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In a tight labor market driven by tech talent, it’s a dog-eat-dog world and companies are struggling to attract quality candidates to drive their business forward. According to a study by
It’s no surprise technology is impacting the way recruiters and HR professionals do their jobs today. To be successful, they need to embrace technology and use it to improve the speed, efficiency and presence of their recruiting practices. Companies are no longer able to get away with keeping their internal culture a secret. In fact, the more transparent companies are about their business, the more likely they’re able to attract high potential candidates.
Technology enables candidates to see how engaged companies are online with their audience. It also publicly displays the presence companies have on social media and job rating websites such as Kununu and Glassdoor. Tech talent are more likely to apply to companies with a positive reputation and active presence than those who lack one entirely.
The importance of a strong online presence is indisputable but it doesn't commit candidates to accept job offers. How companies require candidates to engage with their recruiting process is ultimately what converts candidates into employees. Poor processes cause companies to lose talent due to these 7 common mistakes.
Lacking A Solid Recruiting Strategy
If companies wing their recruiting plan, they risk losing high potential candidates to companies who have one. Nothing makes a candidate second guess a company like a disorganized interview process.
Companies can prevent losing talent by creating a strategy involving the hiring manager and interview team to develop an agreed-upon process from start to finish. A solid recruiting strategy requires the participation and buy-in of everyone involved in the process.
Recruiters should set time aside to review the role with the hiring manager and interview team to lay out a clearly defined process with a clear idea of how the candidate will navigate the process. When everyone has a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities it reduces the stress and creates a seamless flow for the candidates who go through it.
Relying On Old Practices
Companies like Google and Microsoft are retiring college degree requirements in favor of more hands-on experience. Hackathons and online academies such as Coursera, Udemy and EDX make it easy for passionate learners to expand their skill set. With a mix of paid and free courses, it allows candidates to improve and expand their knowledge and access quality content from top universities for affordable prices.
Passing over resumes and applications because candidates don’t check all of the boxes is the easiest way to miss out on top talent. It’s unfair to assume candidates who have all the educational requirements outsmart candidates with more drive and hands-on experience.
A majority of tech professionals are active in public online communities such as GitHub and Stack Overflow, giving recruiters a firsthand look at their knowledge and skill set. Stack Overflow is a public online community for developers and engineers to ask and answer each other's technical questions.
These two resources are simple and effective ways for recruiters to evaluate potential candidates on the quality of their code, how active they are in contributing to repositories and their engagement in the online community. According to a Stack Overflow survey, 69% of developers are self-taught and less than half hold a bachelor's degree. If companies value candidates on their degree alone they risk missing out on quality tech talent.
Using Jargoned Descriptions
Many leaders are revamping their job titles and descriptions to invoke a sense of fun and excitement for the applicant. The issue that arises is when candidates gloss over jobs with titles they’ve never heard of or don’t connect with. When creating new job titles for roles, make sure they’re ones that translate well into the role.
Leaders who seek the feedback of current employees to help brainstorm new titles benefit greatly when it comes to putting together a solid job description that speaks to ideal candidates. Current employees are able to bring a different and honest perspective to the discussion. They can accurately present any possible challenges with jargoned or unique job titles and introduce trendy titles on the market that competitors are having success with. Those currently in the role can also help create concise bullet points that speak the language of ideal candidates while accurately painting a picture of what the position entails.
Optimizing Postings For Mobile Devices
It’s no surprise technology has taken the lead in how workplace activities are conducted. This is no different to how recruiting candidates is done either. The new generation of workers have a short attention span when it comes to reading through novel-like job descriptions and want something that speaks to them while concisely getting their point across.
According to HR Digital Tech, 90% of job seekers use their mobile device to search for jobs and 89% of those believe mobile compatibility is crucial to how the job search is done. Companies who neglect to optimize their job posts for mobile devices risk them never being seen.
Creating A Lasting Impression
Recruiters and professionals tend to focus solely on candidates who progress through interview stages and neglect providing feedback to those who haven’t. Not only does this create a poor candidate experience but it prevents them from referring others who might be a better fit for the position. This causes companies to lose out on potential star talent.
Recruiters and HR professionals can prevent this by scheduling follow-ups and rejection emails as a mandatory part of the process. Dedicate one day a week to sending rejection emails with brief feedback to those who didn’t make it to the next stage. It's easy to forget just because they may not be the companies first choice, the company could be their only choice.
Making False Assumptions
Failing to ask applicants what their long-term goals are and making assumptions about their career interests is the easiest way to lose a good candidate. Henna Pryor, Recruiting Director and Career Coach at kforce has seen numerous mistakes in her 14-year career as a Finance and Accounting Recruiter. Pryor says, where most relationships go wrong is when recruiters don’t take the time to get to know their candidates.
Instead of directly asking them about their goals and motivations, they make false assumptions. This almost never works out well for the company. Dedicate one question to inquiring about their goals and career ambitions to make sure should they take the position, they're aligned with the development and career progression the company is able to provide.
Forcing Candidates Through A Poorly Designed Process
Poor candidate experiences aren’t exclusive to the interaction a recruiter has with a candidate . It’s also the way candidates navigate the application process. Companies who lack a visible link to the career page on their website risk losing applicants before they find it.
Stephanie Troiano at The Hire Talent says “in a tight labor market, forcing candidates through a cumbersome, lengthy and disjointed process is the easiest way to lose good candidates to other opportunities and competitors.” Troiano recommends a strong focus on creating a smooth and easy process without barriers and hoops to jump through.
At a recent HR event hosted by Join Solutions AG, Margarida Pfaumann, Head of HR at Travelcircus, spoke about the various ways companies can create a positive applicant experience. Pfaumann stressed the importance of candidate centricity and mentioned the challenges surrounding application processes.
She said, one of the reasons companies lose great candidates is because they create mazes for applicants to jump through such as requiring a login for user accounts and a lack of containerization for business units when searching open positions on websites.
If companies want to attract and win over tech talent, they must start by assessing their current recruiting strategy from start to finish and close any gaps that pose challenges for potential candidates. Developing a smooth and easy flow helps strengthen the way applicants navigate the recruiting process creating an overall positive candidate experience.
