Managing seasonal recruitment in retail

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Is your organisation coping with seasonal recruitment demands? Seasonal recruitment is common in retail. You may need more team members before Christmas, or during summer. For fluctuating recruitment demands, here are the best strategies to manage seasonal recruitment. 

Being able to meet customer needs when your business kicks into “seasonal overdrive” is critical. To ensure this year’s seasonal shift is as cost-effective, stress-free and productive as possible, use these strategies to manage seasonal recruitment.

Put a number on it 

Start by identifying the number of team members you will need in which locations and departments.

Use key learnings from past seasons

Understand which areas of your business will need extra support based on data from previous years and factor in growth throughout the year to create a plan. Consider issues you’ve faced previously and set a plan to plug these holes preemptively.

Create an attraction and hiring strategy

Implement sound attraction and hiring methods. Because seasonal employees may not remain in your business over the long term, advertising, hiring and onboarding costs through traditional methods can sometimes outweigh returns. But there are a number of strategies to cut down on the time and resources it takes to attract, screen and hire candidates.

Some smart attraction and hiring methods you could use include:

  • An employee referral system – offer rewards and incentives to current team members for every successful referral they make to you (after all, great talent knows great talent!)
  • Advertising in-store – a low-cost way to win applications from customers who already know, like and trust your brand
  • An effective Candidate Management System – allowing you and your hiring managers to work collaboratively to screen candidates with ease in a single location
  • Talent pooling – reach out to candidates who have previously expressed an interest in working with your organisation
  • Delegating tasks to your front-line managers
  • Use Group Assessment Days to assess and hire candidates in bulk.

Use the right technology 

You may need to screen hundreds of applications, so being able to digitally screen, compare and invite candidates to be interviewed will save you time and effort when recruiting high volumes. Using a Candidate Management System will go a long way in saving you time and making your processes more efficient.

Use screening tools 

Lastly, ensure you’re hiring the right person for the role. Hiring the wrong person whose values do not accurately match your company can cause massive issues and negative brand consequences. This, combined with the stress of the seasonal period, means you can’t afford to suffer from mis-hires or allow customer service to deteriorate.

Consider using behavioural and skills testing, and reference checks to feel confident in your hiring decision.

Effectively screen candidates to ensure their values and experience matches what you are looking for. Ask quality questions to gain insight into candidates’ character and how they will perform in your team.

For more information about talent attraction, recruitment technology, or screening solutions, contact us at info@employmentoffice.com.au or on 1300 366 573.

Nurturing your talent pool: 3 of the best ways to foster candidate care

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Candidate care is an important aspect of recruitment that needs to be handled thoughtfully and deliberately. You need to be straightforward, but still considerate of your talent pool as individuals.

Candidate care is the respect, time and way you interact with your job candidates. Candidate care is critical in today’s talent market, as it has long-term impact on your ability to attract the best people. (Bad first impressions can be almost impossible to recover from!)

Candidate care starts the moment you write and post your position description, and it extends throughout your hiring process, right through to when you and the candidate decide to part ways. Candidate care is always important, whether you offer candidates the role, or not.

Candidate care isn’t just a “thank you” gift to applicants. If you leave a candidate waiting at reception, re-ask the same questions they’ve answered three times before, go into meetings unprepared, reschedule at the last minute … twice, or fail to get back to them in a timely manner, there’s very little that will change your candidate’s negative impression of your organisation.

Here are Employment Office’s top tips for optimising candidate care to leave a positive impression on all your candidates.

Use great communication

When recruiting to fill a vacancy, it’s easy to make your primary focus the top candidate you’re looking to hire. But what about the remainder of your talent pool who took the time and effort to apply?

For applicants who are ineligible due to their location, salary expectations or other reasons, you may choose to notify them within the first week or two that they have been unsuccessful in a simple, straightforward email, thanking them for their time. Candidates much rather receiving unsuccessful feedback than hearing nothing at all. Not to mention, candidates may contact you regarding the status of their application, which can end up being more time-consuming for you.

