Talent acquisition teams everywhere are creating talent acquisition goals for the upcoming year. These can vary from changing recruitment strategies to utilizing automation in the hiring process. When creating talent acquisition goals it is important to make sure they are smart goals:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant
T – Time Bound
By creating smart goals, hiring managers are more likely to achieve the goal and surpass it. Today, we are going to look at the most common recruiting areas that need improvement and various ways to improve them.
Build a Strong Employer Brand
What is employer branding and why is it important? The employer brand is how others view the company. The brand is built around the mission, values, and general tone of the company. It is important because having a strong employer brand has been known to increase employee retention, performance, and the overall profit of the company.
If your talent acquisition goal for the upcoming year is to improve employer branding here are three phases to work through: Planning, Execution, and Refinement.
Planning
The first phase is to evaluate what is already in place and create a solid company culture. Nearly half of all job seekers respond to job ads based on the company brand. Think of this as the company’s reputation. Understand the type of employee that would excel in the company and keep this in mind while moving forward to phase two.
Execution
The second phase is to implement the plan you created in phase one. While thinking of the ideal employee, audit your application process and all employer materials (website, pamphlets, training materials, etc) to ensure that the company is being represented consistently. The materials need to reflect the type of employee you are looking to hire. Don’t forget to replace existing company materials with the new ones you have updated.
Refinement
The final stage of building a strong employer brand is to regularly reevaluate the plan. Most managers will want to do this quarterly and then move to annually once they have found success.
After you have rolled out the plan (or any changes to the plan) make sure to test it to see what works and what doesn’t. The best part is that you can always make changes! Lastly, make sure to get input from other team members and applicants. Receiving others’ opinions is incredibly beneficial to building a successful brand.
Recruitment Marketing
Another area that hiring managers are setting talent acquisition goals in this year is their recruitment marketing. Recruitment marketing uses a combination of strategies to engage potential employees in the pre-applicant stage of recruitment. Below are two long-term talent acquisition strategies that have been proven to assist in recruitment marketing.
Current Employees
Recruitment marketing begins with the current employees. They know the company brand and regularly share their experience with others. When looking at improving candidate and employee experiences always start with current employees. The most common way to get feedback is to ask employees questions through a survey. Also, look on websites like Glassdoor to read what past and present employees have said about the company.
Content Distribution
Recruiters and hiring managers everywhere are finding qualified candidates to fill open positions through social media and content distribution. When it is time to hire, the internet makes it easy to post a variety of positions that require different skill sets. The key is to not only post on one platform.
Most people think of social media as simply photos or videos but to catch potential candidates’ attention you will want various outlets to post content. Diversification is key in the recruitment process! Create a blog, post to job boards, and utilize the many forms of social media to get your company noticed. Another notable technique is to reach out to influencers in the field to form a partnership.
Accelerate the Hiring Process
Creating an efficient hiring process serves two purposes. First, there is an open position that needs to be filled, and the sooner we can source a candidate, and complete the hiring process, then the faster productivity can resume.
The second reason is that if a position is available for too long then candidates will start questioning why the position has not been filled. The solution to this is to create a simple job description that covers minimum qualifications and skills preferences and post it as soon as the position becomes available. By keeping the description simple, typically more people will submit their resumes for review.
Utilize an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
The easiest way to create an efficient hiring process, reduce the cost per hire, and enhance the overall candidate experience, is to invest in an ATS. This system will push jobs to multiple job boards, manage all candidates on one dashboard, and even has automation that makes the most time-consuming tasks quick and easy. It has built-in recruiting and training videos, customized message templates, and keeps track of where each candidate is in the hiring process, and will send them reminders of tasks they have left to complete.
When you have a system that assists in the hiring process, it allows you to spend more time sourcing candidates, creating marketing content, and improving the candidate experience.
One Way Video
Most hiring managers spend the majority of their time in interviews. The interviewing process tends to take the most amount of time but it doesn’t have to anymore. If your talent acquisition goal is to create a more streamlined interviewing process then you need to look into one-way video interviewing.
One-way video interviewing allows for the hiring manager to record a video introducing themselves and the company. This video will then be sent to the candidate along with a list of interview questions. The candidate can in turn record the interview at their convenience.
The best part is that this platform allows candidates to respond whenever they are available. This saves you the hassle of setting an appointment and waiting for the candidate to show up. Hiring managers can review the interviews whenever they have time.
Creating a Pipeline
If you know that there is a high level of turnover in a particular position, you must create a pipeline of available candidates. Pipelines usually consist of passive candidates that are available to begin work immediately but are not searching for a job placement. Building a pipeline is a common talent acquisition goal for recruiters as those that have a strong pipeline tend to be more successful.
Creating a pipeline can feel tedious but they usually create themselves as long as you have candidate management. When you are interviewing candidates make sure to ask about their preferences and availability. Just because you may not have an immediate position for them does not mean that you won’t have one shortly.
Discovered ATS Meets Goals
Discovered ATS has a variety of features that improve the hiring process. From the applicant tracking system to interview guides, Discovered ATS is available to improve your hiring process from the start. Book a demo today to see how Discovered ATS can help meet and exceed your 2023 goals!
