Opinion #HR
Read time: 05'20''
7 June 2023
Changes you need to bring to your recruitment program
© Etienne Girardet

Changes you need to bring to your recruitment program

Recruitment is a critical process for any organisation, as it determines the quality of the workforce that drives the organisation's success. Recruiting the right candidate can make or break your organisation.

However, the recruitment process has undergone several changes over the years, driven by technological advancements and changes in the workforce’s expectations. As such, it’s essential to keep up with these changes to ensure that your recruitment program remains effective in attracting and retaining top talent. In this article, we will explore some of the changes you need to bring to your recruitment program to stay ahead in the game.

Definition of recruitment

Recruitment is the process of seeking out, and actively finding and hiring great candidates for a specific position in your company. You can use data to make your recruitment process even more effective and resultantly source lots of great candidates.

Changes in the recruitment landscape

Working from home won’t fade even though plenty of companies have called workers back. The truth is 98% want remote work as an option at least during some part of the week.

A survey throws the spotlight on a new work-related trend. HR managers increasingly believe that four out of five workers who work from home engage in epreseteesim. Courtesy of remote work, employees feel they should be always online and always available. 86% of workers feel they need to prove their bosses that they are hard-working and worthy of that job.

However, this can result in burnout and also higher depression rates.

Employee well-being and mental health checks

Focus on the health and well-being of employees was the hallmark of the pandemic. That’s why, starting from 2023, the focus is on employee well-being apps, surveys, training and other programs. 

Increase in workforce analytics

The after effects of COVID-19 will be everpresent in our world. The economy will have stunted growth and companies must adjust to the new reality. It’s why workforce planning is essential and is part of recruiting trends. Digital tools will analyse all parts of the process and optimise them. There will be recruiting apps, monitoring apps, contract management technology, and apps to measure the health and wellness of employees as well.

The need for a data-driven approach

In this section, we will understand how a data-driven approach can help us smoothen recruitment challenges.

There are many reasons why a data-driven approach to recruiting is ideal.

Data speeds up hiring

Data collection helps you both understand and transcend the bottlenecks in your recruitment process making it easy for you to remove them or even automate them.

Data makes competency assessment easier

One of the most important areas where data can help you is when conducting a competency assessment:

  • Determines applicant drop off rate
  • Average time to hire for a job
  • Recruitment methodologies like job ads vs job boards, events, and referrals
  • Duration for each step: Time spent on sourcing, time spent on interviews, and more

For instance you may discover that that plenty of applicants start dropping off right at the beginning of your application. This means you can do something to make the application process easy for them at the very start so that at least a few more complete the entire application.

Let them upload the resume and remove the online application from the job posting. Or if interview takes longer to process due to scheduling issues, you can automate the interview scheduling too. This is a great example of pipeline management and you can use it even if you have just done your MVP launch.

These insights will present a more accurate picture of reality on time to hire. Armed with this piece of information, you can advise stakeholders of more realistic timeline.

Reduces hiring costs

Data-driven recruiting shortens the time to hire and makes it easier for you to access your recruitment budget.

Aside from the source of hire you can also run a check on the recruitment tech stack to see if it helps your acquisition efforts.

Perhaps you need that video interviewing software that helps you source and talk to remote candidates for a job.

Reducing bias and making hiring more objective

Adopt a data-driven recruitment strategy to source the best candidate for a position.

A diverse workforce improves business performance, makes decision-making better, fosters innovation as well as creativity.

You can for instance choose candidates to interview based on how they fared on pre-employment assessment scores or work sample tests. These assessments make life a lot more easy for HR professionals who want a granular look at each candidate’s skills while also not having to spend inordinate amounts of time going over every detail. Additionally, this removes biases that may affect candidate selection.

Improving candidate experience

Let’s say, you are a candidate applying for a job. Since you’re looking for your next employer you’re constantly faced with emails and job alerts from different sources. If any of these organisations runs you through circles before they hire you you may just hop and skip to the next employer.

Data-driven recruitment isn’t about equipping yourself with the next technological toy. It’s more about making processes simpler for candidates.

Less than 17% of companies ask for candidate feedback during recruiting.

Make your processes faster, smoother and fairer for all. This may mean providing everyone with the same set of tools, say free procreate brushes (if you’re hiring for a design position), a Macbook, laptop, desks and other tools. If you are hiring a person for digital sales, give him access to digital tools to make it easy.

Being proactive instead of reactive

Another thing you can do is forecast hiring needs and inform your hiring plan to prepare for what’s to come. This helps you prepare ahead.

Track the annual employee turnover rate, business expansions new locations and product offers, internal mobility tools and promotions.

If historically the attrition rate is X you need to make for Y number of new hires.

  • The benefits of using data to drive recruitment decisions
  • How to implement a data-driven recruitment approach

Hiring a new employee is a significant big step when growing a new business. Adding new members to your workforce isn’t a decision that should take lightly. Here are some tips to attract and hire the right talent for your company.

Develop a talent pipeline

You can develop a ready to recruit talent pipeline with the help of an internship program. You can work on a talent pipeline through your strategic internship program. They act as a test run for your business and interns to check if you’re a great fit. Book meetings on Calendy and jump into 1:1 sessions with your prospective hires.

Other options are building relationships with local schools and nearby colleges. You could also hire freelancers or tap your network for freelance talent. And with time offer a full-time position to these freelancers.

Embrace diversity

Diversity, equity, and inclusion mean bigger business revenues and higher profits. According to EY companies who opt for higher racial and ethnic diversity reportedly drive 35% more to their bottom line.

Also, before you begin to interview people for an open position, determine how you’d determine success for this role. Then, as you run your interviews, this gives you a better chance to quality the candidate’s talents and assess whether they will be able to ace the role.

Use software to kill paperwork and streamline the process

Second, you can always make use of video recorders and other technology to see their personality and use HR software that automates job postings, collects and sorts resumes for you, runs background checks and sends offer letters.

Recruitment is an ever-changing landscape, and organisations must keep up with the changes to attract and retain top talent. By implementing a data-driven approach, focusing on employer branding, embracing technology, evaluating soft skills, prioritising candidate experience, promoting diversity and inclusion, and ensuring employer-employee alignment, organisations can build a robust recruitment program that sets them apart in the job market.