Even if your current hiring process is working well, there’s always room for improvement.
The ability to attract, hire, and retain top talent is a critical success factor in most businesses; but it’s especially true for HR leaders managing multiple locations, where the complexity of hiring is amplified tenfold.
That’s why it’s a good idea to evaluate your recruitment, hiring, and onboarding processes to make sure they’re meeting your business’ needs, keeping up with trends, and helping your organization stay compliant.
With this in mind, let’s explore six tips for further improving your hiring process.
1. Evaluate and optimize the candidate experience
The experience your candidates have when they apply to jobs at your company can influence your reputation as a good place to work. A positive candidate experience attracts top talent by making your business more attractive to future candidates. as well as impact their willingness to accept a job offer.
Make your application process and the overall candidate experience as smooth as possible by:
- Simplifying your job applications and providing clear requirements
- Making your website and application platform user-friendly
- Initiating a candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Looking at candidate reviews on sites like Glassdoor
- Getting feedback from local hiring managers
By regularly reviewing your company’s hiring data, taking into account feedback from local hiring managers, you can help your organization identify areas that could be worked on.
2. Embrace technology for efficiency
Technology can be a powerful tool for streamlining your hiring process.
An applicant tracking system (ATS), for example, can quickly and accurately match job seekers’ skills with your available positions. According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Global Talent Trends report, 35% of talent leaders surveyed say automation in hiring is a top trend to follow.
Tools that support remote applications, interviews, and onboarding can also prove beneficial, particularly in a multi-location operation setting. In fact, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, 25% of HR professionals say their organizations currently use AI or “intelligent automation” for a range of recruitment and hiring tasks.
3. Boost inclusion and diversity efforts
Even if your company is standing strong in its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, there’s always room for examining feedback and initiating improvements. Here are some tangible and intangible ways that giving your diversity efforts a second-look can benefit your business:
- Boosted profits: A 2020 McKinsey study showed that companies with a diverse board or leadership outperformed companies with less diverse leadership by 36% when factoring in ethnicity – and 25% when factoring in gender.
- Increased creativity and innovation: A diverse workforce encourages a more creative environment, as employees from different backgrounds are more likely to bring unique ideas to the table.
- Better decision-making: Research has shown that diverse teams make better decisions. In fact, a study conducted by Cloverpop showed that companies with gender-diverse teams make better business decisions 73% of the time.
- Enhanced company reputation: Companies that are committed to diversity and inclusion benefit from a boosted reputation. Diversity makes them more attractive to top talent.
Here are a few strategies you can use to improve diversity and inclusion at your company:
- Write unbiased job descriptions free of language that might favor one ethnicity or one gender over another.
- Use a wide variety of job boards to put your job listing in front of a more diverse group of candidates.
- Perform structured interviews where every candidate is asked the exact same set of questions.
- Provide DEI training for anyone tasked with hiring others.
4. Foster collaboration across locations
When your business operates across multiple locations, it’s vital that headquarters and local hiring managers are on the same page.
Scheduling regular check-ins with local GMs can help you align hiring goals across all locations. These sessions can serve as a platform for discussing hiring needs, sharing best practices, and brainstorming solutions to problems. You can streamline communication and promote a sense of shared responsibility in achieving hiring goals.
5. Leverage data and metrics
Even when your hiring process appears to be going smoothly, collecting (and using) data can improve it further. According to Aptitude Research, 82% of companies cite data collection as a crucial piece of their hiring process puzzle — but only 50% actually measure the effectiveness of their hiring efforts.
A few metrics to consider collecting include:
- Time-to-hire
- Cost-per-hire
- Length of onboarding process
- New hire performance
- Employee retention rates
Draw conclusions based on the data you’ve collected. For instance, a high turnover rate with a low cost-per-hire could indicate your compensation rates aren’t attracting the high-quality candidates you’re looking for.
6. Develop talent pipelines
One way to fill open roles faster is to create a talent pipeline. This means consistently recruiting and nurturing a pool of top talent, so when a position opens up, your team already has a list of pre-screened candidates to choose from.
Technology can help automate the process. (See point #2 above.)
But employee development programs, internships, and apprenticeships are another great way to develop a talent pipeline because you can prepare entry-level employees for growth into future roles.
Improve your hiring process with applicant tracking
Taking the time to improve your hiring process works wonders for attracting (and retaining) top talent. So, if you’re ready to enhance your hiring process even further, check out Wizehire’s plans. We can help your organization embrace technology, develop talent pipelines, and leverage data-driven insights.
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