What do successful recruitment leaders do differently from those who struggle to get the right results from their hiring process?
At Harver, we work with a lot of brands in high-volume recruiting industries like call centres, hospitality, retail and BPOs. And our experience working closely with brands has shown us over time that there are some distinct behaviours and strategies that leaders do differently in volume hiring that make them stand head and shoulders above the rest.
So let’s see what are the practices that differentiate recruitment leaders from laggards!
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1. They keep the big picture in mind
In any industry, the best leaders tend to be big-picture thinkers, but in high-volume recruitment, this kind of thinking is crucial to success.
A successful volume hiring process isn’t just about hiring a few good candidates – it’s about putting structures in place that ensure you’re maximising efficiency throughout the entire end-to-end process so no opportunity is wasted.
Recruiters who take a fragmented or siloed approach to hiring will always hit bumps in the road that slow progress or waste resources in some way or another.
For example, if your process is focusing heavily on finding candidates that boast specific skills for one particular role, how will you know if they could be a right fit for a different role within your organization?
The best recruitment leaders are always thinking in terms of the bigger picture so that every move counts.
2. They build a hiring process that works for everyone
Great recruitment leaders understand that hiring isn’t all about the organization. They know that for a hiring process to do it’s job well, it needs to benefit both the candidate and the recruiter.
That’s why the best leaders always take both candidate and recruiter experience into account when designing the recruitment process, or choosing their team’s tech stack.
The questions should always be: How can I make my recruitment process shorter and more engaging for candidates while still providing enough data so recruiters can make the right hiring decisions? It’s a balance, and getting it right can mean the difference between your volume hiring process excelling and holding the business back.
3. They let tech do the hard work
When you’re hiring at scale, you’re working with a large volume of roles, job applications and candidates that cannot be managed efficiently by humans.
Some organizations will use a mixture of manual processes and automation in their hiring process, but let’s be honest – this is never going to make your process efficient!
Rolling out multiple tools with your recruiters means more training and relying on too many different integrations leaves your process vulnerable to something breaking down or going wrong. The best strategies leave no room for human error by bringing the entire hiring process onto one tech platform.
Great leaders know how important it is to simplify the hiring process for everyone involved. They choose end-to-end solutions that manage their entire hiring processes, bringing everything under one tech roof.
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Find out how tech has helped other companies grow by enhancing both the recruiters’ and candidates’ experience!
4. They measure what matters
It’s likely that both the leaders and laggards in volume hiring will track their recruitment metrics. Everyone knows it’s important to track your KPIs!
But the difference between them is that successful volume-hiring leaders only focus on measuring the recruitment metrics that actually matter – they don’t waste time on vanity metrics that don’t really tell you anything about whether your recruitment process is working or not.
Metrics that matter focus more on measuring quality, such as…
- Quality of hire
- Attrition rate
- Operational efficiency
- Candidate satisfaction
- Source of hire efficiency
- Application completion rate
- Bias present in the hiring process
Great leaders know exactly what metrics to track and, most importantly, how to use the data to they collect to optimize the hiring process so it gets better and more efficient over time.
5. They assess for skills that predict retention
There’s no point in hiring for skills that will get candidates through the door if they’re just going to leave the job a week or two later.
Great volume-hiring leaders know this, and to make sure they only hire quality candidates who are a right fit for both the role and their organization, they focus on assessing for skills that predict long-term success on the job.
This means that they don’t use out-of-the-box assessments when identifying the perfect candidates for their roles. Instead, they create custom assessments that measure skills and qualities in candidates that suggest they’ll be successful and happy in their new job for longer.
6. They don’t overdo the CX
Great volume-hiring leaders base their recruitment process on candidate expectations and experiences, but they don’t let it dictate the entire process. In other words, they don’t get distracted by the next shiny thing, and keep business goals in mind when designing the application process.
A good process should cater to candidate expectations, and include only the steps and assessments needed for meeting both candidate expectations and business goals.
But leaders understand the importance of striking a balance between CX and good functionality when designing a digital hiring process. They rely on hard data to determine what their application flows should look like rather than going for the ‘fashion over function’ option that looks impressive to candidates but doesn’t do the job it needs to do.
7. They rely on hard data
Whether they’re hiring for call centres, warehouses, BPOs or retailers, successful volume-hiring leaders know that the best hires are made when teams are able to make data-driven decisions instead of relying on their gut feelings about candidates.
And in order to make reliable data-driven decisions in recruitment, you need to collect as much data as possible on your candidates and applications.
Great leaders make sure all their recruiters and hiring managers have access to the same data, and that the data is presented in a way that it will be interpreted in the same way. They make sure all systems are properly integrated so data is collected smoothly and consistently.
That way, they can leave tough decisions to technology, and be confident that it’ll make the right choice!
8. They take employer branding seriously
To be successful in volume hiring, you need to stand out from all the other organisations looking to scoop up entry-level workers. And to stand out, you need a distinct and memorable brand that will resonate with your target candidates.
Recruitment laggards don’t see the value in employer branding as they assume candidates already know the brand. But just because you’re familiar with the brand you’re already part of, doesn’t mean candidates will be too. Great leaders understand the importance of showcasing company brand and culture during the entire application process to create a sense of trust and belonging from the very start.
To run a hiring process that consistently converts right-fit candidates, you need to create a fully branded experience for candidates when applying for your roles.
9. They’re not afraid to automate
When you need to ramp up your recruitment efforts to fill more roles, which way do you turn?
Some leaders will instantly look at increasing recruiter headcount to deal with the extra workload, but this is the wrong approach to scaling. Hiring new recruiters only creates more inefficiencies in the recruitment process and training will slow the business down before it can pick up pace.
The best leaders know that the solution to scaling efficiently is to automate wherever possible using the right hiring technology. Automating the hiring process not only frees up hiring manager time, but it also makes the business less vulnerable to human error.
In a nutshell, great recruitment leaders understand that the more you can automate, the better.
10. They always look to innovate
Last but not least, recruiting the best candidates is a competitive game, especially in a labour shortage like we’re seeing now. To stay at the forefront of volume hiring, leaders know they need to continually innovate to stay a step ahead.
They don’t shy away from trying out new technology on the market and coming up with solutions that aren’t tried and tested yet.
Real innovators are comfortable trying out new ideas because they know that’s where the magic happens. They know they will always learn from their results too – they have the data collection in place that allows them to analyze results and optimize their process until it’s the best it can be.
Conclusion
So now that you know what separates the recruitment leaders from the laggards, which category do you fall into right now?
If you think your process could use some improvements and you’re interested in an end-to-end volume hiring solution that ensures a great candidate experience, while helping you recruit higher quality candidates, you can book a call with our team below.
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