Are you looking to humanise your hiring process? Do you want to make sure that candidates have a positive experience throughout the process and feel valued and welcome?
The talent crunch that plagued the world for most of 2022 does not look like it’s ending anytime soon in 2023. As competitions to hire the best talents become fiercer, employers and recruitment agencies are struggling to fill open jobs. Factor in the talent shortage and brain drain in various industries, and you won’t be surprised to learn that finding the best match for your organisation can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
From understanding the candidate’s perspective to giving feedback in a timely manner, these tips will help you humanise your hiring process and make sure your candidates feel respected and appreciated.
Understanding the candidate’s perspective
The hiring process can be an overwhelming experience for candidates — and it’s easy to forget that as the hiring manager when you’re immersed in the process every day.
Before you can humanise your hiring process, you need to understand the candidate’s perspective.
a. What are the candidate’s main concerns?
b. What are they going through?
The candidate’s experience is heavily influenced by the hiring process that you, as the hiring manager, set up. If you want to humanise your hiring process, you need to put yourself in your candidate’s shoes and see things from their perspective.
a. What is their main goal during this process?
b. What can you do as the hiring manager to make sure they have a great experience?
Creating a welcoming environment
The first thing you need to do to humanise your hiring process is to make sure that it feels welcoming.
Your job board, your application, your interview process — they need to reflect that there is a human being on the other side. This doesn’t only mean that your website needs a new design although that is a good place to start!
You need to make sure that your hiring process is accessible for candidates at all stages in the hiring journey. This means that candidates should be able to easily find your jobs, apply for them, and get in contact with you. Preferably, they should also be able to experience your hiring process in their own environment, so don’t make them come to you if you can come to them.
Making the candidate feel valued
You also need to make sure that candidates feel valued.
This means that you need to go above and beyond for your candidates. It doesn’t matter if it is your hiring manager or HR who is in contact with a candidate, they need to feel that they are valued and appreciated.
If a candidate has applied to your company, they have taken the time to send you a cover letter and a resume. They have taken the time to answer your questions, and they have taken the time to be interviewed by your hiring manager. That is a lot of effort, and you need to make sure that candidates know that they are valued and appreciated.
Giving timely feedback
Feedback is important to every candidate and should be timely.
Candidates need a way to track their progress throughout the hiring process, and they need feedback on how they’re doing. You don’t want to leave candidates in the dark about how they are doing throughout the hiring process.
It is easy for candidates to wonder whether you even read their application or not, and you don’t want them to feel discouraged. Make sure that you are timely with your feedback, and your candidates are receiving you feedback in a timely manner too!
Offering a personalised experience
A personalised experience goes beyond feedback and shows that you truly care.
Remember that there are many candidates applying to your job board, so how can you make sure that:
a. They feel valued and appreciated
b. What can you do to stand out?
All it takes is to you offer a personalised experience by thanking candidates for their application. This shows that you care about all the candidates who applied; not just the ones who made it through to the next steps in the hiring process
Staying in touch with candidates after the application
Since you are following up on applications, you could also follow up with candidates who didn’t make it through to the next steps in the hiring process.
Why? Because candidates who don’t make it through to the next steps still want to know if they can improve and how they can do so. They still want to feel valued and appreciated, but they might not know how to get in touch with you if they don’t have your contact information.
It is easy for candidates to feel lost and forgotten; so make sure that you stay in touch with all the candidates who applied, no matter whether they made it through to the next steps in the hiring process or not.
Making sure your hiring process is transparent
Candidates want to know what to expect at each stage of the hiring process.
They want to know how long the hiring process typically takes, what the next steps are, and if there are any hoops they have to jump through.
Transparency is important in any relationship, and it is no different in the hiring process.
Bringing it all together
Strong business culture and many benefits are excellent, but many talents, especially today, also crave connection and appreciation. It is possible to reduce the risk of losing some of your best employees, both present and future, by following these tips.
If you cannot find the right talent for your organisation yet, be patient. The hiring process may take time but hiring the right people will save you more time in the long run and contribute towards the growth of your organisation.
At Aisling, we can provide the expertise of our experienced recruiters based on the custom requirements of organisations. By combining our customer and talent acquisition approach with our subject matter expertise across our areas of specialisation, we continue to maintain a high degree of positive impact in our partnerships.
To learn more about our services, send us a message at enquiry@aislingconsulting.com!