For those who have passed your initial screening questions or whose applications you are still considering, a simple email at the two or three week mark to let them know that you are still reviewing applications is another great way to use communication to keep your candidates informed.

For those who have progressed to the later stages of the process but have been unsuccessful, take them time to give them a personalised phone call. If you don’t reach them over the phone, leave them a voicemail message and follow up with an email. While an email for those in the early stages is adequate, for candidates who have progressed and taken time out their days to participate in interviews and other screening activities, a phone call is the best way build good relationships and strengthen your brand image. Who knows? This simple gesture may encourage them to apply for another role in the future for which they are an even better fit.

A strong candidate management system will enable you to sort applications and bulk email candidates with easy templates to deliver unsuccessful feedback, invite candidates for interviews and more. That way, good communication doesn’t require a hefty time investment.

Keep your talent pool engaged

Just because candidates don’t meet the requirements of a role you are advertising, doesn’t mean they won’t be suitable for other roles, or may be suitable after they gain more experience in the future.

Engage your talent pool by giving unsuccessful candidates an attractive call to action. Encourage them to apply for other roles, sign up to be notified of future opportunities or follow your organisation on social media.

By engaging your talent pool, you will strengthen your employer brand and increase the chances of better quality applications in the future (from candidates who feel positively about your brand!).

Provide feedback

If your candidates have made it to the final stages of the process, it is important to provide them with feedback as to why they haven’t progressed further. Candidates can feel disheartened making it to the final stages and not receiving the role, which can feel worse if they are not provided with any feedback as to why they were not chosen.

By reaching out to them with a personalised phone call, thanking them for their time and providing some brief feedback, you will deliver a positive brand experience to your candidates. It might be that they were a great fit for the role, however, the top applicant simply had an additional qualification or skill which made them stand out, which can encourage them to apply for another role in the future.

Feedback is an essential part of candidate care. LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report states 94% of candidates want interview feedback, but only 41% receive it. The report states, ‘Talent is 4x more likely to consider your company for future opportunity when you offer them constructive feedback’.

Employment Office’s Shortlisting and Selection specialists are experts in candidate care and can deliver unsuccessful notifications and provide feedback on your behalf, representing your organisation with the utmost professionalism.

To find out more about how Employment Office can improve candidate care in your organisation, contact us on 1300 366 573.

Tips for retail HR professionals to manage seasonal recruitment demand

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Are you challenged by seasonal recruitment demands in retail? You’re not alone. It’s common for organisations in the retail industry to need more team members before Christmas, or during summer. For fluctuating recruitment demands, here are the best strategies to manage seasonal recruitment. 

It’s important to be able to meet customer needs when your business kicks into seasonal overdrive. To ensure this year’s seasonal shift is as cost-effective, stress-free and productive as possible for you and your team, use these strategies to manage seasonal recruitment.

Start by identifying the number of team members you will need in which locations and departments. Understand which areas of your business will need extra support based on data from previous years and factor in growth throughout the year to create a plan. Consider issues you’ve faced previously and set a plan to plug these holes preemptively.

Then, use smart attraction and hiring methods. Because seasonal employees may not remain in your business over the long term, advertising, hiring and onboarding costs through traditional methods can sometimes outweigh returns. But there are a number of strategies to cut down on the time and resources it takes to attract, screen and hire candidates.

Some smart attraction and hiring methods you could use include:

  • An employee referral system – offer rewards and incentives to current team members for every successful referral they make to you (after all, great talent knows great talent!)
  • Advertising in-store – a low-cost way to win applications from customers who already know, like and trust your brand
  • An effective Candidate Management System – allowing you and your hiring managers to work collaboratively to screen candidates with ease in a single location
  • Talent pooling – reach out to candidates who have previously expressed an interest in working with your organisation
  • Delegating tasks to your front-line managers 
  • Using Group Assessment Days to assess and hire candidates in bulk.

