Most recruiters aren’t holding their breath for large budget increases to drop from the sky. But with all the excitement surrounding new and expensive hiring trends, a shower of money wouldn’t hurt.
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However, wishful thinking for increased budgets isn’t holding rapidly growing companies back from hiring top talent. In fact, even though 77% of companies plan to increase their staff by 25% this year, according to the 2018 Growth Hiring Trends in the United States report from my team at Spark Hire, only 16% said they’re growing because of the lower taxes they expect to pay.
So, if they’re not counting on money from the new tax bill, what are they doing differently? They’re diving into new hiring trends and taking the recruiting process by storm. With the right focus, you can, too.
1. Find that Time-to-Hire Sweet Spot
The job search world is wide open to highly talented candidates. If you take even a few minutes longer than a competitor, it will cost you—money and top talent. However, you don’t want to expedite the process so much that you’re sacrificing quality.
A happy in-between comes with efficient hiring trends. To understand which hiring trends you need to consider, however, it’s important to assess which processes are eating up your time.
For many, back-and-forth e-mails and inevitable scheduling conflicts result in many wasted, frustrating hours. Use an automated interview scheduler to speed up the process and rid yourself—and candidates—of timely e-mails.
With schedulers, candidates can see your calendar in real time. This allows them to feel in control as they pick their interview day and time but also wipes out any chances of scheduling conflicts.
Also, encourage candidates to follow up with you after an interview. As a busy recruiter, it’s easy to lose track of time, which results in lost connections with candidates. By encouraging candidates to e-mail or call within a week after the interview, you’ll remain connected but are putting the power in their hands.
2. Stop Daydreaming and Start Hiring for Ambition
You have to admit you’ve dreamt of finding those amazing hires who have the experience, talent, and cultural fit to dive right in and excel in their new role.
Of course, those unicorns are out there, but in many cases, hiring for experience results in drawn-out recruiting. As a result, you’re missing out on other candidates who could’ve been formed into your best A team yet.
Instead, look for applicants who are ambitious and want to grow as part of your team. Place cultural fit and soft skills higher on your requirements list than experience. Even if these candidates don’t have the most years under their belts, their desire to stay and grow within your team will be higher.
Use soft skills assessments to really get a full picture of how candidates will fit into your team and the ambition they’ll bring to the table. Once you have a few narrowed down, start scheduling job auditions rather than traditional interviews. As candidates interact with your team and get in real-life work situations, you’ll see who has the most potential to grow and excel.
3. Dive into Unchartered Talent Pools
One of the biggest hiring trends of this year is cracking open new talent pipelines. In fact, in our previously mentioned survey, 67% of fast-growing companies listed this as their top priority. Because quality candidates have more job options, hiring pros need more quality candidates in their talent pools.
Chatbots are one of the newest and fastest ways to connect with, engage, and hire top talent. Using Facebook’s career page combined with a chatbot tool, like GoBe, you can instantly answer questions, engage candidates with your company, and even prescreen candidates. This ensures only qualified talent comes into your pipeline, and once they’re there, you can begin showing off your opportunities and culture.
| Josh Tolan is CEO of Spark Hire, a video interview solution used by more than 4,000 companies across the globe. |