Increasing applicant flow and conversion rate in many organizations has become a common challenge. You’ll need an efficient recruitment procedure to attract the appropriate personnel at the right time. Naturally, there was a need to evaluate our recruitment process, in the beginning, to determine what we might do to improve our candidate conversion rate. We began by redefining our recruitment process to meet our hiring requirements. As a result, we successfully enhanced the applicant experience, resulting in increased candidate conversion. We followed a 7-step recruitment process that helps us find, attract and retain suitable candidates. The steps are;
- Determine the hiring requirements.
- Job descriptions are mandatory.
- Create a recruitment plan.
- Candidates are screened and shortlisted.
- Organize interviews
- Make a decision and make an offer.
- Orient a new employee
Table of Contents
1st step: Determine the hiring requirements.
What are your current hiring requirements? It’s possible that an employee has recently left or a new job post has recently become available. After identifying the open positions, you may specify the job requirements, such as skills, knowledge, and experience. Checking your recruiting requirements can help you figure out what you need.
- An unexpected spike in workload that your staff can’t seem to keep up.
- Any employees that are about to leave the company
We use an organizational chart to list all of our present personnel and their skills. It allows us to understand what skills our organization has and what skills we will need in the future.
Step 2: Make a list of job descriptions.
Define the job role, responsibilities, and duties once you’ve identified the skills, knowledge, and experience gaps that need working. You’ll know what to search for in possible candidates if you have a detailed job description. It also acts as a checklist for candidates to complete before deciding whether or not they are qualified for the position and applying, resulting in more relevant candidates. A job description should include the following elements:
- Responsibilities of the Title
- Qualifications and abilities required
- benefits, compensation, and perks
- Location
The job applicant persona is a semi-fictional portrayal of an ideal candidate for the position you’re hiring for, similar to the buyer persona. Creating a candidate persona will assist you in determining what your candidate is looking for and how and where to locate them. It gives opportunity to
- Job descriptions, application forms, emails, training materials, and so on should all be more relevant.
- Determine the most effective recruiting channels.
- To attract qualified candidates, create high-quality, tailored content.
- Recognize the needs of your stakeholders in terms of candidates.
- In the future, update and reuse
Step 3: Come up with a recruitment plan.
This step is where you’ll figure out how to find and keep the best applicants. Consider whether you can locate a suitable candidate from within the firm or whether you need to hire someone from outside. Consider the following factors in your strategy:
- You’ll be focusing on a particular geographic area.
- The recruitment method (employee referrals, social media, video interviews, etc.)
- Creating relevant job advertisements
- Job-advertising channels (social media networks, job boards, company websites, etc.)
We also know that having the complete recruitment process defined in a flowchart would be beneficial. It allowed us to maintain the hiring process well-organized, keep the entire hiring team on the same page, and ensure that we followed the plan and didn’t miss any crucial steps.
Step 4: Conduct a background check and make a shortlist of prospects.
Your recruitment plan was a huge hit, and you’ve amassed a mountain of applications. What’ll happen next? When we face with a similar situation, we take the following steps –
- First, we sift through the applications to locate those that meet the basic requirements.
- Then we separate resumes based on preferred qualifications. This section looks at the applicant’s work history, certificates, domain and technical competencies, and skills.
- Candidates with the bare minimum of qualifications and credentials will be shortlisted.
- Please note any concerns we had about their application to address them during the interview.
Step 5: Conducting an Interview
This step is where your possible applicant will contact you directly after completing the application form or viewing the job advertisement. As a result, it’s time to make a solid first impression as a possible employer. And it is here that you should be most worried about candidate experience. Here’s how we made the candidate experience better. We’ve visualized the interview process to make it easier for our staff and the candidate. It’s simple, which helps to eliminate any ambiguity. We’d include it in the first email we sent to our chosen candidate. It gives them a better understanding of the process, how long it will take, and how to prepare for it.
Flexibility and a willingness to work around your candidate’s schedule are enormous pluses for you. We would let the candidate reserve a preferred time slot (depending on availability of time slots) with Calendly for our phone screening sessions and discussion sessions. We’d include the link in the relevant email, making the process smooth for both.
Step 6: Propose
Now is the time to check the references of the candidate. You can then make the offer if everything checks out. However, the first promising applicant you’ve chosen may decline. In this case, you must be willing to offer the second or third best candidate.
Final step- Employee Onboarding
After that, there’s employee onboarding. This step is where you help the new employee get used to their surroundings. It includes showing the new employee around the office and introducing them to others. It includes assisting them in comprehending their tasks and offering the resources and training they require to learn.