Are you plagued by recruiting challenges that seem impossible to overcome? Do you know that your recruiting short comes are affecting your company’s productivity and bottom-line but can’t quite identify them? You’re not alone—the recruiting industry faces many challenges on a daily basis, but we’re here to help. In a recent RPOA Leadership Forum webinar, Novotus’ stellar recruiting team discuss and tackle the top four biggest recruiting challenges of today.
In this two-part series, we’ll cover these four main challenges, focusing on why they matter and how you can overcome them.
Challenge #1: Reduce time-to-fill
Why is this important? Speed of hire impacts revenue. There’s just no other way around it. The longer a position remains unfilled, and the longer it takes to find a replacement (not to mention the time it will take to train a new hire), directly impacts the bottom line.
Also, if the hiring process is delayed you could lose key talent to other recruiters who are more efficient. Remember, the candidate is white hot at the start of the interviewing process—they’re eager to join the team and the excitement level is high—the longer the process takes, the colder the candidate becomes. This creates the need for “recruiting emergency rooms” to make sure you get them through the process as quickly as possible.
How you can overcome this challenge: “Time and money are muscle in the recruiting process. If you have enough time and you have a well-funded program, you’re going to perform very, very well,” Novotus’ Founder and CEO Mike Mayeux explains. “There’s two ways to get time: 1) talk hiring managers into extending the hiring timeframe and 2) get hiring managers to work with you earlier in order to prep for the demand.”
If you can get the hiring manager to anticipate needs, you can then create a proactive pipeline that will help you move quickly through the recruiting process.
You can also create push/pull resource between you and your talent community. Get the word out that you’re hiring as soon as possible. Pushing the “we’re hiring” message into the market shows company growth and will result in direct and indirect interest. This will help you create a strong employment brand, which will then increase your talent pool and communications.
Watch Webinar: Top Recruiting Challenges
Challenger #2: Improving hiring manager satisfaction
Why is this important? Involving the hiring manager through a consultative approach boosts the odds of hiring a better suited candidate that is less likely to result in turnover.
How you can overcome this challenge: Defining and measuring hiring manager satisfaction is crucial. According to Ryan Stockwell, Novotus’ VP of Talent Acquisition, “How do we get more data and perspective on where we stand and how we’re performing? It all comes back to communication.”
Ryan recommends using surveys, follow-up calls, and check-ins to measure performance often. “Set stage that there will be a survey, and a scoring system. Have those conversations throughout the process, sharing data all along the way. If you set a goal, and you hit the goal, make sure you discuss that the goal was hit.”
You can even make the process a two-way street and have recruiters survey the managers. This drives a level of partnership, leaving both parties to feel as though they’re in the process together and need to work with one another to drive results.
Watch Webinar: Top Recruiting Challenges
Additional takeaways from the webinar: To further improve the recruiting process, consider:
- Equipping recruiters with the best tools (without breaking the bank)
- Managing the "marketing" aspects of recruiting
- Improving the selection process
- Managing multiple recruiting channels and reducing the "noise" factor
In Part 2 of this article, the Novotus team will share how to compete for candidates and how to reduce turnover.
About Novotus: Founded in 2002 located in Austin, Texas, Novotus has helped thousands of hires in 2013 in the US and other countries with consistent 35% growth, year over year. Ranked #1 Mid-market RPO Firm by HRO Today 2014 Baker’s Dozen, Novotus has an accomplished history of experience in the recruiting industry.
