Why is it important to review your company’s recruitment process?

No matter where you’re based in the world, and where your shiny new role might be based – if you’re looking to attract the best talent, it’s best to review your entire recruitment process. In other words, your end-to-end recruiting process. After all, you want to bring in the right people to the business you’ve worked hard to build.

Today’s hiring leaders need around 29 days to fill a role in New Zealand, and recruitment spend is around $6,429 for a single role. That’s a lot of time and money that goes into the recruitment process, and it’s only getting tougher out there, so make sure that the way you go about it is as useful and positive as possible.

One of the main priorities around recruiting should always be the candidate experience. If you make the process a good one for candidates, you support your reputation, can build a talent pool for the future and keep the best talent interested right up until the job offer.

Case in point – statistics show that 18% of candidates who didn’t hear back after an application took negative action against the company. These actions include refusing to recommend it to others (16%) and leaving a negative review about the company online (2%).

How you recruit people at your company is just as important as how you support your clients, or manage your operations. It’s all a way to become a top-performing company.

The main steps of the recruitment process

1. Identify hiring needs

As a small business, it can be hard to know when the right time to start hiring employees is. If you’re a HR leader, you have to work with the hiring manager to identify what resources are needed, and fit that into the company budget. It can be helpful to write up a business case that you can present to business leaders, to ensure everyone is on the same page.

2. Advertise the role

Now that you know exactly the type of candidate you’re looking for, the next step is to figure out where they might be looking for their dream job – in other words, your new role! Consider what platforms and mediums are at your disposal, whether that’s job boards, apps like Swag or social media.

Make sure that you’ve got a brilliant job description too, one that describes the role and your expectations clearly, as well as your employer value proposition (EVP).

Pssst… have you heard about SmartMatch yet? It’s our new feature at Employment Hero that can automatically find you the perfect candidate from our database. Find out more about SmartMatch here. 

3. Shortlist and interview candidates

Now onto interviewing. How many rounds are there until that elusive final round interview in your process? The interview process is quite often the biggest factor that filters out the good – and not so good candidates. It’s key that you make it productive and interesting for everyone, for a peak candidate experience.

For instance, if a role sounds amazing – but there are too many interview rounds, chances are they will find another job half way through your process because it is too time consuming. It also takes away your team from their day to day priorities.

4. Extend a job offer

Sending a letter of offer is arguably one of the most exciting – and nerve-wracking parts of the process for an employer. You want to make sure you’re offering up something that your dream candidate will jump at the chance at.

Have peace of mind by keeping everything in one place using Employment Hero’s recruiting software, which digitises the whole job offer step. That way, when they move onto the onboarding process you can keep track of what needs signing.

5. Onboard the new employee

When a new employee starts it can be easy to let them rush into things. However, for their long-term success within the company, we’d advise against this. Before they start you’ll need to ensure that their contract, policies and paperwork is all up to scratch. Then when they do start, there should be a proper induction plan in place to ease them into the business. Make sure your onboarding and induction process is super clear and structured.

The features of a top-performing recruitment team

A top-notch recruitment team are talent-hunting superheroes, who know exactly what skills and vibes a company needs. Their communication game is strong, making everyone in the hiring process feel respected and informed, whether it’s the candidates or the hiring managers. They know exactly what is required when building a recruitment strategy.

Plus, they know how to use technology. From using the latest recruitment software to track candidates to crunching data to predict future hiring trends, they know innovation is the key to successful hires and staying ahead of competitors.

How often should you review recruitment processes?

The frequency of reviewing your recruitment process depends on various factors such as the company’s growth rate, industry changes, feedback from candidates and hiring managers, and the effectiveness of current practices. However, as a general guideline, it’s a good idea to review and update recruitment practices at least once a year.

Sometimes certain factors might prompt more frequent reviews. For instance, if there’s a significant shift in the company’s goals or structure, a high turnover rate, or if there are consistent challenges in finding the right candidates, it might be time to assess your recruitment process.

Regularly seeking feedback from both candidates and hiring managers can also provide insights into areas that need improvement, so make sure you’re taking time to get feedback on your recruitment process and respond in turn.

Streamline your hiring process

There’s always room for improvement when it comes to recruitment. Whether it’s communication, advertising, applicant tracking or effective onboarding, technology can make things a lot, lot easier.

That’s where Employment Hero can help your hiring team. Our applicant tracking system has everything you need to streamline the recruitment process, from creating talent pools and setting up candidate profiles to onboarding new employees in just a few clicks.

Learn more about how we can help you support your team by speaking with one of our business specialists today.