You may need to screen hundreds of applications, so being able to digitally screen, compare and invite candidates to be interviewed will save you time and effort when recruiting high volumes.

Lastly, ensure you’re hiring the right person for the role. Hiring the wrong person whose values do not accurately match your company can cause massive issues and negative brand consequences. This, combined with the stress of the seasonal period, means you can’t afford to suffer from mis-hires or allow customer service to deteriorate.

Effectively screen candidates to ensure their values and experience matches what you are looking for. Ask quality questions to gain insight into candidates’ character and how they will perform in your team.

For more information about talent attraction or support to manage seasonal recruitment needs, call us on 1300 366 573 or email  info@employmentoffice.com.au.

How Council can move from ad hoc to standardised recruitment

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Many local governments lack standardised recruitment because their processes are full of ad hoc tools, checklists, and templates that team members have developed over time. Hiring managers each have their own procedures and questions they like to ask. Here’s how to implement best practice. 

This lack of standardisation dramatically slows down the hiring process and prevents local government from securing great talent. It leads to qualified candidates being unavailable or uninterested when it comes time to schedule interviews—which can be months after they submit their resumes.

The good news is, it’s possible to standardise your recruitment processes in an easy, straightforward and cost-effective way through recruitment technology. The right recruitment technology allows you and your teams to deliver a consistent, positive candidate experience and build a positive brand image.

Here are some ways you can build consistency into your recruitment process.

Use branded templates to communicate with candidates 

We are strong proponents of candidate care. Candidate care is a crucial long-term strategy to consistently attracting great talent and building a positive brand image. The foundation of candidate care is good communication and feedback, and this doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated.

Recruitment technology allows you to build standardised email templates personalised with your copy, branding and signature to send to candidates with the click of a button. Deliver unsuccessful feedback, invite candidates to be interviewed and progress them to the next stages.

Book interviews through tech 

Scheduling interviews can be challenging without the right tools. It can be hard to catch candidates over the phone, and back and forth emailing takes time. Use recruitment technology to send bulk invitations and allow candidates to select from a range of times that suit them.

Use behavioural-based interview questions 

Different roles require different interview questions. So, how can Council standardise this process? Behavioural interview questions will give you far greater insights into your candidates than hypothetical or personal questions. By asking candidates about their experience, you allow them to demonstrate the capabilities you are looking for.

It’s a great idea to deliver these questions with context.

For example, “In this role, you will need to demonstrate excellent attention to detail. Can you tell me about a time where you’ve had to work with a high degree of accuracy?” 

(For more tips about best practice interviewing, schedule a discussion with our knowledgable Shortlisting and Selection Specialists.

Conduct video interviews 

60% of hiring managers and recruiters are using video interviewing technology to shorten their time to hire and streamline their processes. Incorporate video screening as part of the first round of interviews you conduct with candidates, record and share them with hiring managers to save time and better inform your face-to-face interview stage.

Use templates for contracts and onboarding 

Onboarding is a crucial opportunity to make a great first impression on your new hire. Streamlining your onboarding process will drastically improve your new hire’s perception of your workplace as you introduce them to your organisation.

Use recruitment technology to send your contracts and letters of offer digitally, and allow your new hires to accept them online.

Ad hoc recruitment is stressful and time-consuming, so standardising your recruitment processes makes life easier for you, your hiring managers and your candidates. Use recruitment technology and specialist support to gain confidence in your procedures, knowing that you’re using best practice and obtaining the best recruitment results.

For more information about how recruitment technology and specialist support can help you, submit an enquiry or speak to one of our knowledgable specialists on 1300 366 573. 

3 ways personality tests improve productivity and retention

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Personality tests are a powerful and effective way to inform your final hiring decision. But instead of considering it as a selection tool, why not consider it as a way to improve productivity and retention too? 

