How to optimise your recruitment process in 5 steps
Arthur Mecom is the head of operations for Morson International USA. He began his career with Morson as a recruitment consultant and has quickly progressed into a leadership role. He thrives in client-facing capacities by developing and implementing recruitment strategies that promote efficient hiring and cost savings initiatives. He is passionate about creating brand awareness, promoting equality and strives to continue developing strategies that bridge the current skills gap.
Arthur shares his top tips for optimising your recruitment process…
For many organisations, people are the most important part of the business and directly impact growth and development. The need to recruit is a sign that your business is ready to grow, and this is your opportunity to choose the people who will help turn your vision into a reality.
That’s why it’s imperative to have the necessary procedures in place to ensure a smooth hiring process and attract top tier talent. To help you on your recruitment journey, here are five things you should consider before initiating a search…
Get approval
As a first step, it’s important to plan and confirm the approval process for the hire to be live. Think about who needs to be involved; finance from a cost perspective, HR and the direct report/hiring manager.
Once you’ve highlighted who needs to be involved, go ahead and seek approval.
Establish your target budget
List all the costs that are associated with hiring so you can set an accurate budget. This is not only the salary range, but you must also consider any relocation costs, advertising fees, benefits, insurance packages, time spent on the search and potential agency fees.
When considering your budget, research the current market conditions for comparable opportunities in your area. Also, evaluate the cost to the business by not having this position filled. If the position you are looking to fill is revenue generating or can create cost savings/avoidance, every day your business is losing money by not having the right person in place.
Whilst establishing the budget is crucial, you should be able to account for variable change. If you’ve identified the ideal candidate but their salary requirements exceed your budget, don’t just close the door. What direct value is that person bringing to the business?
Create some flexibility in your budget in order to attract individuals that will bring your organisation a higher ROI.
Create a succinct job description
Be realistic when creating the details around your job requirement. We’ve all heard the nightmares of creating inaccurate or unrealistic job descriptions don’t let your organisation fall into the trap. Seeking a candidate who has X years of experience for an entry-level job or requiring a degree for a role that does not necessitate one, could negatively impact your brand.
The job description should focus on the core responsibilities and qualifications for the position. Also, consider including what kind of personality traits you are looking for. Use the second person when describing your ideal candidate: “you will be”, “your experience” etc. This engages the reader more because it helps them visualise themselves in the role.
Plan the interview process
Confirm your interview process and what methods of examination you need to put in place. Do you need certain aptitude tests? Who will be interviewing the candidates? Who in the business has the final decision-making authority?
Whilst there are other methods of selection available (such as presentations, assessment centres, psychometric testing, numeracy testing etc), interviews are generally the most popular due to cost and ease of organising.
You can use the interview to properly test the candidate’s knowledge and also to get a better feel for whether or not they would fit into the organisational culture.
Remember, it’s not just the candidate under scrutiny. The interviewee will also form impressions of you and your business based on the interview, and if you’re not careful, you could end up putting off your dream hire.
Set and meet hiring expectations
Setting realistic hiring expectations can make or break your organisation’s candidate experience.
What is the targeted hire date? Where is this individual’s workstation? What IT equipment will the new starter need, and has it been ordered?
Map out how long your interview process will take, set those expectations with candidates, and reinforce those objectives with the hiring committee.
Having the ability to set the candidates expectations from the start has a direct impact on their commitment to the process. As the saying goes, “Time kills all deals”. If you are delaying interviews or offers with qualified candidates, you increase the risk of them accepting an opportunity with your competition.
Beginning the search with Morson
Once you have all these items covered, you’ll be ready to formally begin your search for employees. Or, you could let Morson help you with your recruitment needs…
Morson International is one of the most respected names in recruitment, helping candidates find their perfect role and helping companies find the right people for their business since 1969. Our business model focuses on excellence for employees, candidates, contractors and clients. We operate from 50+ global locations, have 14,000+ contractors working on-site, process 700,000+ timesheets a year and deliver 20 million people hours to client projects.
We are committed to helping candidates with their engineering job search and pride ourselves on our consistent delivery of quality services across the range of industries we operate within. We believe that the key to this is excellent customer service and providing our clients, employees and contractors with the support they require in order to perform to the best of their capabilities.
