Hiring talent: How to make your recruitment processes truly effective

It’s a tricky balance to strike when recruiting – trying to maintain your reputation and your organisation's culture while still growing the team.

If hiring teams get it wrong, it could have significant knock-on effects. While there are challenges in today's recruitment landscape, there are things you can do to make your processes as effective as possible and see better results.

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Recruitment in 2023: Challenges to tackle

Whether you're handling a company restructure or building a team of quality candidates for a special project, expanding a business is no small feat.

First, recruiters need to understand the key roles they're hiring for and the skills needed within the business in order to sift through applicants more efficiently – something that hiring managers don't always have access to.

It's a highly competitive employment market right now, with global talent shortages having reached a 16-year high in 2022. So companies need to develop better shortlisting processes to sort the wheat from the chaff without losing out on top talent.

Part of this also comes down to better application processes. Top talent won't waste their time on tedious, time-consuming applications, so companies looking to hire the very best need to adapt to attract these candidates.

How companies can make their recruitment as good as possible

Dig into the data

One of the most prominent recruitment risks hiring teams will face this year is ignoring data. Recruitment consultants need to value the data they have in front of them and put it to good use.

Metrics expose issues that are causing you problems within your recruitment process, and if you neglect them, they'll only hinder your success moving forward. But in just the same way, they also hint at what's going well and what you need to do more of.

Tracking data gives you a very clear insight into your strategies and recruitment efforts that's backed by hard evidence, rather than just assumptions or guesswork.

So, when it comes to applicant sourcing, engagement, application completion, declined offers and similar metrics, look at the data and see where you can improve.

Automate processes

Automation is something we've seen in virtually every industry to some extent, and recruitment is no different. But it can really help to eliminate repetitive tasks and reduce the risk of errors in your processes.

Automated acquisition and nurturing will eliminate complex, inefficient manual communications while also providing a personalised touch when it comes to outreach.

From shortlisting software to handle the editing down of CVs to automatic screening to reduce timeframes from advertising through to onboarding, automation tools can really speed up a complex and otherwise chaotic system.

It's beneficial to hiring professionals, but it also delivers a better candidate experience and improves their impression of your business which helps with talent retention and acquisition.

Focus on the value of workplace wellbeing

In 2023, company culture will be less about making the office a fun place to be and more about prioritising staff wellbeing.

Employees want to feel heard and understood, and supported in their respective roles rather than viewed as just another cog in the machine. Organisations with strong values and a plan to keep their staff happy and healthy will be the ones who win in this job market.

It's been a tough few years for all of us, and the 'Great Resignation' resulted in many people rethinking what they wanted out of a career. Talent acquisition leaders need to appreciate that employees are prioritising their own mental and physical health over anything else now.

So, a job offer needs to come with the assurance that systems are in place to support that, from wellness plans to measures to avoid burnout. Monetary perks are great, but a company that understands what employees are really looking for in a job will thrive.

Understand who your compatible candidates are

Employers and jobseekers are facing a highly competitive market. So to stay ahead of the competition, businesses need to be smart about how they advertise for candidates so they can attract the most relevant applicants.

The key to this is recognising who your target audience is. Who is the ideal candidate for the role in question, and what skills and background do they have?

Using targeted questions and regularly reviewing your campaigns, you can make sure that the applications you receive are from highly suitable people from the beginning, reducing the time needed to fill a vacancy.

Use visuals to enhance messaging

Today's younger generation are digital natives and the ways in which they interact with the world are digitally focused.

When it comes to recruitment, hiring professionals need to bear in mind that it's increasingly this generation they're advertising to. So why post written job descriptions when visuals and other media options are available?

Young talent want to engage with businesses that speak their language, so bland written communications aren't the way to attract them.

From animations and video interviews to job ads on TikTok and infographic job descriptions, the more you can do to enhance your messaging with visuals, the more engaging your campaigns will be.

Focus on now, not the future

It may seem counterproductive not to think in terms of the future when it comes to growing a team, but the narrative has shifted in terms of careers. What matters to applicants today is what a company is offering right now, rather than promises of what they might receive in years to come.

That's not to say you can completely disregard advancement strategies and career progression – it's still a perk that people want to know is available.

But when you're advertising for a role, focus on delivering immediate value to people, because ultimately that's what jobseekers today want to see.

If you're trying to attract top talent, you need to show them what you can offer immediately as well as five years down the line. It's these details that will spark their interest and secure them as employees.

Talent acquisition is more challenging now than ever before. Gen Z-ers and millennials have switched focus and that means that businesses need to adapt their processes to accommodate and implement techniques that will result in success.

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Relevant resources

• Find the right people to help grow your small business

• Lunch and Learn: How to attract the perfect employees to your business

• Hiring your first employee: How to get it right