A recent survey conducted amongst 1400 employers and 13,000 candidates confirmed what players in the hiring sector had long been suspecting. That there is great dissatisfaction amongst recruiters when it comes to both the quality and the volume that their hiring mechanisms are throwing up.
Specifically –
- About a third of respondents were okay with the quantity of candidates.
- Half acknowledged that the volume of applications fell way short.
- Only a third said the quality of hires had come up to the mark. .
The obvious question followed: Where are recruiters and companies going wrong? And what are the tangible steps they can take to up the quality of their finds? For that, let us go back to the survey. It shares the following insights –
Employers who reported high levels of satisfaction with the quality and quantity of hires were also the ones who gave due importance to what is referred to as the ‘candidate experience’. What does that entail? Simple: Put yourself in the candidate’s shoes, understand their expectations, find out their pain points and optimize your recruiting devices accordingly.
So what are the things job seekers look for?
- 85 % said consistent communication throughout the process was important to them
- 81 % felt that job descriptions were inaccurate and wanted that area to improve
- 63 % wanted companies to respond to their calls and emails more promptly
Consider that only half the story. For the other half, remember that companies doing well in their recruiting do NOT allow the following to hinder their hiring in any way:
- Time to fill
- Cost per hire
- Formalities and procedures.
The ills lie within
Falling candidate quality is usually the product of a non-performing talent acquisition system. To return to the poll, only 35% of the companies polled were willing to consider ‘candidate experience’ a critical performance parameter. But that’s not the only shortcoming you need to take care of.
You also need to have a detailed system of documentation in place to guide every step of the action – something nearly 40% of organizations do not possess. Without documentation, the entire process fails.
It’s not complicated. Whoever takes on these fundamental realities head-on, wins the battle for talent.
