The recruitment process can be time consuming. With organizations trying to do more with less, HR departments are frequently juggling multiple priorities. Thinking differently and creating efficiency in the employee recruitment process will not only help your organization gain better access to qualified talent, but provide more time to focus on your business’ core priorities.
Utilize employee referrals: According to the 2011 Source of Hire Report from CareerXroads, nearly 65 percent of all job openings are filled through internal movement and referrals. Still, notifying existing employees of open positions is often an overlooked step in the recruitment process. When notifying current employees about open positions within the organization, it is important to ensure that they understand the importance of the role and its impact on the business. When an organization’s employees feel engaged in the talent acquisition process, it can produce significant results. When employees have a vested interest in the organization, they are thoughtful about recommendations, only endorsing those who have the potential for success.
Implement a prescreening questionnaire: Weeding through résumés can be tedious and time consuming, especially if there is a high volume of applicants. Requiring those interested in an open position to complete a questionnaire with topics important to success within a role can greatly streamline the process. It also ensures that only candidates who answer prequalifying questions to your expectations move forward. These questionnaires should be linked to a job posting and programmed as a requirement of the application process. You can initially use simple ”knockout” questions that serve to quickly eliminate candidates without the most basic requirements from consideration. Questions that elicit a more detailed response can be used to dive deeper into an individual’s skills and experience, and provide a true comparison of viable applicants. The major job sites include prescreening tools as add-on features and will even weight the answers and tabulate results for you.
Think differently when writing a job description: I can’t tell you how many cookie-cutter job descriptions I’ve seen with broad-based responsibilities that often make it seem like a large percentage of applicants are qualified. Read a technical job description for an engineering or IT role, and you will see that the focus is on specific skill requirements and qualifications. Use these concepts to think about writing more focused job descriptions within your organization. Not only do more specific job descriptions deter unqualified individuals from applying, they also help the individual who is hired to better prepare to perform based on accurate duties and clear expectations of the organization.
Michael DeLuca is director of healthcare for Manpower, the global leader in contingent and permanent recruitment workforce solutions.
