If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then it’s up to the savvy tech recruiter to make their hiring pipeline as attractive as possible for their candidates. When we evaluate our processes from the candidate’s perspective, we can adjust our systems so that we’re attracting and keeping top talent.
1. What is your hiring pipeline?
Right off the bat, I’m not crazy about the ‘pipeline’ jargon phrases that are tossed around in HR circles, because I think of things like pipelines in a sewage system. Moving past that unappealing image, a ‘pipeline’ is a great word picture for processes like hiring. A pipeline is a part of an indispensable infrastructure (like plumbing.) You can’t build a business without first putting these systems into place
Your hiring pipeline is your process to move a candidate from the application to an offer. It’s foundational to the growth of your company. Its purpose is to funnel as many qualified candidates as possible into your hiring process and move them through each step as efficiently as possible. When recruiters identify the bottlenecks, candidates can tell you why things are sluggish from their perspective.
The stages in your hiring pipeline include creating the job description, sourcing, application, outreach, screening, interviewing, assessments, and the final rejection/job offer.
At RecruitGyan, we start with a pre-step before building a hiring pipeline. In our Compass Leadership Method pillar, we help a company articulate their mission and values. These need to be ironed out before the hiring process is initiated, to keep a company from hiring indiscriminately and impersonally. When a candidate can’t tell how a role fits into the company’s mission- how their contribution would matter to the Big Picture- they’re not going to be interested in applying.
Once the mission is defined, a company can determine the steps they need to take, to accomplish their mission. And they can identify what positions they need to hire, to take these steps.
The values are the criteria a company uses to make decisions, such as how they’ll decide who to hire. Leadership needs to agree on values before the hiring starts.
2. How did the hiring pipeline become depersonalized, and how do you lose candidates because of this?
Technology is a gamechanger in the recruiting and hiring process. We now use Applicant Tracking Systems and automation tools to take tedious tasks off our plate- like scheduling calls, posting job descriptions, and sourcing candidates.
Technology is great when it saves time. With automated systems, we’re able to use our time more wisely. The problem is when other things, like the personal touches, get lost in translation. When we don’t reinvest the time saved into making human connections, candidates won’t stick. Many recruiters are making course corrections after learning this the hard way. A recent Fast Company study of talent acquisition leaders in the U.S. found almost half (46%) of those surveyed said cultivating meaningful candidate relationships is their number one priority for the next year.
Automating simplifies the application process on the company’s side- and yet, according to Appcast, the candidate drop-off rate for people who start but don’t submit an application is a staggering 92%. Even when the average application process takes 4 minutes and 52 seconds to complete, it also takes an average of 51 clicks. It often requires a candidate to create an account and password for the applicant tracking system and verify their identity via e-mail to move forward in the hiring process. These steps often raise too many question marks for the candidate: who is getting their personal information? What are they going to do with it?
Technology shortcuts on social media can lead to etiquette faux pas, such as generic outreaches that don’t fit a candidate’s interests or experience. Candidates will self-select out to avoid awkward social media manners. It makes your company look bad.
Applicant tracking systems are a great way to sift through large amounts of resumes. On the flip side, automated systems miss nuances that indicate when a worker has demonstrated hard work, passion, or ingenuity to compensate for a lack of specific experience or education. They may filter out non-traditional candidates that would otherwise be a great fit. This can disproportionately affect top talent from diverse backgrounds.
3. How can you re-engage with candidates in your hiring pipeline?
In a recent survey, 75% of candidates said that positive candidate experience was a determining factor in their decision to accept the job. Adapting a candidate-centric approach to your hiring pipeline enables you to engage and connect at each step in the process.
Automation makes steps efficient, but the process can still feel cumbersome to an applicant. Streamline your recruitment process- simplify steps and remove unnecessary obstacles in the application process and interview.
Prescreen calls are important to initiate the relationship and determine whether the candidate is a good fit for the role. It’s also an opportunity for them to ask questions.
Triple-check your company’s social media presence. It matters! It’s why our First Impression System is one of the pillars in our consulting package. Social media is a candidate’s first stop in determining your company’s reputation. Are you the kind of company they want to identify with? In a survey conducted by CareerArc, over half (53%) of job seekers cited poor or diminishing employer brand and reputation as one of the reasons for leaving a previous job. 20% said it was the main reason why they left. 82% consider employer brand and reputation before applying to a job.
Candidates value compelling human stories that demonstrate what life is like inside your company- they want to hear real stories from peers, not an over polished PR statement. It’s why Glassdoor is so popular. When a candidate can’t corroborate a company’s claims of cultural utopia, it’s hard to know if the hype is too good to be true. In our Cohesive Culture Method consulting pillar, we infuse the hiring process with touchpoints that allow the candidates to understand what it’s actually like to work in the company’s culture.
The best way to know how your hiring process is perceived by a candidate is to ask them! It’s helpful for you and the candidate. Open, honest communication at every step keeps the hiring pipeline flowing smoothly.
