There are some innate challenges that HR professionals face within the sphere of talent acquisition and recruiting. First, you need to be able to effectively communicate your open positions to not only the pool of qualified job seekers, but also job incumbent personnel that may not be actively seeking a career move. Next, the appropriate hiring tools must be selected and utilized in order to filter and select the most qualified applications. Then, initial contact must be made and applicants must be given all the relevant information just to get started in your company's hiring process. Until you sit down with pencil and paper and list the steps in chronical order, you probably will not realize just how robust your hiring routine is. Here are some do’s and don'ts for you to achieve a leaner, more efficient system.
Do: Give every applicant a summary of your hiring process
Applicant’s have a number of hoops to jump through to get a job with your company. Prudence dictates that you do not ambush any applicant with a hiring step. Afford your applicants the opportunity to prepare themselves for what is ahead; this may provide you with some insight concerning their level of planning and professionalism.
Don’t: Use Background Checks and Drug Screens as a way to batch filter applicants
The waters of this concept can be pretty murky, as employment laws can differ greatly on a state and federal level. Luckily for you, we are here to tell you that is just plain unethical and no one strives to run an unethical business. Drug screens and background checks should always be contingent on a job offer. Going along with our first point, be sure to mention this when you summarize your hiring process to your applicants. This will save you and your potential candidate a lot of time and grief.
Do: Keep in consistent contact with your applicants as they navigate through the steps
This can be simply done by phone or email, and is extremely effective when trying to keep an applicant interested in your open position. Depending on the number of steps you have and how robust they are, you may lose top talent by leaving them in the dark or not returning their phone calls.
Don’t: Tailor your processes to the applicant
It is always best to keep the process uniform for all applicants applying for your open position. Perception really is reality, so do not skip steps or do any favors. Please remember that you are trying to determine the best candidate based off of their performance on a level playing field. Doing someone a favor often seems like nepotism, discrimination, and corruption to someone on the outside looking in.
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Michael Chiovitti, Chief Talent Strategist
Eden Resources, LLC