Have your ever experienced difficulty securing the right candidate for your business?
As the ratio of part qualified and qualified accountants to job opportunities continues to dwindle in a competitive candidate driven market, it is critical that the first impression of what it may be like to work within your Company is demonstrated through an efficient recruitment process.
Looking for the next career move is important and time consuming task to most individuals, and in a candidate driven market, multiple job opportunities will be discussed to experienced individuals on a regular basis, allowing them the opportunity to be selective with the interviews that they pursue.
Reducing the job application process time down to a minimum once a candidate has expressed interest in working for your organisation is respectful to a candidate’s needs but will also help your business get ‘buy in” from the candidate at the very early stages of the process. Individuals who apply for a new opportunity would much prefer to know if successful or not with their application quickly rather than waiting weeks for a decision.
The response time to applicants can be so critical in securing and losing candidates. It is understandable that Staff Partners/ Hiring Managers and HR departments are extremely busy, however, in a market that is so highly competitive, organisations need to act fast and keep candidates up to date throughout the process.
Recruiting new talent into your business is very much a two way process, obviously a business would need to evaluate if an individual has the suitable skills, personality and attributes to be a success within the role, but also the candidate seeking a new opportunity will also be evaluating if you are also right for them. If throughout the process they have felt frustrated with the lack of feedback and response times this could sway their decision to another role.
If you have ever had difficulty securing the right talent, It is worth taking a step back and re-evaluating your recruitment process. Do you need to act quicker, sell your business better in interviews and show what you can offer applicants over another business? A subtle change in your process could be the difference in securing future talent or not.
Justin Barber – Director of Barber McLelland