As we approached 2022, we recognized we needed to rethink our personnel flows in order to compete in an increasingly competitive market. Six months in, we can state that, as projected, the market’s competitiveness has been higher than in years. At the same time, many good organizations are hiring for similar skill sets. This means that everyone must improve the speed, quality, and strength of their applicant experience and recruiting process.
In 2021, we were well-prepared and ready to invest in our process so that we could hire better and faster, examine our differentiator, evolve our tech stack, and increase our recruitment through diversity. That said, nothing is ever fixed in stone, and the opportunity to experiment, learn, and pivot along the way is a tremendous thrill. It provides us with several learning opportunities, which is the pleasure of attempting new things. So, six months in, we’re checking in on our observations on changing our hiring process, while having expected certain areas to deal with.
Here’s where we are:
Candidate Experience: Speed, Quality, and Offer Strength
Consider yourself a candidate with three to four processes running at the same time: the bulk of the roles are similar in nature, the organizations are reputable, but one is moving smoother, faster, and more efficiently than the others. This is most likely improving the user experience. That is why it is vital for firms to simplify their employment processes as much as feasible. It should not feel like an added load or stress to your candidates. Furthermore, it is a representation of your firm. It conveys a sense of how things work, how decisions are made, and how effectively you operate.
The process’s quality is also important. As an employer, you should consider whether you are offering a meaningful experience. Is it a compelling or discouraging experience? Those who distinguish themselves here will lead the path, while the rest may find themselves trailing.
The quality of your value proposition and overall offer is comprised of two components: the truth of how powerful both are and how well you execute on them. When representing the company, all hands must be on deck. This is no different than a candidate being evaluated at each level of the process – the applicant is always evaluating your organization. Also, examine how well you communicate the complete offer.
The whole bundle of opportunity + culture + benefits + total salary, all while considering what is most important to that particular individual. For example, if they are particularly interested in work/life balance, are you leaning in and sharing concrete instances of how the organization displays this?
All of these factors influence the candidate experience, especially when hiring on a large scale in a competitive market.
Process: Acceleration via Dynamic Talent Pipelining
One of our primary aims for 2022 was to make the hiring process more fluid. That has always been a goal of ours, so why did we choose this year, in particular, to focus on it? Because speed is important when scaling a business, and we are in the midst of our most ambitious hiring year yet.
We have begun experimenting with Dynamic Talent Pipelining. This is meant to make the recruitment process more fluid. Rather than getting caught on hiring A before looking at B, C, and so on, we’re taking a different approach. We agree on the talents a team needs to launch their product, and as talent with those skills becomes available, we employ them – in no particular sequence. We will eventually fill in all of the holes, and the team will be complete. This method of working has been shown to hire more people faster, but it does have drawbacks.
When going at this rate, one learning to consider is interviewer capacity. Recognizing that the firm must continue to run and sell products while interviewing, we will seek and develop alternatives to reduce the load while expanding capacity on a regular basis. Here are three approaches we’ve found useful in dealing with this problem:
- Convert more interview shadowers to interviewers, hence expanding the pool of available interviewers and increasing bandwidth and capacity to accommodate the bigger pool of candidates.
- Reduce the time it takes to complete interview feedback forms by leveraging your technology and sending out regular reminders as tasks are finished to assist generate faster and more succinct judgments.
- Partner with the company to set aside certain days for interviews, and keep in mind that shorter, more focused windows of availability reduce interview time.
Quality and strength are gained through relationships, communication, and learning.
Recruiting is a true relationship between HR and the business, because of our embedded TA business unit approach. This collaboration has become a standard way of working, resulting in habits that naturally translate to a more productive recruitment process.
To maintain this relationship and remain a valuable partner to the company, we must be deliberate in our search for new TA team members. The ability of each TA team member to create and cultivate relationships with their applicants while also driving a meaningful process alongside hiring executives must be prioritized.
Communication is really important in this situation. And it must be of high quality – communication that connects is personable and effective with both the candidates and the company.
Of course, in collaboration with your communication and brand specialists, you should deploy tactics that create a meaningful relationship with your talent pool from the first engagement; but, it is critical that your TA team members also have well-developed communication skills.
You should also be deliberate in developing the TA team’s competencies through training. Invest in and use your TA Operations team to implement TA onboarding, allowing recruiters to become more productive and productive faster. Every one of us, no matter how seasoned, must continue to learn in whatever we do.
What worked yesterday may no longer work today.
Don’t underestimate or undervalue what it takes to hire in a highly competitive environment: what worked yesterday might not work now. You can do everything else correctly, but underestimating the TA capacity required to meet your hiring targets could be your undoing.
It is critical that you use data and talent insights to make informed decisions and discover areas where you can make a genuine difference. In this competitive landscape, we value speed, quality, and strength in both the candidate experience and our procedures.
Create your own indicators to help you discover where you may need to add capacity or rethink your working methods. Also, keep in mind that increasing capacity does not always imply increasing personnel. Don’t make the mistake of throwing people at the problem. Consider it through the lens of identifying and removing impediments to driving economies that free up capacity for existing workers.
And pressure test your method on a frequent basis – keep adaptable and take the time to ensure your learnings can alter your approach and overall strategy in the future.