Improving Your Hiring Process

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23 Jan. 2019. Good recruitment practices are vital to the success of any business. When you start to recycle old and unclear job descriptions, wing your interviews, and ignore reference checks, you risk attracting the wrong types of people to your company, costing time and money you can’t afford to lose. A business is only ever as good as those behind it, so you must ensure you secure the right talent. With that in mind, here are five ways to improve the hiring process in your business.

Write clearer job descriptions

The perfect job description simply doesn’t exist, but that’s not to say that you can’t write a better one. If you’ve found you’re receiving an influx of applications from individuals poorly suited to the role you’re advertising, then it’s likely that the description you have provided isn’t very clear. You needn’t write pages of information, but you must have plenty of information on the responsibilities of the role and qualifications you require. You should also focus on what you do for employees.

Shorten the application process

Lengthy applications are a nightmare for job seekers. In fact, they’re disliked so much that some potential candidates would rather not apply at all than spend so much time doing so. With that in mind, it’s best that you shorten your application process as much as you can, preferably to less than five minutes long. Rather than ask a long list of questions, ask that candidates simply upload their CV and cover letter. This requires much less work, leading to more applications.

Reply to your reviews

Most employers and hiring managers check out candidates on social media before offering them a job. Unsurprisingly, the candidates themselves do a similar thing. If someone were to apply to CRST, for example, they would likely look them up on, as well as read CRST Trucking reviews. For this reason, it’s crucial that you take a look at your own online reviews. Although there’s nothing you can do to change any bad ones, you can leave a professional response.

Challenge your best candidates

A major issue for any hiring companies are employees that lie on resumes and throughout interviews. This can lead you to hire unqualified individuals, which may increase turnover and your overall recruiting costs. To be sure that candidates have the experience and skills they claim to, you should challenge them during their interview, using tests, role-playing, and simulations. You must also remember to check the references they provided you with.

Ask for helpful feedback

You may be the one in charge of the recruitment process, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can spot any and all issues wrong with it. Because of this, you should bring in other members of staff to observe your interviews and offer their feedback. As well as improving your interviews, this can also help you to pick the right talent. You may also want to ask candidates to fill out a survey of questions about their experience with the hiring process and your business.

Finding the right employee can be a challenge, but, by improving your hiring process, you can make it a little easier.

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