Common Recruitment Mistakes You Should Avoid
Are you an employer? Are you planning on hiring new employees? Recruiting means that your company or organization is expanding and needs more hands. That’s a sign of progress. What should you do to ensure that the recruitment process goes smoothly and that you hire the best hands? Well, you have to be aware of common recruitment mistakes so that you can avoid them. Why is this necessary? Recruitment mistakes apart from making the hiring process distorted can cost you valuable time and money. Mistakes such as making a bad hire could leave you with an employee who doesn’t plan on staying a considerable amount of time, or worse, an unproductive person. These mistakes will have the money and time you spent scheduling interviews and training go down the drain. That is not a good step for a growing establishment or even a company whose achievements date far back.
As a competent employer, hiring manager, or HR manager, an outsourced recruitment agent, in fact, basically anyone in the hiring field, you will find this article really helpful because it aims to make the hiring process efficient and fruitful for both parties involved. It serves to spotlight that could be ruining your recruitment.
Below are the common recruitment mistakes that some employers usually make:
Not Enough Information
When you send out adverts for an opening, give as much information as you can, especially on the job description. Give an outline of the description of the tasks and responsibilities of the post within your organization. Do not just say, “Company A is hiring for the role of xxx” and expect prospective candidates to fill in the gap. Give a brief about your company, the requirements of the position and then, the responsibilities of the role. This will ensure that only candidates who are aware and well satisfied with what the role entails, apply. Your job advert should give basic and accurate information. When you fail to do that, it could result in candidates leaving when they finally understand what the job is all about. That could even be when the hiring process is halfway through.
Searching for Employees in the Wrong Places
Where do you think your prospects are located? If the role you are hiring for is an entry-level one, you can post an advert online and fresh graduates will apply. You could even find interested people at career fairs or other recruitment programs usually held in colleges and universities. What about your current employees? What do you do when you want to hire for a role that requires a considerable amount of work experience in the field? Have you ever considered recruiting from the inside? If you have longtime employees who fit the description of the role you are hiring, then it isn’t necessary to make the recruitment public. Hiring from within is a good idea because the candidates are already part of the company and know how it works when compared to an outsider. To make hiring from within easier, you can arrange for your employers to reach out and take courses and training that qualify them for better positions in the company. It makes the hiring process efficient and saves time and money. That way, all you have to do is give a promotion where necessary and perhaps, hire from the outside to replace vacant entry-level positions. Knowing where to source for employees is key to avoiding recruitment mistakes.
Having Very Few or Just One Recruitment Stage
You might wonder why some companies stretch their recruitment process into stages. Certainly not to stress their candidates unnecessarily. When recruiting, avoid accepting CVs and then jumping into the interview stage. While that procedure may work when hiring for some positions, it is important to direct the candidate through a series of tests and maybe more than one interview. Relying only on CVs and an interview may not reveal if a candidate is really able and suitable for the role. Job seekers can polish their CVs and prepare for an interview just because they are desperate to find a job. However, breaking your recruitment process into stages does not mean that you have to make the tests or presentations exceedingly difficult for a human to scale through. You may even consider candidates who made it just to a certain stage for another role. When a candidate successfully completes all the recruitment requirements, you can then schedule interviews and be completely assured that you have made a good hire.
Being Prejudiced
It goes without saying that this is a recruitment mistake you should avoid by all means. “My recruitment process is free and fair”, “The color of one’s skin does not matter” you might say, but it is possible to be unconsciously biased. Ask yourself, Do I only hire a particular gender? Do I only accept applications from candidates who attended a particular university or college? Is the physical appearance of candidates a measuring stick for bringing them on board? Am I partial to people who have numerous degrees? Do I reject all other candidates because I am waiting for the “perfect” candidate I have created in my head based on sentiments? Am I hesitant to hire someone more qualified than me because I do not want them to become my boss? Do I intentionally lookout for candidates less qualified than me because I want to maintain my position as a boss? Do I place a specific degree over others or think that some qualifications are useless? It is very easy to get caught up in “preferences” without knowing and this can lead to a costly mistake when recruiting.
Disrespecting Candidates
Job seekers are humans and so deserve respect regardless of the fact that they need a job from your organization. Keep to time during interviews. Do not leave your candidates waiting at the company’s reception for hours because you are not prepared or simply because you want to “test their patience”. Be considerate. Job seekers have things they do with their time. Some come to interviews from their current jobs while others may have more than one interview slated in a day. Treat candidates in a professional manner. Speak to them with respect and address them by proper titles, Miss, Mrs., or Mr. It is disrespectful to think that only candidates require preparation. As a recruiter, go through their application before time so that you do not ask obvious questions, mispronounce or misspell their names or act in any way that would make a candidate think that they are not valued or respected. Do not proposition your candidates by attempting to collect bribes or any other form of compensation in exchange for the job. If a candidate feels disrespected, he may withdraw from the recruitment process and you may lose a potential employee.
Lack of Communication
Keep the communication lines open at every stage of the recruitment process. Acknowledge receipt of applications and CV and inform them promptly of the next step. It is wrong to ignore a candidate and then decide to get back in touch months later. This recruitment mistake will cost you potential candidates who have moved on and probably gotten other jobs. Communicate through emails or any other alternative means. Get back to a candidate even when they did not make it through the recruitment process. Be polite and explain why. Make it easy for candidates to reach you when they have questions.
Conclusion
If you can avoid these recruitment mistakes, there is a tendency that you are going to have a successful recruitment process.
