Melodie Regan, CEO, i2i Workforce
How often have you found yourself with candidates Not applying? Not showing up for interviews? Hires Not showing up for work? And you yourself saying, “Not Again.”
Let’s talk about some common recruiting mistakes and ways to improve your recruiting results to get more candidates and more hires.
Here’s a Round 2 list. If you missed Round 1, you can find it here.
5 More Common Recruiting Mistakes and Ways to Get More Candidates
Not measuring your recruitment process Have you ever heard, “If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” It’s definitely true for your recruitment funnel. To get more candidates and better hires, you want to know what is working and what isn’t. What produces the best candidates and what is a waste of time. Some key things to measure: Quantity and quality of candidates by source, applicant drop off rates, time to hire, quality of hire, cost of hire and offer acceptance/rejection rates. With an automated Applicant Tracking System this is definitely easier to do.
Not having a defined interview process Time is money. Many organizations involve a lot of their people in the interview process. Yet, they do not have a clear set of questions or a checklist to be used by each person that is interviewing. As such, each person interviews based on their personal perception and they don’t necessarily interview to determine if the candidate can do the job and is a cultural fit. You may like a candidate, but that doesn’t mean they are a fit for the organization or position. Give everyone involved in the interviewing process, a clear set of questions/checklist, based on the job description, to use during their interview so you ensure everyone is evaluating candidates using the same base criteria. It definitely drives better hires.
Not completing references This is an easy step to bypass, yet it holds nuggets of gold. Often people think everyone only gives good references. Not true. This is also a great way for you to explore any concerns that may have come up in the interviewing process, like how this person deals with stress, or how this person handles equipment. You can ask about these items when you are doing references. We have a policy at i2i Workforce that references are completed by a team member who has not been involved in the interviewing process to ensure there is no bias.
Not completing background checks and/or searching the candidate online More information is better. Every hire matters. You can complete a background check for under $100, and it is worth the time to do a Google or Bing search, or look them up on online communities, depending on your sourcing approach. Through the years we have found that some candidates say they have experience that they don’t, have records that would disqualify them from the requirements of the position, have stated educational levels they have not achieved, to name a few. This takes minimal time and cost and can make the difference between a bad hire and good hire.
Not having an onboarding process Hiring someone is just the beginning, not the end. The first 90 days of employment can make the difference between a successful hire or a fall out. Organizations often leave this to their hiring manager without clear guidelines or support. We recommend a more disciplined process that is managed by HR. The onboarding should start before their first day and include the new hire’s boss, teammates, and all core working relationships. You’ve just spent all of this money to find and hire this person. Help them be successful.
“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser
So, Rome wasn’t built in a day and nor is a top-performing recruitment process. To get the “kNot” out of your recruitment process, remove a few of the “Nots”. Every good journey needs a start. Pick one. Wishing you more great hires!
Learn more about Storyvine's New Home Healthcare NOW Kit, which helps health care agencies attract talent and grow their organizations.
If you liked this series, check out our 2-part Recruiting Process series: