3 Ways To Manage The Pressure Of Hiring Right Now

The skills gap in an organisation can significantly hurt the company’s bottom line as it might result in turning away customers and work. For this reason, there is pressure for hiring managers and recruiters to fill vacancies right now.

However, filling vacant positions fast could mean two things. One, beating the competition and bagging that top talent in the highly competitive job market. Or two, making rash decisions and hiring an individual who is unfit for the position. The latter, of course, comes with costly losses down the line as it could mean repeating the hiring process to find another candidate.

So, how do you manage the pressure of filling positions quickly in a candidate-driven market with high competition and the need to get it right the first time?

Here are 3 suggestions for you.

1. Streamline your hiring process

A streamlined hiring process is one that is clean, organised, and well defined, standing out in a job interview. This makes it easy to find quality applicants, expedite screening and hire the right fit seamlessly. With reduced chances for mistakes and an efficient process, the hiring manager can be assured of saving time and money as well as landing the right candidate for the job. Here are some of the ways to streamline the hiring process:

Write clear and accurate job descriptions: Clear job descriptions weed out people who fall short of your needs. This saves you time that you would have spent going over applications that don’t add value. To write clear job descriptions, start with a clear title, optimised with important keywords that the people you are targeting would search for. Include all the mandatory requirements and skills. In addition, highlight your company culture to help candidates gauge and decide whether they will fit or not before applying.
Place the job posting where it can be easily found: Understand that the right candidate isn’t necessarily looking for a job. You have to make an effort to place the ad where they will see it. Besides posting on your career site, use popular job boards and social media.
Keep the application process simple: Candidates are more likely to abandon their application if there are too many hoops that they have to jump. Identify areas that could be simplified for an enhanced user experience.
Conduct online interviews first: With good digital screening questions targeted at identifying the candidates’ personalities, preparedness, skills, and if they are a cultural fit can save you from scheduling in-person interviews with people who are not suited for the job.
Automate the hiring process: Repetitive processes done manually can be exhausting and a waste of time. Invest in reliable hiring software to automate the important processes.
Keep candidates engaged: Keeping candidates in the dark can result in them abandoning the process. Do your best to keep in communication with them throughout the process.

2. Do an interim hire

One of the main causes of the pressure of hiring fast that hiring managers have to deal with is the urgency of filling a position to safeguard productivity and profits. If you can find a temporary worker for the position, it alleviates that urgency. It also gives you ample time to evaluate applicants, avoiding rash decisions that can lead to a costly bad hire. In addition, hiring an interim employee gives you time to monitor their work to see if they are a good fit for the company. For all you know, they could be the candidate that you are looking for.

3. Outsource the hiring process

Bringing in an external provider to handle the hiring process for you comes with a variety of benefits. These experts have extensive knowledge, a wider network, and the necessary resources that will benefit your business in the following ways:

A faster and more efficient hiring process
An exclusive talent pool
Improved recruitment scalability
Compliance with local labour regulations

What’s more, outsourcing your hiring process removes one task off your plate, allowing you more time to focus on things that are more pressing. Even better, it can help you lift the weight of making the right decisions off of your shoulders. Partner with a reliable employer of record services provider to benefit from their expertise and rich resources.

Conclusion

We are in a candidate’s market where positions available are many with a few people to fill them. Moreover, with the urgency to grab the right candidates, the pressure of hiring right and fast will always be there. What you can do is streamline your hiring process, find temporary help or outsource the entire or part of the process to an expert.

Supplementary reading: Why Recruitment is Broken and How Trust Can Fix It

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