Sourcing and Hiring the right candidate

Process — why each step is challenging

1. Job Description — Which team member does the team currently lack? Accordingly, a job description perfectly sums up what each member contributes to the team. The job description is the first step. What is it? It is a detailed description to what skills, requirements, qualifications and fit for company culture. This defines the role. There is a huge difference between applying to a software engineer and a senior back-end engineer position. One position is an entry-level while the other is an mid-senior level. A team needs to define the job description correctly so when candidates do apply, they can easily read over requirements to determine if they’re a fit or not.
2. Sourcing — To ensure to get a large pool of candidates, posting the job application on various professional employment websites — LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster or career website. It is essential to use marketing and social media skills to spread the word to a larger audience to further skim down to the high potential candidate. Companies have great referral programs which can be put to great use. The employees and team members not only know how well their members perfectly achieve their project goal but also which new member can be a great addition to their team.
3. Working with the right ATS — Hundreds of applicants might flood the database within days. This can be very time consuming. Having a strong Application Tracking System helps review every application to its best. Once the job profile has been generated, it is all about reading and reviewing and matching profile that closely match the profile. Today, Recruiting Softwares such as Greenhouse and Salesforce make managing applications easier and are user-friendly. Being in the era driven by technology, working with a user-friendly ATS is beneficial. They help you plan your hiring process, link job boards, social media and referrals under one database, generate interview kits for each job profile, manage pipeline and you are able make data driven decisions. For example, I want to hire two Marketing interns and preferably juniors and seniors in college. There will be one application uploaded on the career website for an Marketing Intern, but as soon as applications start rolling in they can be sorted into two databases, junior and senior candidates. Once application is reviewed you can either give it a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘interview accept’ and write a little note to why you think this candidate would be a great fit; so the rest of the team members can view your decision.
4. Maintaining Relationships — From the time an automated message has been sent “we have received your application” to making the initial phone screening interview to generating an offer letter, it is very important to give the candidate a best in class experience. Why? Because, every applicant is taking out time to apply to your company as you are taking out time to recruit the right candidate. Maintaining relationships with candidates builds a positive company and candidate experience. During an onsite interview making sure conference rooms are booked in advance, beverages are provided and even starting each interview on time. Little steps go a long way! Especially when you are interacting with the candidate virtually
5. Being efficient with

— Emails / calls — within the 24 hour period policy
— Scheduling interviews on correct dates and time. Especially for onsite interviews with appropriate flight times and hotel arrangements
— Answering any questions / concerns within the 24 hour period policy
— Keeping the candidate updated about every step and hiring timeline as the waiting game can get tiring and frustrating

Maintaining contact with the candidate from the beginning is very important and does lead to great candidate experience. It shows that generated emails aren’t only keeping contact with you but the company personally cares about your time and your interest in their company.

The candidate’s experience will eventually be read on Glassdoor / Quora by future applicants & employees.

Conclusion

Recruiting is so much more than hiring and filling up positions as you may know. It is about the quality of the candidate not quantity. It is about recruiting a new team member and not filling up an office vacancy. To hire the passionate and goal driven employees is what exciting about recruitment! As we all together are working towards the common goal or our vision of the company.