When done properly, recruiting can be a highly rewarding experience. It is a great relief when you finally find a qualified candidate to fill an open position in what can be a stressful process of identifying and hiring candidates.
If you are consistently coming up empty-handed when it comes to filling open positions, it may be time to re-think some aspects of your talent acquisition process. There can be many reasons you are missing out on some of the best talent, so let's break down some of the common ones that tend to be overlooked.
7 Reasons Why You're Missing Out on Top Talent
1. Your Margins are Too Strict
Naturally, you want the candidate that is the best fit and, in your mind, you may have an idealized image of the perfect candidate. But in real life, the perfect candidate may not look or sound much like that picture.
A candidate who is a great fit for a role might look a bit different than you originally wanted, however, they may bring a lot of personality and experience in fields you may not have considered as relevant before meeting them. Keep an open mind, and you may be surprised with who you end up hiring.
2. You Recruit in the Wrong Places
Rather than throwing your hat into the ring on a general job site, tailor your offer to specific audiences. Offering employment to the general masses will, at best, lead to hundreds of unsuitable and irrelevant resumes sent to you or, at worst, miss your ideal candidate entirely. This will leave your talent acquisition team exhausted and frustrated.
Instead, figure out which social and professional websites your potential employee might visit and approach them directly. Do research to find a job board unique to the industry you’re in to concentrate on quality rather than quantity.
3. Making Assumptions
You may enter a dialogue or even an interview process with a candidate with a fixed idea in your mind about who they are. This is dangerous on two levels: firstly, it means you may be biased and not listen to their answers properly, and secondly, you may do that candidate a disservice in becoming frustrated when they don’t turn out to be the perfect hire that you had envisioned. This can be avoided by simply being aware of this risk and avoiding making assumptions before the interview.
4. Avoiding Job Seekers
There can be hesitation about hiring a candidate who is actively seeking a job because a misconception sometimes exists that all the good candidates are already employed. Therefore, recruiters often look outside the pool of job seekers and focus on passive candidates. However, active job seekers do make excellent candidates and should not be ignored as potential interviewees. You could easily be missing out on someone with the right qualifications for your organization if you focus on passive candidates.
Shaun Welsh, an HR Manager at Writemyx and Originwritings agrees, he states: “The jobs market is fairly fluid and people leave their jobs for a number of reasons; it doesn’t mean they’re not worth looking at. Take the time to look through their skill sets and length of time unemployed before making a rash decision.”
5. You Make It Too Personal
The talent acquisition process may feel entirely personal, but if you’re a recruiter, then personal feelings must not stand in the way of a good hire. Whether you like or dislike either the client or the candidate, your actions towards them should remain entirely neutral and your communications should reflect that. Professionalism is the only way forward, and it's often best to leave the feelings aside.
6. Trusting The Written Word
Once you’ve found who you believe to be the right candidate, the feeling of relief can be overwhelming. But without a thorough background check, you could be asking for trouble. Make sure you are not wasting your time with a candidate who could clearly be identified as a poor fit once you look past the surface.
“Sadly, people do lie, particularly people desperate for employment in a field where they may lack key qualifications. Yes, it takes a bit more effort, but don’t waste time recruiting someone who never should have joined the company in the first place”, says Sarah Faulks, an HR Consultant at 1Day2write.
7. Being Unprepared for the Interview
Interviewing can be just as nerve-racking for the recruiter as it is for the candidate, but now is not the time to let your nerves show. Careful preparation is key. Avoid throwing hundreds of questions at your candidate; it's far better to have a handful of carefully selected ones that reveal their talent and provide examples of relevant past work.
With a little forethought, the recruitment process can prove to be less daunting. Your ideal candidate could just be a few clicks away from a recruiting match made in heaven. And to ensure you have an even easier time recruiting the best talent, consider working with a talent partner, like DZConneX.
About the Author: Joel Syder works at Academic Brits as an HR analyst and writer. His passion in life is seeing people reach their potential in Information Technology. He also enjoys writing and sharing his knowledge and interests.
