Consideration Challenges
In recruitment, we often want to fill a role as soon as it becomes vacant. But what if we took time to reflect? What are the tasks associated with the position? For what tasks will the new employee be responsible? How might the position evolve over the next two to three years? At that point, what will the true needs be? In short, this is the perfect time to re-examine your strategic plan. If you don’t have one, it’s better to do your homework than to hire at all costs!
In addition, it’s important to ask yourself if someone within the company might be interested in the open position. Take the time to evaluate the interest levels of your resources, because an internal hire could be profitable. That way, not only do you allow your employees to develop new skills, but you keep them motivated and engaged as well. Furthermore, since they’re familiar with the company culture, they’re often major assets within the new team.
Finally, when an employee leaves the organization, it’s imperative to conduct an exit interview and to ask about their reasons for leaving. For example, if a manager is struggling to supervise their team, or they neglect to communicate important information for project progress, it’s important to know about it so that the situation can be rectified. Learning how the organization can improve is essential.
Posting Challenges
Posting jobs online to attract candidates can be a complex task and involve many challenges. Therefore, it’s important to take the time to properly write postings in order to improve the effectiveness of your recruitment process and to attract candidates who best meet your company’s needs. Here are some important elements to consider while writing a job posting:
- Write a captivating and informative posting. Use clear and concise language. Emphasize the benefits of the position and the company. Describe the responsibilities and qualifications in detail.
- Identify the essential skills and qualifications for the position. Clearly list the required skills and qualifications.
- Target the candidates that you want to attract.
- Ensure that your posting stands out in a competitive market. Highlight the unique benefits of your company and the position.
- Encourage the diversity of applicants and ensure the neutrality of your postings in terms of diversity.
Communication Challenges
Communication issues between managers and the recruitment team arise often. Since needs are difficult to describe, misunderstandings are inevitable.
In addition, it’s important to consistently send confirmations of receipt and to follow up with unselected candidates. Skipping these steps can negatively impact your company’s image.
Interview Challenges
The most common problem when it comes to interviews is a lack of preparation, i.e., reading résumés and checking references.
It’s also important not to focus only on your idea of the perfect candidate, because you can miss out on other perfectly good ones. Keeping an open mind is essential.
Candidate Selection Challenges
Here, the most common problem is the time that some people take to respond to selected candidates. There’s nothing worse than being told, “I’ve already found something else!” Within the context of the current job market, it’s absolutely essential to respond quickly. If you like the candidate and they meet the criteria of the position, promptly informing them of their selection will dissuade them from accepting an offer elsewhere.
Furthermore, personality and psychometric tests will confirm or debunk a candidate’s claims. Therefore, they’re an interesting complementary tool in the selection process.
Overall Recruitment Process Challenges
If the recruitment process is too long, a candidate will be less inclined to accept an offer. Since job seekers stay fewer than 14 days between jobs, it’s important to re-examine your procedures and adjust to the job market if you want to stay in the game!
Hence, avoid the error of neglecting to evaluate the effectiveness of your recruitment process.
Challenges With Millennials
Contrary to baby boomers and generation X who wanted good pay and long-term employment, millennials value innovation and altruism, dedicating themselves to social and environmental causes. Not only do they want to be paid, but they also want a good quality of life.
This generation has ambition, entrepreneurial spirit and a vision, and is eager to reach high-level positions. In interviews, millennial candidates won’t hesitate to ask questions to see if a company meets their criteria. If it doesn’t, they know that they’ll find something better, and quickly.
To spark their interest, it’s better to tell them about current and future projects, rather than listing a series of tasks or informing them of productivity goals. Most importantly, they need prompt notification if their application has been selected, otherwise you’ll receive the infamous: “I’ve already found something else!”
The Consequences of Failure in One of the Recruitment Steps
Making poor decisions can be costly for your company: for example, you waste time and money when you have to start from scratch, or when a new employee in training isn’t integrating or is causing issues. The repercussions of this range from resistance to change to the damaging of the company brand.
Do you lack time, energy, or certain skills to face these challenges? Bring in professionals and focus on your area of expertise!
At Bedard Human Resources, we offer services in temporary placement, and permanent, international, specialist trade, and executive and high-level recruitment. Visit our website or contact Stéphane Pépin for more information about our human resources consulting services.
