Recruiting process and strategy: Find suitable employees
Is it your job to fill open positions within your company with qualified and motivated specialists and managers? A task that isn’t always easy. Because the success of the company is often decisively dependent on your personnel choices. Can your applicants really do what they say in their applications and during the interview? How do they behave in everyday working situations, and is their personality suitable for the team?
You can't find out all of this during interviews, but nasty surprises can be avoided if you have a well designed recruiting process. This helps you to keep an overview of the positions to be filled and to find new employees in a structured and targeted manner. And so that you work with an optimal recruiting strategy in the future, we will show you what to pay attention to in your process and share valuable tips for implementation within your company.
The recruiting process, often also referred to as the application and hiring process, is a step-by-step process which companies use to find and hire new employees or internally develop existing employees.
Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Internal recruiting is often faster, since you can streamline the recruiting process. However, you must consider that fact that the previous position of the employee concerned may need to be re-filled. Internal hiring is therefore followed by an external employee search on job website and career sites.
On the other hand, external hiring can be more expensive, but often bring new ideas and perspectives into your company. We will show you what you should specifically pay attention to in one case or the other.
What are the advantages of well-structured recruiting processes?
Nowadays, recruiting is no longer linear but circular. This means: Candidates which have not yet made it to the hiring stage may be attractive prospects for your company (again) in a few years. If the experience which the applicants previously had with you during the application process (candidate experience) was a good one, they will be easier to acquire for your company.
The advantages of a clever recruiting concept are obvious: If your applicants experience your company as being positive and you appreciate them appropriately, your employer brand will benefit over the long term. In turn, this increases the chance that your desired candidates will actually choose to join your company.
A strategically well-organised application process will also contribute to creating a comprehensive pool of talent. Keep the applications of suitable candidates in a central location in your system.
Other advantages resulting from your optimised recruiting process are:
You will save a lot of time searching for employees
You will reduce the turnover rate of your employees
You will save money, since you will avoid additional recruiting cycles by finding the right person immediately
The stages of the external recruiting process
Anyone who only wants to hire candidates who fulfil 100% of their expectations and demands should spend plenty of time preparing. Because the more concrete your ideas and requirements for applicants are, the more focused you can be when you areappealing to and acquiring them.
The personnel planning phase is the first step of the recruitment process, and takes place internally. In addition to the requirement analysis, job descriptions are produced and the necessary qualifications are defined. This ensures that your company is looking for the right skills in future talents and that the position requirements for potential applicants are clear.
The personnel planning phase is the first step of the recruitment process, and takes place internally. In addition to the requirement analysis, job descriptions are produced and the necessary qualifications are defined. This ensures that your company is looking for the right skills in future talents and that the position requirements for potential applicants are clear.
During the recruitment phase, your company now starts with the active search for applicants. There are various ways of doing this, such as describing the position on your own career page and on job websites, networking or the use of headhunters or recruitment agencies such as Hays.
Often, it is advisable to use several recruiting measures and channels simultaneously. This allows you to reach your target group in different ways such as:
Employee recommendations
Job websites
Social media
Vacancies (internal and external)
Recruitment fairs
Talent pools
Depending on the specialist area, vacancy profile or desired professional experience, it can also be beneficial to appeal to sought-after candidates personally by means of active sourcing or social media recruiting. Or you should (first) take the passive route and spread your job ads across your company website and career platforms, and advertise for your company by means of employer branding. Measures ine-recruiting will help you to find exactly the talent you are looking for and acquire interesting specialists and managers for your company.
As soon as the first qualified applications arrive, you just need to read them, draw up a shortlist of suitable candidates and invite them for a first interview.
During the recruitment phase, your company now starts with the active search for applicants. There are various ways of doing this, such as describing the position on your own career page and on job websites, networking or the use of headhunters or recruitment agencies such as Hays.
Often, it is advisable to use several recruiting measures and channels simultaneously. This allows you to reach your target group in different ways such as:
Employee recommendations
Job websites
Social media
Vacancies (internal and external)
Recruitment fairs
Talent pools
Depending on the specialist area, vacancy profile or desired professional experience, it can also be beneficial to appeal to sought-after candidates personally by means of active sourcing or social media recruiting. Or you should (first) take the passive route and spread your job ads across your company website and career platforms, and advertise for your company by means of employer branding. Measures ine-recruiting will help you to find exactly the talent you are looking for and acquire interesting specialists and managers for your company.
