One thing you can do today to improve your hiring process.
It’s abundantly clear that the hiring process and the experience is becoming more and more important. According to Fast Company, a recent study of talent acquisition leaders in the U.S found almost half (46%) those surveyed said cultivating meaningful relationships and experiences in the hiring process is their number one priority for the next year. Candidates are now interviewing at four times the rate versus before the pandemic and they are paying closer attention to the hiring process and experience more than ever before.
Consumers expect amazing, and now candidates expect the same. Applying for a job should be as simple as buying a product on Amazon, listening to a song on Spotify, or watching a tv show or movie on Netflix. But we all know that’s not how it works.
Have you ever applied for a job at your own company? How was that experience? How long did it take? We now live in a world where experience and convenience are paramount, but yet most companies application processes are too slow, fragmented, and counter-intuitive. This often leave the candidates frustrated or even dropping out of the process.
There will be an estimated $26 Billion dollars spent on HR software by the year 2026 as companies invest in automating recruiting processes and experiences. Yes, I believe there will come a time some day when applying for a job and collecting EEO data will be as easy as swiping right on your iPhone. However, for most TA leaders this is wishful thinking. Not everyone has the money or resources to invest in candidate-centric technology
So what can you do?
Focus on what you can do which is create a competitive advantage by improving your hiring process and experience today! Begin by mapping out your candidate journey, put yourself through your own hiring process to walk in your candidates’ shoes. First, you will identify and understand the addressable opportunity areas but you’ll also be surprised in what you find and learn.
Example #1: One of our clients recently did this with help from our TA Assessment and cut their time to apply down by almost 5 minutes because of the redundancies and unnecessary extra steps that we eliminated in the process. Their application and hiring process had not been reviewed in almost 5 years.
Example #2: On the flipside, another client of ours we found had an over-reliance on it’s use of technology. The company had implemented Artificial Intelligence software that promised to scan resumes and automatically vet candidates but what we found was candidates having poor experiences because the technology and process were not capturing the nuances and critical moments human experience in the hiring process. This discovery and the subsequent alignment of people and processes led to a significant improvement in the candidate experience and process.
Successful talent acquisition requires managing and optimizing multiple components. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to overlook the details involved in the hiring process. Although it’s critical, it’s not the first place we look to ideate, test, or continuously improve. Consider assessing and optimizing your hiring process today. It is a low-tech but high impact approach.
