Are you frustrated with your recruitment results? Have you had a trend of unqualified applicants and/or a candidate turn down a role? When it’s time to hire, do you simply repost an old job description, and/or do you take the time to review and update it? When was the last time you conducted in-depth reference checking, including educational credentials? And what about your interview team--are they using best practice interview strategies? Depending on your answers to these questions, it may be time to conduct an in-depth audit of your recruitment and selection process. Consider the following elements of a good recruitment audit:
1. Decide exactly what kind of candidate you are truly looking for, and make sure your hiring team agrees on this ideal. This stage of criteria development is crucial. Without careful consideration and accuracy, you will be off and running… but perhaps in the wrong direction!
2. Figure out where and how you plan to identify your candidates. First of all, have you determined whether or not an internal candidate could be considered? Are you only using one marketing strategy? Is it working? If not, why? Perhaps your methodologies are outdated and/or the candidates you are seeking don’t refer to this source for their information. If you are not attracting good candidates, it is time to review this part of your search strategy.
3. What process will you use to evaluate your candidates? Is it a simple two-step process: an interview and reference checks? Who will conduct the interviews, and what interview style will you use? Are your interview team members trained on best practice interview strategies? Do you have specific interview questions aligned with the tasks and skills required? An audit will ensure your interview practices are up to date before you need to use them.
4. Now it’s time to select the best candidate. How do you choose your finalists? Do you simply rely on your one interview and a quick reference check? Are you using psychometric assessment tools to provide in-depth personality and character evaluations? If not, why not? What about the background check mentioned earlier? Without a combination of these elements, your selection process is leaving some elements to chance.
5. Present an effective employment offer and solidifying the agreement. Are you offering a fair market salary? Have you even checked to see how the market has changed since your last recruitment? Does your salary respect the level of expertise offered by the candidate? Have you defined the salary with respect to internal equity within your organization? If not, you risk losing your good candidates!
6. The recruitment and selection process doesn’t end the day you have a candidate sign on the dotted line. You also need to create an onboarding and/or orientation program to help your new candidate fit in. What does your program look like? Many new candidates are thrown into the deep end and expected to swim. Plan ahead, and help to ensure their success.
If your recruitment process has areas of weakness, then you will be at risk of failing to attract high-quality candidates, losing candidates, paying too high a salary, or losing them within the first three months. No matter what, the best and most effective recruitment process is a rigorous, systematic process that must be managed at every step of the way. Perhaps it is time for a recruitment process audit!