When it comes to your hiring strategy one of the more undervalued processes is the candidate journey. And this applies to both successful and unsuccessful applications.
Whether you manage your own recruitment process or engage with a specialist recruitment firm it’s important to set your stall out so to speak from the very start.
When you start your recruitment drive, whether that be through your own channels or partnering with a recruitment firm, you should always keep in mind that from the very start how you advertise and engage with prospective candidates is in itself a brand experience. Therefore, it’s important to plan and map out the journey.
Here are some key points to keep in mind:
When it comes to briefing your recruitment partners or internal talent teams be sure to create a clear job description as well as an overview document about your business. We all know it can appear quicker just to give a verbal brief but when it comes to candidate engagement it’s important that prospects have something to measure against. This will also help you throughout the interview process.
If you don’t bother writing a job description then you are opening yourself up to delays in the recruitment process and worse, possibly hiring the wrong person.
Make sure you also sense check how your recruitment partners handle application rejections. This is a biggie. Especially if you operate in a niche market. A bad application experience in today’s world where social media and Glassdoor are becoming strong channels to vent, can harm your brand. Make sure if the candidate has taken the time to apply, even if they aren’t right for the role, that you at the very least acknowledge and respond regardless.
When it comes to promoting your business and the role it’s worth noting that as we work within the marketing sector, your target audience are going to have higher expectations than most. That’s why we recommend going beyond just a simple job description. Go that extra step and pull together an overview document that talks about your business values, the culture, how you invest in people and what you are really about.
Always remember, hiring is a two-way street. More so now than ever. It’s a buoyant market and in particular there is a shortage of talent within the B2B marketing space. So it’s more important now than ever to highlight your differentiators and lay out your story. People want to be inspired. Not left feeling they should just be lucky to have a job.
Gone are the days where employers could expect a candidate to dance for them. In a marketing world where we are more emotionally connected than ever and talk about storytelling, brand experience and being inspired, you should reflect this in your recruitment strategy.
Finally, be clear on the process from start to finish. This includes response times to CV submissions through to clarity on when you want to see someone start.
CV response times especially. If your recruitment partner is doing their job you shouldn’t be awash with CV’s. At most we’d expect you to meet no more than 5 candidates as the pre screening process should be completed by your trusted recruitment partner. Not treating you like a CV conveyor belt hoping that something sticks. No one has time for that.
If you’d like to chat about your recruitment strategy for 2019 or would like more tips on how to streamline your hiring process we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at jacqui@jeffersongroup.co.uk.
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