The right way for organisations to manage the hiring process

Published on Nov 24, 2017

Attracting talent to an organisation is significantly easier nowadays. Thanks to the increasing amount of effort put in by external talent consultants. Crucial activities in recruitment such as sourcing, resume screening, cold calls, e-mails and aptitude tests are now looked after by agency recruiters alone. However, the role of an agency recruiter is limited. It ends after screening candidates and sending them to the company. Once the shortlisted candidates are sent for an interview with the organisation, it is the duty of internal recruiters to manage the entire hiring process.

Here are some tips on managing the hiring process by an executive recruiter of a tier 1 company:

·        Use the Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

As recruiters, you must be familiar with the ATS software or the Applicant Tracking System. Once you receive information about your candidates from an external hiring agency, ensure that you feed it into your ATS. This will help you shorten and streamline the resume evaluation process. It will help you sift through unsolicited resumes as most ATSs provide simpler, yet unbiased solutions to the growing problem of CV management.

ATSs also help in keeping resumes in order, hence if a future vacancy arises at your company, the system will help you match a candidate qualified for the position. These systems are also known for their efficiency in terms of time, energy and money. ATSs are of great help in reducing manual labour and eliminating advertising costs.

However, you can’t completely rely on your ATS system. At the end of the day, these systems are unable to match the abilities of the human brain. Therefore, before executing any task through an ATS, it is recommended that you cross check facts in order to avoid managerial discrepancies.

·        Send Questionnaires

After you shortlist a set of candidates, the next step is to send them online aptitude tests and questionnaires. You can also administer tests at your company, but conducting online tests is more feasible and time-saving. Ask your ATS supplier to customise the system as per your requirement. Administering tests through ATSs can allow you to keep track of the candidate and help you evaluate them as per the metrics of the test.

·        Email your candidates

Within a week’s time, connect with your prospective candidate via email or call them and thank them for their time and effort allotted to the questionnaire. A follow-up email to candidates will project you and your company as responsible entities.

§  Selection email

Once you select applicants, send a final email to all other applicants letting them know that the position they had applied for is closed. Thank them again for their time and consideration.

Jobseekers appreciate a gracious feedback from the employers. This is also an important aspect of candidate management. Through this thoughtful process of emailing applicants, recruiters can protect their corporate brand.

·        Call the selected applicants for an interview

This is the final round in the hiring process. Ensure to follow-up with the shortlisted applicants and guide them throughout the recruitment process. Here, candidate management plays a vital role while handling applicants. Any fault in the process can lead to a major disaster to the organisation’s corporate brand image.

Always keep applicants engaged and clarify their queries with relevant facts and details. Never express rude behaviour as this could lead your company to receive negative markings on social networking sites and online feedback forums. Poor candidate management offers a bad experience, forcing talent to seek opportunities elsewhere. Keep your interviews short and to the point and offer feedback to the selected applicants once the process is completed.

I have extensively elaborated on the importance candidate management and the key players in the interview process in my previous blogs. You can go through them to have a much better understanding of the hiring process.

Are you looking for expert advice on your hiring process? Are you evaluating your existing recruitment strategies? You can get in touch with Han Digital Talent experts. We can meticulously guide you and offer some of the best solutions to enhance your recruitment process. We can also help you map the best talent. Get in touch to know more about Han Digital Recruitment Services. You can write to us at info@handigital.com