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When there’s a job vacancy to fill, hiring the right candidate may feel like finding a needle in a haystack. On one side of the spectrum, there are so many applicants that it’s hard to select the right one. On the other hand, there may only be a handful of applicants, and they’re not the right fit for the job.
It is much harder for HR recruiters and companies to hire employees because of the recent paradigm shift brought about by the pandemic. Workers are leaving their jobs faster than it takes for companies to keep up. There were 9.4 million job vacancies in the U.S. as of the second quarter of 2021, a significant increase from the figures reported in 2020. With so many jobs that need to be filled, it’s essential to minimize the challenges in selecting the right candidate.
Internal Recruitment
Internal recruitment is one way to narrow the search for the right candidate. Many companies favor internal recruitment because people who have been with the company for some time are already familiar with the company culture, policies, and procedures.
Hiring internally also means eliminating the need for extensive background and work history checks. If you’re looking to fill a position, you may want to consider looking into your existing workforce; you could have the right candidate at your doorstep, just waiting for the right opportunity.
Recruitment Service
Several companies offer recruitment services for a fee. If you are having trouble selecting a suitable candidate for the job, these companies can help you with the process. Recruitment agencies can work with a company from the beginning to the end of the recruitment process, ultimately hiring the right person for the job.
These companies work as a bridge between companies and job seekers. Recruitment agencies are involved in selecting and vetting the applicants so that you don’t have to go through the process yourself. A recruitment service provider can work with your in-house HR team to scout the right candidate for the job. This is helpful for all position levels, but the service is most beneficial for filling senior roles.
Technology
Using technology such as HR recruitment software can help you streamline your search for the right applicant. HR recruitment software is not just limited to its capacity as an agency software; in-house recruiting teams can also benefit from using technology to screen and search for applicants, ultimately leading to the right candidate. The ideal HR recruitment software should give you access to the following:
- Automatic resume parsing – An HR recruitment software can help you browse through multiple resumes as it extracts the most useful data to help filter for the right candidate, cutting down the time it takes for an employer to scan through applications.
- Integrate with other HR tools – HR recruitment software should seamlessly integrate with other HR tools and even access payroll systems.
- On-the-go recruitment – An HR recruitment software is not just agency software– if you need to recruit while on the move, you should be able to access all the software’s features through a downloadable app.
- 24/7 customer support – If you encounter any issues while using the HR recruitment software, there should be responsive customer support that can cater to your needs at any time of the day, including holidays.
Behavioral Assessments
Skills can be learned and improved while on the job. However, behavioral patterns and personality traits may be tricky to unlearn. According to Dr. Blaine Landis, an assistant professor at UCL School of Management, “Personality will affect whether people are hired, promoted, derailed, will help others, be seen as a leader, and so on.”
Behavior plays a crucial role in minimizing the challenges in hiring the right candidate. Here are some standard behavioral assessment tools used by many organizations worldwide:
- California Psychological Inventory
- Caliper Profile
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- DISC Assessment
- SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire
Standard Interviews
Using a standardized interview format for all applicants makes it easier for you to analyze their responses to specific questions and scenarios. This also eliminates any unconscious bias an interviewer may have towards a potential candidate. You can standardize interview questions and designate a scoring system based on how interviewees respond.
Standardizing the interview process does not mean that you have to stick to “Where do you see yourself in five years?” or “Tell me about yourself.” You can still go into depth even when asking standard questions throughout the interview process by using some of the following questions:
- “Tell me about a time when you failed and what you learned from it.”
- “What professional accomplishment are you most proud of, and why?”
- “Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult colleague.”
- “Tell me something about your last job and what you learned from it.”
- “How do you handle conflict while working in a team?”
Selecting the right candidate is essential to make sure roles are filled. This crucial step is vital to reducing the employee turnover rate. When you choose the right candidate, you are making the first step towards hiring motivated employees who are expected to perform well at their jobs. It’s not easy looking for the right employee. It may be a hit-or-miss experience for hiring managers but minimizing the challenges in selecting the right candidate may result in faster hiring and better employee retention in the long run.
You may also like: Five tips to get recruitment right: hiring the right people is the key to growing your business
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