Covid-19 has brought many unprecedented challenges for businesses across Canada, one of which is finding the right candidate in a timely manner. To thrive in the current socio-economic environment, successful businesses are looking for team players who can pivot, step up to changing business environments, switch to remote or on-site work models seamlessly, and work under minimal supervision.

With so many additional parameters to consider, it is natural that the hiring process these days has become lengthier and complicated. If you are a business operating in a fast-paced environment, any delay in getting the right professional onboard can cost you significant loss. On the flip side, when you are hiring urgently, you’re much more likely to make hiring mistakes, eventually leading to restarting the hiring cycle all over again.

Struggling to find the best talent for your business? Read our FREE Talent squeeze Report for actionable tips and insights.

A growing business needs to shorten the recruitment cycle and find the right professionals right away. Here are 5 tips you need to use to succeed:

Job Description on point

A job description is probably one of the most underutilized and underrated hiring tools. Many businesses rely on their HR team to come up with a job description for a role. Typically a hiring manager outlines the qualifications and experience they are looking for and the HR team writes a job description based on it, or even worse, sometimes someone in the HR team just looks at similar jobs on job boards and copies the description. While this practice may seem to save time in the short run, it will ultimately result in a much lengthier hiring process, as incorrect or inadequate job descriptions will not attract the right job applications, making it difficult to find a good candidate.  

One easy way to shorten a recruitment cycle at this stage is by simply having the hiring manager create the job description. After all, they know exactly what they are looking for in their next team member. Making the job description as precise and accurate as possible will help you get only serious applicants who are comfortable with the job duties mentioned and possess the necessary qualifications as well.

Another critical aspect of the job description is whether to mention salary to speed up the hiring process. Understanding the job market is critical for identifying a competitive salary and compensation package. Knowing your salary range – even if you do not post it – is important to understand the caliber of candidates you can attract. If it is lower, you may be looking for an experienced job seeker new to your sector or someone looking for a promotion and will grow into the position.

Eliminating unconscious bias

Unconscious bias is inherent in all of us. The solution is to be aware of these biases and consciously address and eliminate them in the recruiting process. Bias occurred when we make snap judgments based on pre-conceived assumptions whether that’s race, gender, age, sexual preference or orientation, or eco-socio demographics.

By submitting to your unconscious bias, you are doing your recruitment search and your business disfavor. It has been well documented, that inclusive workplaces are more productive, more successful, and generally better at problem-solving. If you’re not proactively addressing your recruitment team’s unconscious bias, you are probably losing out on great candidates. 

Video/Phone pre-screening

Sometimes job applicants may look quite promising on their resume, but when you have a ten-minute conversation with them, you might realize that they are not right for your team. As a majority of professionals have shifted to remote work, almost all job applicants today have a video and voice-enabled device at their disposal. If you had to rely on pre-screening applicants via a phone interview before the pandemic, this time around, you can request a zoom call. Virtual interviewing is becoming a norm as most businesses have moved to remote working models, either part or full-time.

The virtual interviews can help you determine if your potential team member is comfortable with a remote working environment while you query about their background, qualifications, etc. Having this perspective can help you shorten your recruitment cycle and save you hours of interviewing candidates that aren’t the right fit for the job.

Beyond the resume

When making hiring decisions, successful businesses look beyond the skills and experience mentioned in a resume. Of course, you may find a candidate who has extensive work experience and impeccable qualifications, but when it comes to successfully working within a team or leading it, you must consider their attitude and behavioral aspects. Hiring decisions based purely on skills and education may not necessarily be the best fit for your organization’s culture. Wrong hires can lead to an unhealthy work environment for everyone in your team and you might have to restart your hiring cycle again.

Recognizing candidates with the right attitude for the role and going beyond the resume can help you find a long-lasting talent for your team. Assessing these skills often means digging deeper with talent assessment tools like skills and behavioral testing.

Another common practice is to have your shortlisted candidates address a case study or make recommendations based on a business problem you are facing, that in the new role they would need to address. This is a great tactic to understand their organizational, communications, and critical thinking skills.

Partnering with a Staffing expert

Partnering with a local recruitment agency can help you solve all of your hiring issues. For starters, staffing experts are closely connected to the local job market and candidates. They have in-depth knowledge of the available talent and can quickly put together a pool of highly skilled and qualified candidates for your business need - something that individual businesses or their HR teams may not be able to do by themselves.

Staffing agencies are knowledgeable about the incentives that drive skilled candidates towards a role and what are the top techniques to find the right candidates. In many cases, a good recruiter can push even a passive candidate to apply for your role, thus enriching your available potential candidate pool further. This helps to ensure that your hiring process is speedy, efficient and you find a suitable professional right on time.

A staffing agency can help you shorten your recruitment cycle by not just conducting preliminary screening of potential applicants, but also taking care of the first round of interviews for you. That way, you are faced with a shortlist of candidates, who are qualified, experienced, and vetted (education, certificates, work permits, etc.) so you can focus on fit.

By using the above tips, business leaders can build a qualified and ready-to-work team of professionals in an efficient and timely way, thus saving on potential business or production delays and bottom-line losses. It can help save the time and effort spent by business leaders on recruitment functions, leaving them time to focus on other critical aspects of the business.