Hertfordshire Techies - 10 Tricks to speed up your recruitment tasks

When a role is open, managers want to fill it quickly so it doesn’t increase workload on other members of the team. But along with speed, the recruitment process should also focus on reducing errors and miscommunication.

As the saying rightly goes: “Without knowing the problem, we cannot find any solution”. So to speed up your recruitment process, you need to first analyse if there are any reasons that are holding it up. Reasons could include:

• Difficulty getting the applications
• Screening CVs is taking time because there’s a lot of them
• Are interviews delaying the process?
• The applications do not fit the job description.
• Miscommunication is creating delay.

Once we analyse the reasons for you, we can create strategies around it and speed up the process. Let’s discuss some tricks in detail.

Need to choose a job board that matches your requirement

It’s essential to have a plan of action when you post job ads because there are so many job sites. If you decide to post it on Monster, it gives good results but the application rate is high. You could use niche sites to get candidates with particular skills. You could go with any option, but it is essential to track your success by using recruitment metrics to ensure your goal is met.

Job ads needs to be op notch and published with the right channel

A Job advertisement needs to reach out to as many suitable candidates as possible and push them to apply. Many recruitment agencies are going wrong in this part of the process, resulting in delayed applications or irrelevant CVs.

Based on the research, job seekers are not only looking for remuneration but also looking for other factors such as company culture, career development opportunities, effective management and a learning environment.

Research shows that mobile is taking around 50 % of traffic these days,  so your job ad needs to look good on a mobile phone or tablet. Most job boards have responsive websites, so adverts have their font size decreased, images removed and page reorganised in order to be more legible on a smartphone.

Your advertisement should contain words that grab attention immediately because there is less space. If your adverts are not visible via mobile it can put off many of your applicants.

Companies can also publish their adverts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. if they have social media presence. By using this method, you can reach out to as many applicants as possible, and it’s cost effective - 93% of recruiters are now using social media.

Staff can also be of great help

Within you staff, there might be people looking for a change of career path or with networks where they can advertise any new opening for free. So any opening should be first announced internally for the following reasons”

• It’s cost effective because you don’t need to spend on advertising or training
• It’s less risky because you know the person.
• Transition gets easier
• Your employee feels that he/she has good opportunities and becomes more engaged and productive.
  

If you ask your staff to help out i.e. referrals, they will feel valued and increase their loyalty towards your company. Employees who provide referrals should be rewarded.

Use of automation

Most recruiters complain that screening is time-consuming, so using automation helps to speed up the process. Recruitment automation software uses AI to automatically find, shortlist and rank the candidates and speed up your process for sourcing and screening. This helps you to make quick decisions about whether you want to reject or move your candidates to the next stage.

Communication solves all the problem

Most job seekers have issues that can include an extremely long application, no confirmation email, an inability to contact the recruiter and lack of information once the position is filled.

These issues are a clear indication of miscommunication between the job seekers and recruiters, which spoils the relationship. Technology such as chatbots or triggered automated emails to respond to candidates can be the solution.

Interviews should be flexible and ruthless

In today’s world, everyone is struggling for time, be it top talent or recruiters. Interviewing is known to be most time-consuming process, so recruiters need to be both flexible and ruthless.

When a company tries to align the interviews, it can lead to extended recruitment times. Recruiters can be flexible by offering a first round of video interview, and evening or weekend interview options, which work well because everyone has time. Recruiters also need to be ruthless when they work through the CVs, and follow their instincts about who should go forward for interview.

Video/telephone/group interviews

Video interviews are useful because they help recruiters meet multiple people in a short period of time. They are also useful for making a quick assessment of the candidate’s personality before a face to face interview.

Normally, these interviews should last for half an hour. If you need to speed up the process, you can also call multiple people at same time instead of having individual interviews. You can also hold assessment-based interviews that involves tasks or tests, and can give you an understanding of who has a strong personality and can work under pressure.

Negotiate starting days and do not delay the offer

If you have found the right candidate you need to make a quick offer otherwise the waiting candidate will be disappointed with the company and will be picked up by other options. SparkHire mentions that candidates will wait for two weeks before giving up.

Most of the time, candidates have long notice periods which they need to negotiate with their existing company. They are not comfortable with asking for an early exit. In this case, you can ask a member of your HR team or provide documentation that can help the candidate to professionally negotiate a shorter notice period.

Outsource your recruitment process

Companies can choose to outsource the recruitment process since it reduces staff and other costs and speeds up the process. Recruitment agencies can work wonders because they have the knowledge, resources, and experience to find the talent your company deserves.

Build a long-term talent pool

You can create a talent pool of all candidates who had potential but missed the position. It will help you in the long term if you have any new vacancy. It can also speed up your process since every time you have a requirement you do not need to look in the market but can check out the talent pool.

Make use of automation to help keep track of these candidates. If you have created a long-term talent plan, you can start the hiring process earlier so that candidates are available before the required date.

Give the above tricks a try next time you need to recruit. You’ll find the recruitment process can be value-added and less time-consuming than ever before.