A business without employees is impossible to run, even if it’s small. And, when you’re trying to build your own business with limited time and resources, recruiting and managing employees can feel like a huge burden. Recruiting candidates to fill vacancies can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of running a business, and you may think that there are no hacks that can help speed things up while maintaining quality standards. However, several useful strategies can help make this process easier, faster, and more efficient so you can get back to running your business.
Hiring can help fuel your small business and allow you to grow exponentially. The key is knowing what works and what doesn’t-and being willing to try different techniques. In this article, we outline eight ways to speed up your recruitment process so you can find and hire the right candidate sooner rather than later.
Write Better Job Advertisements
On many job boards and websites, you’ll find that employers place ads for positions like Senior Accountant or Sales Executive. Instead of listing out a laundry list of requirements in your ad, consider broadening your scope by adding a few keywords within each post. This way, when candidates search for an Accounting Job or Accounting Opportunity you can easily come up in their search results.
Utilize Social Media
Most businesses use social media to drive recruitment efforts, but few know how to get it right. Utilize social media channels like Facebook and Twitter to encourage applicants who are likely to be a good fit for your organization. You can start making a Facebook business page, introducing your company, and letting them know that you’re open for applications.
Streamline the Application Process
It can be hard to keep up with applications, especially if there are multiple locations or many candidates. Automate parts of your recruitment process to streamline the number of applications you receive and make it easier for applicants to apply online. You’ll need to consider what information is essential for your applicant pool – but use whatever tools you can to speed up application time. If an applicant has to call someone or wait days before they hear back from anyone, they’re less likely to move forward with their application.
Assess Them With Exams
Exams help you assess your new employee’s technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and how he or she fits in with your team. Assess them with exams that can also become a part of their onboarding process. You can easily get reliable employment skills tests as well as practice assessments to see if they can handle stressful situations on the job. These kinds of tools online are ideal candidates for inclusion in an exam because they are quick and easy. In addition, other types of assessments may be more complicated or expensive, which means additional time and resources will be required to administer them at scale.
Hire For Attitude and Train For Skill
There are many ways to speed up your recruitment process, but they all revolve around one central idea: hiring for attitude and training for skill. How you will go about doing that depends on your budget and schedule, but hiring candidates with a good work ethic is always a step in the right direction. It can be achieved through things like employment testing or even by reviewing their resumes to see if they have included previous job duties that indicate an interest in hard work.
Conduct Interviews Via Video Calls
There’s a good chance you already use video chat to speak with your team or external clients, but setting up an interview on a platform like Skype could be of benefit. You can avoid in-person meetings and conduct interviews via your webcam. It is also beneficial because candidates can screen themselves-and their work environment-to see if they are comfortable before committing to a face-to-face meeting.
Give Candidates Timely Feedback
One way to improve your applicant-to-hire ratio is to communicate with candidates promptly. A candidate that doesn’t hear back from you after applying will likely assume their application was rejected and won’t bother reapplying. As a result, they might also spread negative reviews about your company to others looking for jobs-that hurts more than just your recruitment efforts, it also affects your employer brand.
Deliver an Exceptional Candidate Experience
While each step of a candidate’s journey through your recruitment process is critical, it’s those first few moments that are most important. Research from Heidrick & Struggles shows that candidates are twice as likely to engage with your company during their initial interactions with you-which means it’s vital for small businesses to create positive candidate experiences from day one.
The recruitment process can be very time-consuming and difficult for any business. From deciding what your next steps are to filling vacancies, each stage is different. By planning and implementing new strategies you can make your process more efficient and thus free up more time for yourself or your team.