Do your recruitment processes help you find great candidates? Struggling with retention rates? Or maybe your attraction strategies just aren’t reaching out to the calibre of applicants you’d like.

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The recruitment market has become increasingly competitive – companies are looking for better ways to recruit. Rest assured – there is a better way to source super candidates. Here are 5 easy things you can do to improve your recruitment processes:

• The devil is in the detail

Job adverts and postings mark the very start of the recruitment process and needs to explain the vacancy in enough detail whilst encouraging candidates to apply. Instead of just listing the essential requirements including education, experience and training, why not include a list of typical daily activities completed by the last person in the position?

One thing to remember however, is that if you’re looking to recruit for a specialist employee, then state this and highlight exactly what requirements are needed for a candidate to be considered for the role. Most often than not, job adverts for the most specialist roles tend to be vaguer since recruiters fall into the trap of focusing more on the volume of applications rather than the quality – decide which one would be better for the vacancy you’re recruiting for.

Better yet, you could outline a development or training programme to be undertaken in the first 3 months to outline key expected achievements – this will do a much better job of attracting the high-calibre candidates, making the quality of your hiring decisions even sweeter.

• It’s a group effort

Get other managers involved. They can help you to make a better decision on the candidates’ suitability. One person’s opinion isn’t necessarily the best opinion or won’t provide the full picture. It’s vital to include others that the new hire will interact with most often during their role.

By exploring the opinions of others, it will become easier to identify expectations and highlight key qualities required since those working with the new hire will have a strong grasp of what kind of person will succeed in the role and perform to the expected standard.

• Testing techniques

This is especially crucial for a recruitment process searching for candidates with technical skills or high levels of experience. The truth is, some candidates may emphasise or exaggerate their experience, skills or talents on their CV.

As a company invested in hiring the right person for the role, don’t be afraid to test if the candidates are actually able to do everything they say they can do – but be impressed if they do, and even more so if they do it well.

An example of this could be asking a Sales candidate to do a mock Sales call, or just like one of our clients, Turning Point, organise a Meet and Greet session if the role is in social care and requires a hands-on attitude. Not only will this technique separate the wheat from the chaff, you’ll be able to test their skills and identify honest candidates.

• Are your recruitment processes consistent?

Every candidate should receive fair judgement at every stage of the recruitment process, regardless of whether they have been successful. In order to make the best decisions, you’ll need to compare the relative performance of the candidates.

There are many ways to achieve this. Standardising the questions asked at each stage. Providing all candidates with the same information (no favouritism!) Using indicators to assess positive and negative behaviour throughout the recruitment process.

Furthermore, using a hiring scorecard or a points system can help to make sure that education, experience, training and additional certifications are measured in the same to improve fairness throughout the process.

• Emphasise Growth and Development

A candidate will join your company for the growth and development opportunities. What is important to remember is that investing in your employees results in a happy and motivated workforce. As a result, this can increase productivity, and improve the employee culture. 

It’s important to remember that you can recruit a candidate, to grow into the role. Development opportunities allow the candidate to develop and build the skills that the role requires.

Likewise, if you’re really struggling to find a great candidate or are having difficulties retaining staff based on the fact that you are looking for the perfect candidate or a very specialised skill, you could be missing out on great talent which just needs an extra push and development to become the perfect candidate.

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So there are our 5 easy things you can do to improve your recruitment process. Investing in your existing employees as well as potential new hires is crucial. Don’t forget – your recruitment process is vital for selecting the right talent for your organisation.