Hiring cycles can feel messy, and if you aren’t managing them properly, they’ll spiral out of control. Your company will always have positions to fill, and you want them to be filled as quickly and efficiently as possible. Keeping a close eye on your recruiting methods will help you fine tune your technique, reducing the duration of future hiring cycles and helping you direct your efforts to the things that matter most for the continued success of your company.
- Where Your Candidates Come From
How are these candidates finding you? You’re probably advertising your openings on a variety of channels, and doing so is never a bad idea. If you find that certain channels are less effective than others when it comes to finding qualified candidates, you may want to drop these outlets – particularly if they cost you money. Focusing your efforts on productive channels saves time and resources. Sometimes, it helps to prioritize the quality of applicants over the quantity.
- How Long it Takes to Hire
How much time passes between the moment you advertise your position to the time when your selected candidate begins working? You want this timeframe to be as short as possible. If you find that it’s taking too long, you might want to explore alternative interview processes. It may be worthwhile squeezing in an interview every day where you have an hour to spare, rather than trying to optimize your schedule to squeeze every interview into a single day. Time is money, and you don’t want to risk losing valuable candidates due to slow progress.
- How Many Offers are Accepted
A rejected offer ultimately becomes a waste of the funds you used to recruit a candidate. While it’s unreasonable to expect that every candidate will be eager to accept your offer, being rejected by a significant amount of candidates can actually be a warning sign regarding the quality of your offer. You might want to review what your competitors are offering, particularly if they’re the ones who are ultimately hiring your top candidates. Be prepared to offer valuable candidates something that they cannot.
- How Much You Spend
It costs money to make money. A lot of manpower goes into posting open positions, reading resumes, scheduling interviews, and ultimately hiring candidates. An effective recruitment process will keep these costs down to a minimum. If you’re spending a disproportionate amount of money, you need to figure out where to cut corners. Sometimes, this means switching platforms on which you post openings in order to cut down costs.
- Candidate Gender Diversity
Many teams are so productive because of the wide array of perspectives that make them possible. You’ll want a solid mix of male and female employees to create an effective team. Make sure you’re hiring at a reasonable ratio across all tiers of employment. You’ll want gender diversity to extent from the sales floor all the way into upper management.
- How Long They Stay
You may be able to fill your positions in a timely manner, but for how long do they actually stay filled? High turnover rates are indicative of a poor talent recruitment system. Make sure your job description is as accurate as possible, and be sure that you’re providing candidates with the tools they need to succeed. Many employees take entry level jobs with the promise of working their way up the hierarchy, and employees who feel as though it’s unnecessary difficult for them to climb the ranks may switch to a higher level position with a competitive company.
Running a top-notch talent acquisition system does involve a lot of tracking and complicated logistics. In the end, it’s worth the extra oversight to make sure you’re hiring the candidates who will stick with your company for years to come.
Emily Burgess is an avid blogger who enjoys writing about all aspects of improving a business, be it marketing, customer service or training. Emily is currently sharing some of her ideas at Course Guru – experts in the field of online education. Personally, she’s a great fan of foreign languages.
