Recruitment Solutions: 5 Challenges to Keep in Mind

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Let’s be honest, after the Covid-19 pandemic talent acquisition has become an egg hunt; just like everything else in the post-pandemic era, hiring processes have changed. And with new demands from both clients and job-seekers, recruiters are facing a brand-new set of challenges. 

Since we know first-hand how exhausting hiring and retaining top talent is, it’s highly recommended that you keep an eye on these 5 recruitment challenges and solutions:

#1 Attracting qualified candidates

This is the neverending recruitment challenge. It doesn’t matter how modern your recruitment process is or the extension of your reach, you’ll always find an overwhelming number of available candidates eager to be part of client companies, but who may lack the experience or abilities to fulfill the position. 

76% of HR Managers admitted attracting qualified candidates is the biggest challenge of the hiring process.

Glassdoor

And no, it isn’t something that can easily be filtered with job postings. Actually, 76% of HR Managers admitted this is the biggest challenge of the hiring process during 2020 and 2021. Vetting candidates for the right qualifications is extremely time-consuming and can prolong onboarding new employees; a suggestion is to reduce the margin of error by being specific about what you’re looking for and once the interview process begins, asking the right questions to discover the best fit. 

#2 Maintaining good employer branding

This is a key selling point for job seekers, especially if you’re looking to attract more high performers. To clarify the importance of overcoming this recruitment challenge, picture this scenario: you’re getting a much-needed and long-overdue vacation. So, you start looking for a nice hotel with superb accommodations. The first places that come to mind are those with a strong online presence and positive feedback between travelers. 

The same is true for top talent looking for a new job. Prospective employees will do extensive research before taking a job, they might even compare companies with their competitors. Suppose you’re having trouble getting quality candidates. In that case, you should increase your virtual presence by sharing positive testimonials, and endorsements from current and former clients as well as contributing to topics within your industry with valuable content on social platforms.

#3 Increasing your reach

As contradictory as it may appear, failure in attracting ideal candidates is related to one of the most common issues of recruitment processes: your candidate reach. If you’re not getting the expected results, your job postings are probably not getting the right visibility.

If this sounds familiar, you’ll have better luck if you diversify your techniques. Perhaps where your posts are circulating is impacting its exposure. These 3 solutions will help boost candidate reach:

• Planning a multichannel recruitment strategy that includes referrals from former clients
• Cross-posting on job boards, social media, and other platforms
• Optimizing your job descriptions 

#4 Crafting good candidate experiences

Remember the hotel analogy? A candidate’s experience is where good or bad reviews are born. If you think the only opinions that matter are the ones from successful placements, well… think twice. Nowadays, rejected candidates have countless options to share their experience during recruitment processes. So the way you treat those you’re serving will affect your reputation. 

While this is an important problem associated with recruitment and talent sourcing, there are a lot of recruiters that don’t picture this as a challenge on the map, and ironically, the solution for this one is pretty simple. Walking your candidate through rejection with compassion is the best way to smooth over negative outcomes.

Don’t just send them an email notifying them they didn’t get the job, instead, give them a phone call where you can provide feedback, be empathic and respectful, and encourage them to stay interested in trying out future job openings.

#5 Shortening recruitment time 

At last, the trickiest one. Hiring is expensive for companies. On one hand, a long process means investing more time and resources. On the other hand, rushing to fill a position could lead clients to a bad hire.

The estimated length of a recruitment process in the U.S. is 23.8 days on average.

Glassdoor

Another aspect to consider about this challenge is the expectation about recruitment time, which is 23.8 days on average for a hiring process in the U.S.

This means that applicants are more likely to drop off the recruitment process if it’s taking too long, or even worse, they could be hired by competitors. If you want to get top talent, be quick, optimize your procedures to have only the stages you really need, communicate effectively, but most importantly, if you have a strong candidate don’t hesitate to get them in front of a hiring manager!

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Contributed by Luis Arellano