It’s no secret that getting your hiring process right is a crucial step toward recruiting the right people. Focussing on the relevant questions and processes while removing unnecessary admin is key. Striking a balance will streamline your process while keeping the critical checks that keep good candidates around.
With that in mind, let’s look at some quick ways to get your hiring process ticking along smoothly.
Get the right candidates
The first thing to get right is the beginning of the process: let’s get the right people applying for the role. People apply for roles based on how you describe it and where you advertise it.
Getting the role description correct is critical here. It’s essential to write it in a way that candidates identify with the role and want to apply for it. That means explaining the role and clearly articulating the benefits, too.
For example, if your role is a bartender, you would describe the key duties and the type of pub you are. But, you might also advertise staff discounts, growth opportunities, and other things that can make it more attractive to applicants.
The other step to getting more candidates is to advertise it as widely as possible. The more distribution channels, the better. Don’t limit yourself to job boards – share opportunities in Facebook communities, your social media profiles, or even with physical signs in your business. If someone loves visiting your business, chances are they’d love working there too.
Review pre-screening procedures
The reality of the job market is that you’ll still get resumes that are duds or people that aren’t the right fit for the organisation. You want to screen these people out before they get to the formal interview process to save time.
The first thing to do is review the candidate’s resumes and look for anything that just looks off. Common red flags include:
- Major grammar mistakes and typos
- Not all grammar mistakes are massive issues, but they can often indicate the resume was sloppily put together.
- Failure to include requested documentation
- If an applicant doesn’t pay attention to the requirements, will these oversights carry through to their role in the business?
- Unexplained employment gaps & job hopping
- If the applicant has significant gaps on their resume, ask yourself what they were doing at that time. Was it a job where they fell out with their boss?
- If an applicant changes jobs all the time, they might do it again
- Right to work in Australia
- Australia has strict right-to-work laws that change regularly. For example, in COVID-19, international students had working limits relaxed. Now, their 20-hour-a-week limit has been restored. Check if the candidate is 100% eligible to work and that their working rights expire far enough in the future.
If you filter out people with red flags on their resume, you’ll save yourself time calling or interviewing them at the very least. At best, you’ll remove someone who could have been a disastrous hire.
The next thing is to do a screening call. This is a quick vibe check on the candidate. Do they sound normal on the phone? Are they engaged and aware of what the job is? In this call, you should see their expectations and what they’re looking for. Screen out candidates that never answer the phone or don’t know the basics. Otherwise, you’ll waste time in the interview process.
Use an Applicant Tracking System
All the paperwork is piling up for you at this point. If you’re a small team or are constantly hiring new staff, all the resumes, calls, and notes can become overwhelming. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help manage the paperwork and make it all make sense.
A good ATS typically has a candidate’s paperwork in their file. That way, you don’t need to individually find their resume and notes from their screening call before the interview.
Likewise, you can easily use an ATS to manage candidates’ progression through the hiring process. Quickly mark candidates with dud resumes as non-progress and narrow down to the best fit. However, if you decide not to hire someone but wouldn’t mind keeping them on file for another job, store their details for future roles.
If you’re using Tanda Hire, our in-house ATS, you can do all these things, saving time, staying organised, and improving the process.
Make the interview count
Make sure you ask the right questions in the interview. Some people might look great on paper but interview poorly. Others might interview quite well, but have a hidden issue that comes out during the process.
Be sure to ask the right questions that are unique to your business. It’s also important to gauge the applicant’s attitude and not just their technical skillset.
Don’t waste time
The final thing is to progress applicants through this process as quickly as possible. The longer the process drags on, the more likely candidates drop off, or get another job entirely. Another reason to streamline your hiring process is that saving time doesn’t just help your business – it helps you hire good candidates too.
