How Recruiters — and Job Seekers — Can Improve the Recruiting Process

I want to share a recent incident our CEO, Amit Mishra, experienced while interviewing a candidate for the role of business development executive. Let’s call the job seeker “Mr. X.”

Just before the interview session, our company arranged coffee for Mr. X. After finishing the coffee, Mr. X stepped in Amit’s office and greeted him. Then, the interview began.

Amit: So, what have you done in your career? 

Mr. X: Nothing much; just had coffee. 

Mr. X exhibited a little humor in response to Amit’s question. Amit took it casually, but he was a bit surprised. 

Amit: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Mr. X did some jibber-jabbering. Amit was okay with it all.

Amit: What is your greatest weakness?

Mr. X: I’m bad at answering interview questions.

BAM! And that was the end of the interview.

I am sure all recruiters and hiring managers have had similar experiences, speaking to a candidate who is not sure about how to even carry themselves in the interview. Sometimes, the candidate isn’t even sure about the structure and responsibilities of the job they are applying for!

Alas! Finding the best candidate for a role is, of course, the biggest challenge every job recruiter faces — and job seekers aren’t always cooperative.

However, recruiters can make their job market bouts a bit easier by adopting these methods:

1. Take Time to Understand the Expectations of the Hiring Manager

Many commentators have observed that there is a lack of awareness among recruiters with respect to the expectations of hiring managers. Many times, there is little contact between hiring managers and recruiters, and it becomes the recruiter’s job to carry out the sourcing process with little guidance from the hiring manager. When a recruiter isn’t quite sure exactly what the hiring manager wants, finding the right candidate becomes almost impossible.

To rectify this situation, recruiters and hiring managers must open lines of communication between one another. Recruiters must communicate their expectations to hiring managers and ask hiring managers to do the same in return. This will help shift some responsibility to the hiring managers — where it belongs — and will contribute to a more efficient recruitment process. When recruiters and hiring managers are aware of one another’s expectations, they can help make each other’s jobs more doable.

2. Clearly Defined Recruitment Processes = Better Outcomes

Another pain point for many recruiters is a lack of clarity into what is actually supposed to happen in the recruitment process. The recruiting process can be difficult to map out because it often requires a great deal of flexibility on the part of recruiters, candidates, and hiring managers.

Defining recruiting processes and the steps they should follow can be challenging for organizations, but it is absolutely necessary for the creation of smooth, efficient processes. Recruitment is a pipeline management and development process, which should be under continuous monitoring and improvement.

3. Use Technology, and Use It Well

When it comes to recruitment technology, there are three issues that tend to cause problems for recruiters:

1. Many recruiting departments are stuck in the past. When recruiters find recruitment systems that work well, they stick with them — sometimes, for unreasonably long. And then, suddenly, the department is using a decade-old system while competitors attract talent using the latest advances.
2. As recruiting technology rapidly evolves, many departments find it difficult to keep up with the pace of change. As soon as someone gets a handle on a new tool, it seems like 1o more have sprung up!
3. Some companies have allowed software to replace human recruiters. Applicants can feel frustrated by the lack of human touch, leaving a bad taste in their mouths and discouraging them from wanting to work for the company.

When it comes to solving the recruiter’s technological woes, the key is finding the right balance. Recruiters need to avail themselves of the best technological tools in order to create better hiring processes, but they must also be careful not to let software replace the human interaction that is crucial to the recruitment process.

How the Job Seeker Can Make the Recruitment Process Even Better

Remember the story of Mr. X above? Recruiters who follow the advice given above may have been able to filter Mr. X out of the running before he arrived at the office, but then again, there’s no guarantee.

So, then, we must look at ways in which job seekers can help recruiters make the hiring process smoother and more efficient.

Our CEO, Amit , always says that job seekers should help themselves by thinking like recruiters. They should read job descriptions carefully, take time to understand the pain points the hiring manager is trying to solve in hiring someone for a role, and be able to describe specifically how their experience and skills will add to the company’s overall success. 

By learning to think like a recruiter, job seekers can help make recruiters’ lives easier. When job seekers know what employers are looking for, they can present themselves and their qualifications (or lack thereof) clearly and directly, taking a lot of guesswork out of the process on the recruiter’s end.