4 Reasons your Hiring Process Stinks

 Don’t be your own worst enemy by not stepping back and taking a look at your hiring process. Keeping a foot in the candidate’s world can help you to see what is working and what is not, what’s annoying, and what’s attractive. All the pay, company culture and branding in the world won’t get some great candidates through a painful hiring process. For candidates whose skill sets are in high demand, they simply don’t need to put up with bad recruiting practices, and they won’t.

Could your hiring process actually be deterring candidates ? Take a look and see.

1. Too Lengthy

We get it, a bad hire is a costly hire. But there has to be a balance. Take a look at your vetting and screening processes from the stance of less is more. A fifth interview round might indicate that you’re process is too long. The time should be spent on your end, not the candidate’s. Most of the screening process is about accessing information and creating a candidate profile. A concentration on creating a more efficient hiring cycle  will save everyone time. This might be a gold mine of a position and you might be talking to the perfect candidate. But at the end of the day, they’re looking for a job now. A lengthy hiring process can often push candidates toward other options.

2. Ridiculous Screening Tools

Out of curiosity, I recently Googled, “Why I hate recruiters.” The first link that I clicked on was written by an IT guy who was simply fed up with irrelevant vetting tools used by recruiters and refused to comply with them. “I hate tests. I don’t do well on tests. I have never gotten a job where I was tested during the interview. To me, a test is the opposite of what is required in computer programming (or admin, or tech support): you are put on the spot without access to your references, sample code, or help from a colleague. Exactly how realistic is this?”

The tools that we use to screen candidates  are often now our own decision. Getting the hiring manager involved and enlightening him/her on opinions like this IT guy’s can lead to the improvement of the process. If you’re asking candidate’s to name the states in alphabetical order, your hiring process probably stinks.

3. Cuneiform Job Descriptions

Job descriptions don’t have to be a life-changing white paper full of five dollar words. If people in the given industry for which the job description is written can’t even decipher what the position actually is, you’re putting way too much thought into it. Many candidates won’t even read past the job title if it’s not familiar to them. Use common jobs titles, steer away from jargon and keep it simple, yet informative.

4. Bad Application Process

A friend of mine was recently on the job hunt and she informed me that she needed to actually mail a resume in. Yes, like real life post. Applying should be made easy. We order pizza with an app, buy toothpaste on Amazon, candidates aren’t going to mail things or deal with terrible online application tools.

Not all ATSs are the same. Before you decide on your application process, check out the standard for your industry. Run through your own and your competitors. You want a user friendly, quick application system.