You may be familiar with personality tests, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), which are a great way to gain a deeper understanding of your top shortlisted candidates. While personality tests shouldn’t make or break your hiring decision, they can inform your decision. Personality tests are also a great method of improving productivity and retention by helping you better understand new hires, your current team, the way they think and who they’ll work well with. Here are the benefits you can expect to see by using personality testing as a retention tool. 

1. Improved communication and understanding 

Gaining a better understanding of the way you and your team members think will help you understand the best way to work well together. By becoming aware of the small and major differences in your thought processes, you can identify the best ways to brief them for new tasks or help them overcome shortfalls.

For example, if you are a sensory thinker and your team member is an intuition-based thinker, the way you phrase a brief may affect the way they understand the task.  By using personality insights, you can drastically improve communication in your team, obtain buy-in an increase productivity.

2. Improved work style 

A personality test may reveal you prefer thinking in a “judging manner”, meaning you like to be organised and make a clear plan. On the other hand, you may discover your team member prefers thinking in a “perceiving approach”, that is, big picture thinking, instead of focusing on the smaller details. As a team, this probably means you’ll disagree about strategy and may have to compromise a lot; but understanding their personality and working style can enable you to complement each other’s strengths and work in a style that helps you reach your end goal. 

Understanding people’s preferred way to work will give you a road map on how to accomplish projects and tasks (thus increasing productivity!). 

3. Resolving personality clashes 

Unfortunately, personality clashes between colleagues can drive people out of an organisation. By conducting personality testing, everyone in your team will understand how their way of thinking fits with others, which can improve communication and understanding. This arms you and your team members with the knowledge and skills to reach compromises, diffuse situation, communicate effectively and work well together. 

For more information on how personality testing can improve productive and retention in your organisation, speak to one of our Shortlisting and Selection Specialists today. Call us on 1300 366 573 or email info@employmentoffice.com.au.

Here are 5 great questions to ask when hiring for NFP

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Hiring for NFP can be a difficult task. There are so many candidates out there who have the right skills on paper for the job.

The best way to distinguish the best hire would be out of your shortlisted candidates is during a face-to-face interview. However, choosing the best questions to ask during your interview that reveals as much about the candidate as possible without throwing them off their game can be tough.

Here are suggestions of five great questions you can ask to find the best hire possible for your NFP vacancy:

Tell me about a time when you were really happy at work

This question will help you to detail the kinds of things that motivates the individual. You’ll also be able to distinguish whether your organisation is able to offer these things. For example, if the candidate was really happy when they’d received great feedback from a family that they’d helped; you’ll be able to tell that they were motivated by praise and acceptance.

Can you detail a situation where you worked well in a team and explain the role you had?

This one is fairly common across a number of industries, but it remains incredibly important for most NFP roles. Here you’ll be able to tell whether the candidate thinks themselves most suited to leadership and whether they are more of a follower. Dependant on the role you are hiring for, you should be able to tell whether or not they’ll be suited to team and work style required for the role.

Can you describe a time when you had to work within a limited budget?

It’s no secret that the non-profit sector is financially challenged. The candidate should understand this and be aware of the limited funds and resources that are made available to them. The ability to describe the creative ways in which they managed a limitation will be an enlightening reveal of their work style and thinking process.

Tell me about a difficult day you’ve had at work and why it was difficult

This question will also reveal a lot about what motivates a candidate, what they can find challenging and whether they are more logically or emotionally driven. Some candidates may struggle with the emotional elements of a role and therefore may not be suited to a role that can be emotionally challenging or draining. Where others may take this more literally and discuss a difficult problem that they had to solve and their thought processes.

How have your previous experiences prepared you for the non-profit sector?

This is quite an important question and is able to be answered by everyone. The candidates answer will detail why they’ve chosen to work in NFP and explain how their experiences (work related or otherwise) have prepared them for the sector. This is also a great way of discovering what motivates the person. Perhaps they are motivated by the want to help others or have a personal association with this particular NFP.

