Over 80% of leaders surveyed by Deloitte [1] in this year’s Human Capital Trends Survey rated talent acquisition as important or extremely important. In the light of poor retention rates, an exodus of EU talent and the increasing incidence of bad hires, creating a streamlined hiring process has become an urgent priority for HR.

Here's our advice to transform your talent acquisition success:-

Understand the job search habits of your candidates :Technology means that job seeker habits frequently change and are affected by a variety of factors including timing of your job posts to the trends specific to your local region and sector. Your recruitment data will provide a more detailed breakdown on each of your vacancies to enable you to focus on the most successful sources of qualified candidates for your brand.

Show up on social media : The recent publicity over Google For Jobs and the use of Snapchat in recruitment can be overwhelming for smaller businesses. Social recruitment requires frequent engagement and updates with your prospective talent pool. Nothing speaks ‘irrelevant’ more to qualified candidates than a Facebook page or Twitter feed that was last updated a month ago. Track your most successful social recruitment sources through your data and provide regular updates and prompt responses to job seeker enquiries to build rapport with your talent pool.

Think long term leadership : Succession planning is often overlooked during the hiring process over getting the job filled but leadership development was identified by Deloitte as a significant challenge for businesses this year. Today’s leaders need to be capable of building teams, connecting people and driving an innovative culture according to its Human Capital Trends Survey. Evaluate your candidates’ progress throughout their career to assess their leadership potential and carry out pre-hire assessments to gauge their potential and culture fit.

Prepare for rejected job offers : In today’s candidate driven market job hoarding and rejected job offers are on the rise. 2016 saw record levels of graduates reneging on job offers at the last minute but this trend affects all sectors.  Ensure a positive, responsive candidate experience which moves quickly and engages regularly with talent in your pipeline. Cover the prospect of a counter offer early in the interview process, and prioritise qualified candidates through your recruitment software.

Offer job security : Job security is the number one concern for today’s job seekers and three quarters of the UK workforce prioritise permanent positions in their job search. Review your recruitment data to evaluate the success of temporary posts against permanent positions to understand the preferences of your talent pool.

Minimise no-shows : Like rejected job offers, candidate no-shows are a fact or life in recruiting. A lack of communication, no flexibility in interview times and a slow response to job applications will increase the risk of no-shows in your hiring process. Offer candidates the chance to self schedule interviews, send regular automated updates and reminders to shortlisted applicants and deliver on expectations.  Our infographic covering 12 tips to reduce candidate no-shows provides more detail on the most common problems and how to resolve them.

Handle former employees with care : One third of HR directors have hired so-called ‘boomerang employees’ and they can provide a valuable addition to your prospective talent pool. Former employees already understand your culture and in most cases will have acquired additional skills during their time away from your business.  Rehiring your ex employee carries a degree of risk, however, especially if the reasons they originally left haven’t been resolved. By all means include them in your candidate mix but assess them equally against other candidates for the role through your applicant tracking system and other screening tools to ensure the best candidate selection for your business.

Welcome your new hires : Retention of new hires is a very real problem for HR. A structured onboarding experience will help to reduce the attrition level among your new hires. Prepare effective training, send a welcome card, invite them to social events or team meetings during the period between acceptance and start date, involve them in the projects they’ll be taking part in and keep up with regular check-ins beyond the first three months. In other words, don’t neglect the onboarding process. Let HR technology take care of the basics while you focus on the welcome.

Prioritise analytics : According to Deloitte ‘Companies not prioritising analytics do so at their own risk.  Your ability to evaluate your quality of hire and improve screening through pre-hire assessments are just two vital components of successful talent acquisition. Predictive analytics is still a step too far for some businesses. Take the first step towards it by supporting your hiring process with recruitment software designed to automate repetitive, mundane tasks.

Boost your talent acquisition success with world class recruitment software to help you hire better people faster. Contact Advorto today.

You might also  like to read:-

Breaking The Cycle Of Bad Hiring Decisions   

Is Your Talent Acquisition Strategy In Need Of An Overhaul?

[1] Source : https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html