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Traditional recruitment processes may seem like a great way to hire.
But everywhere you look, companies are struggling with two big challenges: recruiting and retaining great talent.
It seems like no one can find and keep enough qualified talent. What if the problem is how we recruit in the first place?
What if outdated processes are leading to bad hires…which naturally don’t stick with the organization long-term?
What if the problem is that the traditional recruitment process doesn’t really put people at the center?
The World Has Changed. Has Your Recruiting?
The world has changed dramatically over the last 5-10 years – and we’re not just talking about COVID. From remote work to the economy to the skills that are in-demand, we’re in a radically different talent market, and it’s continuing to evolve faster than ever before.
It begs the question – why are so many companies still using the same old, traditional recruitment process?
In this article, we’ll look at three key problems with the traditional recruitment process and how companies can improve on it.
The Traditional Recruitment Process Relies on Passive Sourcing – Which No Longer Works
Historically, companies have had great success hiring through passive sourcing. In brief, passive sourcing means posting a job description and waiting for applications. For many organizations, especially larger, more well-known companies, this worked quite well.
However, with today’s talent shortage and the growing skills gap, this part of the traditional recruitment process no longer works. The best talent on the market are passive candidates – which means they aren’t applying for jobs at all. They’re already gainfully employed. That means that as a recruiter, it’s your job to find them and encourage them to consider your open positions.
It’s not enough to look for talent on LinkedIn and Indeed, either. These platforms are saturated with recruiters looking to find qualified candidates. To really get ahead of the curve, you need to join groups related to your target professionals online, attend networking events, and look for other ways to connect with people in your industry.
It’s a lot harder and takes a lot more effort. But in the long run, it’s worth the time investment. Passive sourcing simply doesn’t lead to quality hires anymore and hurts your business over time as key positions stay open.
The Traditional Recruitment Process Focuses on Skills, But Not Behavioral Drivers
With the traditional recruitment process, recruiters have focused on matching a candidate’s skills to the skills required for a position. That’s all well and good, but it’s only scratching the surface of what makes for a great hire.
Reviewing a candidate’s skills is very important to making a quality hire. But we must dig much deeper. Studies show that when we fire a new hire within the first 18 months, it’s only due to a skill issue 11% of the time…the other 89% of firings are made over the candidate’s attitude!
If you’re a recruiter dedicated to putting people at the center of your business and making hires that thrive for the long haul, you need to learn how candidates are wired and what drives them in the workplace.
Here at Qualigence, we use tools from the Predictive Index to help companies learn what makes candidates “tick.” It’s about understanding what drives their behavior so you can predict how a candidate will mesh with your team, leadership and culture.
If you miss this piece, you are bound to make hires that don’t work out long-term.
The Traditional Recruitment Process is Focused on All the Wrong Metrics
Another issue with the traditional recruitment process is that it is focused on all the wrong metrics. Recruiting performance is tracked by time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, dials-per-day, and number of submittals. But are these really the best metrics to judge recruiting success?
Remember, you get what you measure. The single best way a recruiter can add value to a company is by making quality hires that stay at your company and thrive long-term. But these metrics are related to different goals entirely! They’re all about making fast hires and eliminating costs…not making a quality hire that adds value to the team.
Instead, companies should consider tracking metrics like retention rate, submittal-to-interview rate, and interview-to-hire rate. These metrics are more focused on the quality of the hires and the quality of candidates submitted.
The wrong recruiting metrics could be setting you up to fail!
The Most Dangerous Phrase in Business…
Remember, the most dangerous phrase in business is “we’ve always done it this way.”
One too many companies think they have a great recruitment process in place because it worked well in the past.
But the market has changed, and now it’s time to change the traditional recruitment process.
How might you change your process to make better hires?