There are many more questions which can be asked…

If you’d like some general advice on the best screening questions to use in an interview, you can read and download our handy guide here. If you need help with your shortlisting process, get in touch with Employment Office on 1300 366573 or email info@employmentoffice.com.au.

Candidate Shortlisting for NFP and Healthcare: Hiring for Attitude

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While for some industries their main recruitment issue is attracting talent in the first place, for industries like healthcare and the not-for-profit sector, there is a huge pool of potential candidates. The problem with this, is the need to reduce the candidate pool significantly. So how can we do this?

It is a misconception that in the NFP and healthcare industry, it is easy to find the perfect candidate. Yes, there are plenty of people within the talent pool that have the right hard skills to do the job; but many are similar as the required qualifications are so niche to their industry.

This is where softer skills come into play; however, these are difficult to determine from a resume alone and when you could easily have fifty-plus applicants attracted to one job advert, you could spend hours with candidates determining their softer skills.

How can you filter your candidates down before face-to-face interviews?

We’ve come up with some shortlisting techniques that might help you narrow down your candidates and identify those who have the best attitudes ready for final interviews.

1. Phone Interviews

Conducting phone interviews are a much quicker way of directly speaking to an individual and getting a gut feeling of their attitude to the work they will be doing if they were successful. While this is certainly an option that will take some time, it will be significantly less time consuming to speak with each individual over the phone briefly than to organise individual interviews that could last the good part of an hour.

2. Group Interview Days

Split your candidates into a few groups and organise group interview days. By setting tasks and discussion points, you should be able to quickly determine which candidates have the softer skills you are looking for and those who would suit your organisation. The added benefit is seeing how they interact with other people when performing tasks, their potential for growth and their ability to think on their feet.

Shortlisting tip: When figuring out how many candidates you should invite to group interviews, multiply the amount of people you want to hire by 3 and invite that number. This gives you a nice range of candidates and a better idea of how many resumes you need to screen before finding those candidates.

3. Behavioural Testing

This is where behavioural testing could be an excellent option. Using a Candidate Management System (CMS) you can immediately filter through the candidates that will not fit your preferable behavioural style upon initial application. So those who qualify for their hard skills but whose behavioural style doesn’t fit your desired ethos would immediately be apparent.

“This all sounds great, but I don’t have the time to do this!”

We know hiring for healthcare and the NFP industry can be demanding and time consuming. That’s where we come in. Employment Office can comprehensively screen all of your applicants and determine the best talent from the pool for your vacancy so you can save time and expenses.

If you’d like to hear more about how we can screen your potential hires, contact us today on 1300 366573 or email info@employmentoffice.com.au.

The 4 most important screening questions to include in your recruitment advertisements

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Using screening questions in recruitment advertisements is the fastest way to efficiently create a great shortlist of candidates. These four screening questions and additional tips are an invaluable way to find your ideal candidate, sooner. 

Many recruiters understand the importance of providing a great candidate experience and how, a part of this, is making it easy for candidates to apply online. Sometimes, recruiters are reluctant to add an extra layer to your recruitment process, thinking it will reduce applications. Interestingly however, many high-quality candidates like answering screening questions, as it gives them a way to highlight their key skills and stand out from other applicants.

We recently shared the 6 reasons to include screening questions in your recruitment advertisements, from distinguishing serious applicants from tire kickers and reducing the time required to create a great shortlist, to having a consistent format to analyse. But did you know screening questions can effectively act as a cover letter and give you the opportunity to ask candidates more relevant questions?

While you, of course, want to have a structured list of screening questions for your phone, video and in-person interviews, the following list includes the best questions to use specifically in your recruitment advertisements.

