By doing so, you will be able to reach out to pre-existing prospects quickly when a vacancy does arise, and they are likely to be easier to recruit and successful in their role due to the relationships you have already established with them.
Eliminate unnecessary hurdles from the interview process
The interview process is another area that can often be unnecessarily elaborate or time-consuming, often involving multiple interviews with different members of the team, or requiring participants to travel to in-person meetings around their existing professional commitments, leading to delays and difficulties.
As such, companies should look to consolidate and streamline the interview process wherever possible, getting as many members of the team involved as possible and tailoring the format to ensure that your recruiters and the candidate get the information they need. Embracing video interviews can also be a huge bonus; not only has this now become normalised in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will also be much easier to coordinate these virtual interviews without the need for a commute.
Review the hiring process for bottlenecks
As with any business process, it is vital to constantly review your recruitment infrastructure to look for areas for improvement over time. This should be driven by data and clearly identifiable metrics: for example, how long does it take to hire a staff member? What is the average cost per hire? Which recruitment channels are delivering the highest number of candidates, and which are failing to offer value for money?
It is also important to solicit feedback from candidates about their experiences of your hiring process, in order to identify what might be causing them frustration, or where they believe the process could be more efficient. This will give you the insights you need to address any bottlenecks and make your recruitment more effective.
Hire a recruitment agency
Many companies will already understand what is needed to deliver a simpler and more efficient recruitment process, but may simply lack the time, budget, expertise or dedicated manpower to implement the necessary changes. If this is the case, it could be time to hire an external recruitment agency to help with this process.
Specialist recruitment agencies have years of experience in delivering highly cost-effective hiring solutions, and will be able to advise you on the most useful changes to make, or carry out hiring on your company’s behalf. This will give you peace of mind that your recruitment is being handled properly, while freeing up your internal team to focus on your core activities.
How Employment Solutions can help
If you are looking to partner with an external agency to help streamline your recruitment processes, it makes sense to choose an agency partner with proven experience of helping businesses like yours to deliver better results.
For businesses in the engineering and manufacturing sector, Employment Solutions can be the solution to this problem. We have been helping companies to develop their recruitment offerings for more than 20 years, and can find the most cost-effective and efficient ways of connecting you with the talent you need, based on a strong understanding of the sector and a best practice approach to hiring.
To learn more about how Employment Solutions can help you find candidates to deliver a specific skill set, call us on 0161 839 5353, or complete the contact form below to arrange a call back.