As soon as the first qualified applications arrive, you just need to read them, draw up a shortlist of suitable candidates and invite them for a first interview.
During the selection procedure, the company carries out interviews with the applicants and decides who will be their future employee. The qualifications of the candidates are evaluated when doing this; it is determined how well they will fit in with the company culture, and their potential for development is assessed. This can be a time-consuming process but is important in order to ensure that you hire the right person for the vacancy.
During the selection procedure, the company carries out interviews with the applicants and decides who will be their future employee. The qualifications of the candidates are evaluated when doing this; it is determined how well they will fit in with the company culture, and their potential for development is assessed. This can be a time-consuming process but is important in order to ensure that you hire the right person for the vacancy.
Use the recruiting process properly internally
Companies acquire employees who are already employed for their new positions by means of internal recruiting. This can be done by giving them additional training or by transferring them to a new department.
The internal recruiting process is similar to the external process, but it is still worthwhile examining it separately.
Creating a requirements profile
You also need to know about the requirements for the vacancy to be filled in internal recruiting. If you already have employees in mind who could fill this position, they should be contacted directly. If your search is initially unsuccessful, you should also prepare a job description for the internal search.
Internal position description
Distribute the internal position description only via the Intranet or perhaps in the form of notices within your company. In this way you will reach candidates who wish to develop further within your company.
Employee referrals
Unable to find suitable employees within your company? Then extend your pool and motivate colleagues to look for suitable specialists and managers in their own personal environment. The necessary stimulus can be provided by an employee incentive for successful mediation.
Personnel development
A suitable employee has been found, and now only requires optimum preparation for the new position. Special skills may need to be learned or proof of qualifications provided. As a company, offer the necessary (external) further training options and discuss shared targets with your employees.
Transferring employees
Do you know exactly which employees can fill a personnel gap without requiring any further qualifications? An internal transfer can also be a good method for your internal recruiting.
12 tips for your recruiting process
Successful recruiting now goes far beyond posting job vacancies and carrying out interviews. It is much more about creating an authentic employer brand, giving candidates a good feeling during their candidate journey and positioning yourself on the market as an attractive employer.
These 12 tips will help you to optimise your recruiting concept and reinforce your employer brand:
1
Set up your employer brand, and work on your brand recognition and your reputation.
2
Define the appropriate target group. Because depending on whether you are appealing to apprentices, working students or managers, you should adapt your recruiting measures and use different channels. For example, it makes sense to use LinkedIn recruiting in the search for specialists, but perhaps not in all industries.
3
Use the power of social media for your company. Increase the reach of your vacancies and give your applicants real insights into the company.
4
Tap into your personal networks. Perhaps you will find qualified candidates in your employees’ circle of friends and acquaintances.
5
Put together exciting job ads. With simple, concrete job titles, the advantages of your company as well as the use of gender-sensitive and clear language, you will increase the amount of interest in working for your company.
6
Make applications uncomplicated. Simple forms or the possibility of uploading data show that your company is up to date.
7
You are in the same place as your target group. The application process must be quick and uncomplicated. For your target group, this can mean submitting applications on the go – mobile recruiting makes this possible.
8
Use the applicant management system to keep an overview of your candidates and their current application status.
9
Make your recruiting process transparent. If you want to obtain meaningful information about your applicants in the interview, don't put them under unnecessary pressure. Obtain information about the selection procedure beforehand, as well as the people who are participating in the interview, and which questions or tests you need to prepare for.
10
Communicate in a quick and friendly way. Speed is also a meaningful factor in recruiting. Someone who answers applicants’ questions quickly, politely and earnestly will leave a positive impression.
11
Collect feedback. Ask your candidates about their experiences with your application process. This is the only way that you can continue to improve the candidate experience.
12
Store suitable candidates in your own talent pool. This will allow you to approach qualified specialists and managers at a later date.
Is your recruiting concept in place, and do you know who you want to reach when and where? That’s brilliant. But we implore you to review your recruiting strategy at regular intervals anyway. Go through the applicant process again and decide if certain elements have become superfluous or some processes could be automated. We are certain: You will quickly and efficiently find your future employees with your optimal recruiting process.
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