1. “Do you have the unrestricted legal right to live and work in Australia?” (Yes/no)

Overseas applicants will always apply for roles. However, this simple yes/no question allows you to eliminate candidates applying from overseas (from the “no” responses). If your organisation is not accepting overseas applicants, include a statement to this effect in your advertisement and target the advertisement in your specified location.

That being said, your organisation might be willing to offer relocation assistance fees, whether that be within Australia or from overseas. But even so, include this question in your advertisement as it’s useful to be informed about a candidate’s current location and residential status.

If your organisation is open to accepting candidates from overseas, you can include optional additional questions. For example, a recruiter advertising for temporary roles such as fruit pickers might not require candidates to be Australian citizens. If a candidate selects the “yes” response, the recruiter can also include a question asking candidates to specify the terms of their visa (if applicable).

2. “If you hold any relevant qualifications, please detail them here.”

If the role you are advertising for requires specific qualifications, this is a great question to ask in your recruitment advertisement instead of sifting through resumes or waiting for the interview stage.

Even if you do not require specific qualifications, this is still a useful optional question to include as “highly regarded” with the note “if applicable”, so you can quickly rank top candidates.

Qualifications should include all certifications and licenses, not just education. For example, first aid certificates.

Ask candidates to list their qualifications with institution names and dates obtained.

3. “Please outline your relevant experience in [skill/s relevant to the role].”

Depending on your role, you may prefer to merge the above questions 2 and 3. If your roles typically receive hundreds of applications, including these questions will drastically reduce your time to shortlist. Those candidates with relevant qualifications, experience and skills can be ranked higher on your shortlist.

As stated above, even if you do not require previous experience, it’s still a useful optional question to include as “highly regarded” with the note “if applicable”, so you can rank top candidates faster.

4. “If you were to be successful, what date could you commence?”

Many organisations require their employees to provide a four week notice period. If you have two equally great candidates that you are struggling to distinguish between, one may be able to start next week, and the other in a month or two. Which one will you choose? This is a really helpful question to give you a better idea about your candidates’ commitments and requirements.

Additional questions 

What kind of culture and employer brand does your organisation have? It can be useful to include a fun or behavioural question that reflects your culture. While it may not be appropriate for a construction role, it can work for a role that is more creative, or if you have a social office where cultural and behavioural fit is important. For example, an organisation hiring for a creative marketing role asked candidates, “if you could be any animal, which would you be, and why?”. These type of questions allow candidates to showcase their personality and creativity. It’s a great way to find those hidden gems!

Another screening question that is not as common is asking candidates to outline their salary expectations. Sometimes organisations advertise for roles, receive few responses and are unsure if this is to do with the salary range they have specified. Other times, they’re just not sure what they should be paying! While a good recruitment specialist will conduct market research and provide a sound recommendation, asking this screening question in your recruitment advertisement is an extra way to gauge candidate expectations.

Important final tips

Research reveals if you have more than five screening questions, the number of applications submitted drops by 50%, with significant drop-off rates every additional question asked.

Specialists typically advise against including any more than six or seven screening questions in your recruitment advertisement, as it increases the difficulty of the application process for candidates. Three to four questions is the sweet spot!

Identify the key behaviours and skills required for your role, and use your best judgement to determine if there are any additional questions to the ones listed above that will help make your shortlisting process easier.

For example, for a finance manager role that requires leadership skills and management of a monthly accounting cycle, you may like to include questions such as: “what is your approach to leadership in an organisation that….”, and/or “have you managed a monthly accounting cycle? List your experience.” This gives you a great way to assess candidates beyond two-dimensional resumes.

Screening questions in recruitment advertisements are designed to make your shortlisting process easier. Without them, you are more likely to receive an excessive amount of low-quality applications.

Use your best judgement or seek the advice of a recruitment advertisement specialist. If you include sound screening questions, you should not need to ask for cover letters! Combined with resumes, they should supply you with all the information you require.

Trends reveal more organisations are now starting to use this smart recruitment marketing strategy. So, if you’re receiving a large quantity of candidates but not the quality you are looking for, or are struggling to create a great shortlist in a timely manner, screening questions might just be the key you need.

