Shake It Up
A couple of weeks ago, I had to hit pause on a Zoom meeting to say, "I'm so sorry, but I'm having trouble concentrating right now. My house is shaking, and my windows are rattling." Once I hopped off the call, the news reports revealed an earthquake in NY that was felt in surrounding states.
This little shake-up reminded me of how simple events can have a ripple of consequences. This ripple effect is true in all areas of life and business, and it's certainly true in recruiting. Here are a three small changes in the recruitment process that have helped our clients be more successful in hiring:
Listing Salary. There are plenty of reasons to avoid listing salary in a job ad. However, listing your salary is a best practice if your goal is to achieve optimal results. Before applying, candidates want to know "Will this job allow me to meet my budget and pay my bills?" No one wants to spend a couple of hours interviewing only to discover that the job won't meet their salary expectations. We once saw a job ad that only had 30 applications by day 21, then got 30 additional applications in the final seven days just because we added the salary. Imagine what the candidate pool would have looked like if the employer had listed the salary for the entire 30-day run of the ads!
Text Candidates. For some of you, this goes against everything you hold near and dear to your hearts. You don't want to use your personal cell phone to text candidates. Or perhaps you think it seems unprofessional and intrusive. I appreciate your perspective; however, if your position involves hourly employees and/or you are working with candidates under the age of 40, just text. If I had a $1 for every time a client contacted a recruiter and said, "I emailed the candidate, and they didn't get back to me," and it turned out that the employer's email ended up in a SPAM folder, I could take my recruiting team on a cruise to the Bahamas. You can use apps that are very affordable to allow for texting from a company number. We use Talk Route. But there are dozens of options. If you want to interview a candidate, send an email, but please follow up by text. If you cannot text, then follow up by phone. Email is great, but it doesn't always work.
The 24-Hour Rule. Contact promising candidates within 24 hours of getting their information. There's a good chance that the candidate has applied to other employers, and if you think they look promising, so does your hiring competition. Every week, I review the updates my team sends to our clients, and every week I see documentation of candidates lost because another employer was quicker to interview. Offering flexibility with interview times (think early morning or late afternoon or weekends) and/or flexibility with interview formats (like allowing for a first interview via Zoom) can help speed up the interview process and make it easier for candidates to get scheduled to meet with your team. Ask yourself, “How quickly can I get through the interview process while still being thorough?”
Sometimes, the slightest change can shake things up and positively impact your results!