The goal of every company is to launch its products, increase brand awareness, create a positive employer brand, and/or be successful as soon as possible. However, many companies overlook one important thing – the hiring process.

Finding the right talent for your company should never be an afterthought. Actively creating and refining the process of finding, screening, and hiring employees is vital because employees are the very lifeblood of any business. Since recruiting the right people can be a deciding factor between success and failure, companies must know how to do so properly. 

The end goal is to acquire top-tier talent and to do that, the company must have an effective hiring process. So, what should businesses do to ensure they have the strongest possible hiring system in place? Let’s find out.

The Benefits Of Having A Strong Hiring Process

Companies cannot afford to make bad hiring decisions since just one mistake can cost them more than the time and money invested in recruiting and onboarding a new employee. If they pick the wrong candidate, it can also cost them their customers and impact the bottom line. That is why it’s so important to have an effective hiring process that can help attract and retain the best employees. 

Aside from attracting the right candidate who will get along with other employees and stay for the long run to develop and rise through the ranks, other benefits of having an efficient hiring process are:

• Saving money on recruiting – It can be quite expensive to recruit a new employee (up to $4000), so you will want to avoid doubling or tripling the hiring costs by choosing the wrong candidate.
• Saving time – According to the Society of Human Resource Management, it can take up to 36 days to fill an open job position, but with a strong hiring process, this time can be split in half.
• Limit damages – The wrong hire can fail to connect with other employees and might not be great at their job, which could cause financial or reputational damage to the brand.
• Training effectiveness – It can be expensive and time-consuming to train a new hire. If done right, the employee will stay in the company, but if done badly, you will have to start the recruiting and training process all over again.
• Security – When working, employees need to have access to confidential information, data, systems, accounting, passwords, and more.. When a bad hire suddenly leaves, they can take this valuable info with them.

How To Strengthen Your Hiring Process?

The goal of every company is to create an unbiased hiring process that highlights its company culture, mission, vision, values, and purpose while aligning with the needs of the ideal candidate. To strengthen this process, companies should consider:

1. Create Inspiring Job Descriptions

Every hiring process starts with a job ad, therefore, the first step in strengthening the hiring process should be improving your job descriptions. A job description should be as appealing as possible to inspire a potential candidate to reach out. To attract top talent, think of including the following details in your job offer:

• What your company expects from the candidate to succeed in the position
• Your company culture, targets, interests, and the type of customers you serve
• A clearly defined list of skills required for the position, including the must-have, and the nice-to-have skills, you’d like a suitable candidate to have; and
• How you reward successful job candidates who accept your offer.

All of the job descriptions should be consistent to ensure that applicants across all platforms will have the same experience. Avoid complicated sentences and jargon and speak clearly and directly to candidates. Don’t use discriminatory language, and if your company actively supports diversity make sure to point that out.

2. Adopt One Pre-Screening Call Per Candidate

It’s a known fact that companies can take weeks, if not months, to hire new employees. This is costly,time-consuming, and unfortunately something most organizations still do. According to data from Recruitment Buzz, 36% of companies take approximately four to eight weeks to hire, while 27% take as long as eight to twelve weeks. This long screening process should never be an option for any company.

To avoid this, companies might adopt one pre-screening call per candidate. This call would cover:

• Confirmation of application
• A clear and concise overview of the company and the job position
• Validation of the candidate’s resume and their acceptance of the salary range
• Determining that the candidate is legally allowed to work at the company’s location
• Discovering what expectations the candidate has of their employer
• Other necessary clarifications from the candidate
• Answering any questions from the candidate
• Guidance on the next step in the hiring process.

3. Make Interviews Thorough And Fair

The goal of a job interview is to bring out the best in every candidate, not to stress them or make them feel interrogated. Candidates should know what to expect in the selection process and receive interview questions beforehand so they can prepare. Interview questions should be standardized and scoreable so everyone can have an equal fighting chance. As for the questions like: ‘Where do you see yourself in five years time?’ or ‘If you were an animal, what would you be and why?’, make sure to skip them – for good.

On the other hand, a company should consider including the following:

• Introductory conversation – This is where a candidate can give their researched impression and knowledge of the company
• Reviewing of work samples and assignments – This is where an interviewer can evaluate work samples from candidates’ portfolios or ask candidates to complete tasks as part of the recruitment process
• Tests – By incorporating standardized tests, interviewers can reduce the number of job seekers, thus saving time. This is especially useful when combined with other assignments, like work samples
• Listening and communication skills – This is where a candidate can talk about their passions
• Practical exercises or games – This is valuable for determining interaction with others and the cultural fit.

*To avoid introducing bias, discuss candidates with colleagues only if they’ve been through the whole recruiting process.

4. Create An Evidence-Based Way Of Rating Success

To ensure the hiring process is 100% fair, companies should develop a scoring spectrum that fits both the company and the position. With this scoring system in place, a company can guarantee fairness regardless of who is doing the interview.

A scoring spectrum for rating a candidate can be, for instance, one to five, with an included space for a description where the interviewer can leave comments. The good idea is to include other employees in the hiring process. Aside from supporting the hiring team, employees might have deeper conversations with quality candidates and provide them with a glimpse of what it is like working in the company. A diverse hiring committee can allow for a broad range of perspectives and make the hiring process even fairer, ensuring consistent standards are used throughout the process.

Conclusion

In the business world, things are constantly changing, including the way organizations hire new employees. If companies are still holding onto old, ineffective hiring processes, they should consider creating a better system as soon as possible. 

Recruiters and HR departments today have so much to balance when sourcing top talent. That’s where a professional recruiting agency comes in.

Hundreds of new candidates are looking for job openings every day, and CIBR Warriors are here to help you find the right one for you. For more help in advancing your career or finding a qualified candidate in IT and Cybersecurity, contact us. We’d be happy to answer your questions and provide you with the best advice for getting started.