In the business of recruiting, despite all best efforts, humans can be unpredictable.
There are a lot of things out of a recruiter’s control, but, if we take a step back, the elements discussed below are ones that recruiters DO have control over and these can have a big influence on landing candidates.
1. Shorten your time to hire and do your best to get back to candidates within 48 hours
We all know this is a tough one, and not always feasible but one of the easiest ways to do this is put in place an SLA with your interviewing team to get their feedback in within a 48 hour maximum.
Not only will the quality of feedback be better and more accurate, but you will be able to move faster to hire.
In the cases that feedback does not get in within that time period, reach out to your candidates and let them know that while you do not have an update right now, you will get back to them soon.
This will help them know you care and will keep them engaged!
2. Broaden your search outside of your primary market to include those that want to relocate
The best candidates sometimes come from markets outside of the ones you operate in, have your antennas up as a recruiter for strong talent markets outside of yours – this will open up a whole new pool of candidates!
Be sure to communicate to candidates if you have a relocation package that may make them less hesitant to chat about opportunities out of their current region.
3. Be tech agnostic
Lately, we have been seeing an increasing trend on candidates having a breadth of technical language knowledge vs depth.
This means that there are thousands of great candidates out there that while, yes, they are not experts in your company’s chosen tech stack, they are incredibly intelligent individuals who are willing to learn.
If your development team can spend a little bit of time training folks up on a language, reach out to more than engineers who just know the tech you use!
Smart candidates and great employees who are keen on learning can do just as well in a particular technology stack as those who came in knowing it.
One place to start could be brainstorming with your developers about languages and technologies that are similar to the ones they use and could make for an easier transition.
4. Make sure your job description is updated and in-tune with emerging technologies
Particularly your expectations for years of experience.
Evolve your job description as the role evolves and ensure the proper description is always up-to-date so your inbound applications are fruitful.
As we discussed above, keep the technology stack requirement open!
5. Promote diversity and apply a non-bias method to your process
We all have unconscious biases that can prevent us from hiring the best talent there is, your team should look into tools that helps you source and hire candidates completely bias-free, such as Woo.io.
6. Work with an HR solution that encourages focusing on quality hires
We have all been in situations where the expectation is throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks.
Partner closely with your hiring managers and HR to find a recruiting solution that facilitates quality hires.
Less, quality hires, is better than more, mediocre ones.
Nail down metrics important for your organization and make sure you aren’t pushing funnel metrics that don’t encourage quantity over quality.
To sum it up
All-in-all, as recruiters, there is a lot in your control in your day-to-day role that can influence the quality of hires you make even if you are not the “gatekeeper”.
Remember to cast a wide, quality, net, and you will see great returns!
The thoughts of the author are hers alone and do not speak for/represent the opinions of her employer.