How to choose between two great candidates: tiebreaker tips

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Are you choosing between two great candidates? Lucky you!  SVP for Indeed Paul Wolfe shares the best tips to help you make the right choice.

Because it can be challenging to find great candidates, let alone two ideal candidates for your role, being spoiled for choice is one of the better problems to have in recruitment. But it’s still a problem. Here’s how to determine the right person for the role.

As Paul Wolfe reporting for HRM Online states, “looking at your candidates from multiple angles and testing their abilities practically can be the tie breaker you need to help you make the final decision.”

Break the tie, don’t cut the rope

When choosing between two equally qualified candidates, some clever strategies can help you make your decision. But choosing one doesn’t mean cutting off the other candidate in the process.

“As an organisation you want both candidates to have a positive experience in the hiring process, regardless of the outcome. And importantly, if one doesn’t accept the offer or if another position opens up down the line, you’ve already got a perfect candidate you can call on.”

Trend alert: “cultural add” > “cultural fit”

You may ask yourself which candidate will make a better cultural fit?

“However, leaning too heavily on ‘culture fit’ when hiring can lead to a homogeneous culture, a lack of diversity and even unconscious bias.”

More and more, we’re hearing the expression “cultural add” or “cultural contributor” over “cultural fit”. Lean into this trend!

“Culture contributors can bring a diverse set of traits, values and backgrounds, as well as new energy that drives innovation while also making your workplace more welcoming and inclusive for future candidates. Does either candidate stand out for the different perspectives and experiences they could bring to your company? Is one of them from a group that’s underrepresented on your current team and so could bring viewpoints you perhaps haven’t considered in the past?”

Assess soft skills

An effective shortlisting process assesses for soft skills.

Doing so will help you truly understand what a candidate can add to your organisation’s culture.

“Communication, conflict resolution and problem-solving help people address issues. Creativity and critical thinking help to find new solutions. Empathy and flexibility mean staff work well in a team and get along with others.

“Ask yourself, has either of the candidates highlighted instances of collaboration, problem-solving, or excellent communication in the application or interview process? If not, ask the candidates for examples of when they’ve demonstrated such soft skills. Or perhaps you could have candidates rank their soft skills from most to least important to see if their priorities align with the business.”

Think about the future

Of course, you’re looking to address your current needs, but what about the future direction of your organisation? Taking this into consideration can help you make the best choice.

It’s important to hire talent you can move your organisation forward and support growth.

“Assess each candidate within the context of your current team and their individual characteristics. Can you envision one candidate making a more positive contribution to the organisation’s future than the other? Does one candidate bring with them a particularly useful or rare skill that could potentially create a new offering or solution to a problem?

“Let’s say your candidates are competing for a marketing role in a medium-sized, growing company. Both candidates have the relevant experience and can present compelling case studies for the job. One of them has built a side business while they’ve been between jobs, to test lead-generation tactics. The other is a digital marketer with a global corporation and writes and analyses blog content. Does one seem better prepared to meet the direction your company is headed and propel you forward?”

Use a skills test

Assess your candidates’ skills in action. For example, if you are hiring a copywriter, present them with a creative brief to write. Or, for a marketing strategist, create a short client brief and ask for their recommendations to meet it.

“These kinds of activities will demonstrate how candidates operate in a real-life work setting and can really help to illuminate if one candidate stands out from the other.”

After you make your decision

In addition to good candidate care practices, such as a personal phone call to inform your unsuccessful candidate, stay in touch with them. This goes a long way in turning candidates you don’t hire into advocates.) Connect with them on LinkedIn and add them to your talent pool to keep them warm and interested in your organisation. That way, if you a role opens up in the future, you can encourage them to apply again.

It’s tough deciding between two great candidates! But using these strategies and asking difficult questions will help you make the best decision for your organisation. The right hire is worth their weight in gold!

