by Erin Mayer

Have you ever wondered about your candidates’ experiences when applying for a position with your company? Even if your business is in the minority of organizations that isn’t strongly affected by the tight labor market, gauging the effectiveness of your recruitment process is a smart business practice that affects your employer brand for better or worse.

One of the first steps in reviewing your recruiting process is to consider your job descriptions. Are they accurate? Compelling? Lacking in detail? It’s in everyone’s best interest for the applicants to be fully aware about the specifics of the job, including the physical requirements, type of workplace, relocation considerations, opportunities for advancement, and salary range so that applicants can self-screen and make decisions on that basis. The beauty of using the web to recruit is that you are not limited by space to describe your opening.

Job descriptions are also valuable tools to get your candidates excited about your opportunity. Include any information on benefits, stock options, or other unique perks your company may offer. Creatively re-thinking the job title can also be beneficial in terms of sparking a job seeker’s interest.  Think: Super Star Branch Manager Needed or Project Manager with Sign-on Bonus.

Next, consider your job posting. Where and when did you post? If you’re doing it right, you should expect 10-15 qualified candidates. If you do a lot of online postings, Friday afternoons is not an optimal time as job hunting is no longer tied to the Sunday paper. Instead, Monday through Thursday is usually the busiest time for job boards because people look while they’re at work.

One very effective way to test your process is to utilize “mystery shoppers.” Commission people to be phantom candidates who will apply for positions, submit “perfect resumes,” and even interview with your company to let you know what was frustrating, where they wanted to quit, what was helpful, and in general, how they found the experiment. This will indeed deliver the moment of truth about your recruiting process.

Other considerations include the time it takes to get through the entire recruiting process (at a minimum, you should average one step per week as the all-star candidates won’t be available for long) and a review of your compensation. Salary.com offers an easy way to check if your offerings are competitive.

Finally, do you sell yourself? Similar to creating compelling job titles and descriptions, making your voice heard amid the cacophony of employers vying for job seekers’ attention means you need to convince candidates why they should work for your company. Taking this to the next level, sit down with your leaders and figure out a way to do this in a way that attracts the kinds of candidates you most want to hire. None of these ideas take a tremendous amount of time or money to implement, but putting them into practice can pay big dividends in terms of beefing up your recruitment machine for the long haul.

Tags: find a job, job search, recruiter

File under: fargo-economy, job search

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