Hiring the right people is essential to a company’s success. We all know this. So, how can we set up our hiring objectives to get the right people?
Last week I started to share my thoughts about hiring objectives. I hope they got you thinking about planning for success when it comes to your hiring this year. I’d like to get a bit more specific and provide you with some more objectives to consider.
Get the basics right
I believe these objectives are fundamental to a successful recruitment campaign and getting the right person…which ultimately is the goal!
□ Write clear, realistic, and specific Position Descriptions. Positions descriptions are not a wish list. Think about what skills and experience you really need the successful candidate to have.
Get specific by including personal attributes, context for the role, and an overview of the organisation in the PD.
This is one of the first impressions a candidate will have of your opportunity, make it count! It forms the basis of something else that is important, which leads me to job ads.
□ Create effective job ads to attract the right talent. Of course, if you’re working with Clicks we will take all the hard work here away from you! But if you need to go through an internal process first, be sure that your TA team uses gender neutral and inclusive language. This will create the largest possible talent pool for you to select from. Consider these questions to ensure you’re attracting the right talent:
- Is it clear to the jobseeker what the essential and ‘nice to have’ requirements are? This includes personal attributes, and remember that bit I mentioned about realistic requirements?
- Have you provided the ‘why’, such as describing the perks and benefits of the role and company?
- Would you apply for this job after reading the ad?
Consider the format of the job ad (e.g. using video job ads) and platforms to share the ad. Is a professional body and association or social media more appropriate to reach your target candidate?
□ Use objective interview guides, testing and assessments tools. Thisallows you to deeply assess suitability and appropriately compare candidates. These can include behavioural based interview questions, case studies, presentations, psychometric assessments, and technical tests.
Boosting the basics
To really give your recruitment a boost, consider these suggestions (if you aren’t doing them already!). It might be the difference between attracting and securing an in-demand candidate from your competitor.
□ Consider the candidate experience. Candidates are likely to be your customers or potential customers. Think of all the touch points they’ll have with your organisation through your application process. What kind of experience are you leaving them with? Will they walk away with a positive experience, regardless of whether they were successful in their application?
□ Take charge of your employer branding. Share stories about what it’s like to work at your organisation. Just because you’re not talking about it, don’t assume others aren’t. To learn what candidates are reading about, check out SEEK Company Reviews and Glassdoor.
□ Utilise technology. At Clicks we are big fans of using technology to work smarter. Think about how technology can help you in recruitment. For example, take a look at Textio and VideoMyJob to assist with creating job ads if you haven’t already. Textio is an online writing platform that aims to score the effectiveness of job ads and provide feedback and suggestions to help your ad perform better and be more inclusive. VideoMyJob allows you to record video job ads and could help your ad stand out.
I hope I’ve given you some more helpful objectives to hire well and get the right candidate!
Next week, in our third and final look at hiring objectives, I shine the spotlight on diversity and inclusion in hiring.
If you need to move quickly with any hiring, reach out to our talented and experienced team. We place an IT professional into a new role every hour of every day and have been doing it for 30 years!
We will manage the entire recruitment process to find the right candidate. We also offer supplementary services to support your recruitment efforts such as:
- Position Description design
- Salary Benchmarking
- Candidate Profiling
- Technical Testing
- Tailoring the interview process (including crafting questions and bespoke assessments) to assess the best fit candidate in terms of skills, experience, aptitude, and culture fit.
You can subscribe to our blog here. To discuss any of these topics further, and for contractor support or any hiring needs, please reach out to your Clicks Account Manager or me on 0438 355 792 to see how we can help.
Regional General Manager, NSW & QLD