 

Source

Two great candidates for one role? Use these tiebreaker tips

Paul Wolfe

HRM Online

Don’t make the mistake of choosing quantity over quality: here’s why

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The best way to hire, if you have the luxury, is by running a Group Information and Interview Day. The quality of the candidates you invite into any group situation is telling for candidates, including your top potential talent, about what you think of your own organisation and what you think of them.

If you are going to run a Group Information and Interview Day (GIID) quality absolutely overrides quantity. The reason is, if you go for quantity simply to have a big room full of people, you’ll end up with a room full of 70% great candidates and 30% filler candidates. Those great candidates will sit in a room among filler candidates wondering, “is this my potential peer?”, “Is this how this organisation sees me?” and, “Are they categorising me the same way they are categorising that person?”

The quality of the candidates you invite into any group situation is telling for candidates, including your top potential talent, about what you think of your own organisation and what you think of them. So you never want filler candidates, and you never want quantity over quality. It’s far better to have a group of really high-calibre candidates, which demonstrates your talent pool, the level of interest in the position, and your ability to recruit the top talent in the best possible light. Ideally, you will have interviewed these candidates prior to meeting them face to face.

Another added bonus about opting for quality over quantity means that instead of buying a tray of average-quality sandwiches, you can buy a gourmet cheese platter instead!

Recruitment is all about sales and marketing. In sales and marketing, we know it’s important to widen the funnel. While it’s important that you’re starting with a broad reach of exposure for your opportunities, it’s equally important to have a funnel. You absolutely need to use your funnel to effectively screen and shortlist your talent pool.

At the top of your funnel, quantity is important, as you need a wide range and reach. From there, as your candidates move through your recruitment funnel, the more it will cost you to screen and shortlist. Therefore, you need to be efficient when screening and shortlisting.

Be 100% authentic in your attraction strategy. When marketing your organisation and the job opportunity to the best candidates out there, be ruthlessly authentic about the role, its responsibilities, and requirements for candidates because your goal is to educate and inform candidates so the right ones progress through to application and the wrong ones opt themselves out early.

Include the right information in your recruitment advertisement. If you can, it’s great to have an enticing advertisement on a job board that links to an attractive landing page for each opportunity. This way, you can market to the best candidates out there, fully educate them about your organisation and the role, and if you can include screening questions, better still!

Don’t fall into the trap of throwing advertisements on job boards and having to plough through piles of resumes, many of which are from unqualified, disinterested, or unsuitable applicants. Fully educate and inform your candidates before they even apply.

Use a shortlisting and selection process that’s rigorous and disciplined. Use selection criteria that you’ve established beforehand across the board.

The more you can avoid a huge volume of applications from unsuitable candidates, the better.  (Check out our great articles on how to write a great recruitment advertisement and the best screening questions you can use.)

Use video interviews wherever possible to conduct high-quality behavioural-based interviews. Hiring managers can then view (even an edited 10 minutes of a behavioural-based video interview) before they meet the candidate face to face). So instead of a huge volume of face to face interviews, you can opt for quality and being judicious about who you spend your time with.

Be mindful how you present the opportunity to candidates in naming your event. A “Group Assessment Day” is a less attractive term that can put candidates off. At the same time, inviting your candidates to a “Group Information Day” doesn’t communicate to candidates they have the opportunity to progress, which may result in a low attendance rate. Naming your event a “Group Information and Interview Day” solves this problem.

At the end of the day, time is money and we’ve got to keep our recruitment processes optimised and commercially viable without missing out on the best talent that’s out there. Your talent is your biggest asset. When a great candidate comes into your organisation either for an individual interview or a Group Information and Interview Day, or to start work on their first day, don’t ever let them feel like they’re being lined up against a candidate who’s far from their level who was brought in to fill numbers.

 

by Susanne Mather

Editor of Recruitment Marketing Magazine