In today’s market, hiring can be very competitive. Top professionals will be wanted by multiple firms, so it’s important to ensure your recruitment process is engaging and attracts top talent over your competitors. Candidates now often have multiple options and aren’t just applying for one company at a time. So, this blog contains advice on how to make your recruitment process stand out and make sure you a professional’s first choice.
Let’s start at the very beginning…
The Advert
This should be very clear.
Job Description – It’s imperative that the job description attracts the talent you are seeking.
- Provide an overview of the role and the day-to-day responsibilities, don’t forget to include some interesting information about the role.
Person Specification – Be as descriptive as you can, you want to attract the right candidates.
- Include the level and type of experience the candidate needs to demonstrate.
- What skills do they need for the role? Don’t forget soft skills that are required.
Benefits and Rewards – Candidates who are actively looking will be interested in what you have to offer.
- Make sure you list all additional benefits included with the role. For example, enhanced holidays or pension contributions, healthcare benefits, death in service benefits.
- Be sure not to include standard holidays or pension as a benefit, they’re statutory and shouldn’t be included. Of course, include them if you offer above the statutory entitlement, as this will be beneficial to candidates.
Company information – This is where you showcase your firm.
- Talk about the team, awards and why it is such a wonderful place to work.
Proofread your adverts – Always check, check, and double check.
- Always proofread your job adverts or get a colleague to double check them.
- If there are mistakes in the adverts it can give a bad impression to professionals.
- Job adverts often provide the first impression of your company to potential employees, make it count.
Always, we discuss all these points when working with you. So, we can produce an enticing advert and we can discuss all points with candidates as we approach them. Particularly, it’s important trying to engage with candidates who aren’t actively looking, as we want to present them with as much information about the opportunity and your business as possible. This way, your recruitment process is thorough from the get-go.
Advert Response
Once we have candidates apply and you have their CVs you need to be responsive.
- Regardless of whether or not you want to take that candidate to the next stage it is important to give feedback. As, even though the applicant might not be right for your firm, they could know someone who could be perfect. If you ignore their application and don’t respond, they are unlikely to recommend your firm to others.
- If you are looking to take the candidate to the next stage you need to get back to them within 24 hours. Otherwise, they could start looking at other roles and you could lose the candidate to another firm due to a slow response and a better recruitment process elsewhere.
The Interview
It’s important to remember this is a two-way process, as it is a vital part of the recruitment process.
- Prepare conversation starters and questions that will make the interview feel like a conversation.
- Consider what you want to know about the candidate, their experience and aspirations and use this as a basis for your conversation.
- Ask them what they know about the firm. Add to this with anything else you feel is important for them to understand or that will make your firm stand out.
- Talk about the team and the culture, why do people like working there.
- Once you have gone through your questions and conversation starters, don’t forget to ask the candidate if they have any questions. This is great, as it will give you an indication as to whether the candidate has prepared for the interview.
Feedback
This stage is often forgotten but if you think that candidate might be the right one for you why would you leave them hanging?
- Although you may not yet have made a decision you should give your candidate some initial feedback to keep them engaged (they could be interviewing elsewhere).
- If you are working with us, we will have already spoken to the candidate and asked them how they feel the interview went.
- Always provide feedback to all candidates you’ve interviewed. If you aren’t taking them further, be polite and provide them with constructive feedback. This will help them in their next job interviews.
The Decision
You should communicate your decision as soon as possible even if you aren’t hiring that particular candidate.
- Give an indication of when the decision will be made.
- Make the decision timely. It is understandable you may be interviewing other candidates but don’t leave it too long before making your final decision.
- If it isn’t a positive outcome for that candidate, give some clear feedback as to why it is a no. This will help them understand your decision and help them improve.
The Offer
As mentioned earlier, the candidates could be interviewing at various firms and this could mean they have multiple offers. We are seeing this increasingly in today’s market.
- Explain why you are making the offer and don’t just base it around their hard skills and experience also include why you think they will be a fantastic addition to the firm.
- Make the offer clear and put it in writing – don’t forget to include the above information on the offer letter.
- Don’t forget that the candidate is likely to be made a counter offer so make sure your offer stands out and shows the candidate how much you value them.
It doesn't stop here...
The recruitment process doesn’t end with a hire. When your chosen candidate starts, it’s important to have a thorough onboarding process and continue to keep engagement high. Otherwise, they could easily become complacent.
- Regularly check in with your new employees to see how they are finding settling in and what accommodations you can make to make their jobs easier if needs be.
- Set clear and defined goals with them so they are headed in the right direction and know what is expected from the get-go.
- Offer a buddy programme so they have continuous support and feel part of the team quickly.
Engaging with new employees once they have started their new role is so important and effective, take a look at our onboarding blog for more tips and why this should be done.
About The Eventus Recruitment Group
The Eventus Recruitment Group are award-winning recruitment specialists in the Legal, Finance, Accountancy, and HR sectors. We have an experienced and knowledgeable team of industry experts, who can advise on your recruitment strategy and are passionate about finding the best candidates to help businesses thrive across the UK.
Our bespoke recruitment service will be tailored to your individual needs. We always take time to understand more than just your job requirements; we will get to know you, your business and company culture in order to provide you with an outstanding service that surpasses your expectations.
Our core values underpin everything that we do and guide us in how we treat our clients and candidates.
Further Reading
Employment Trends and Work Attitudes Survey Key Findings and Report. Download here.
Top Questions to Ask in Interviews. Read here.
How to Write the Perfect Job Advert to Attract Top Talent. Read here.
