Eric Friedman is the Founder and CEO of eSkill, a global leader in skills testing and behavioral assessment solutions for employers.
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The labor market has nosedived since February due to the coronavirus pandemic. More than 20 million U.S. workers lost their jobs in April alone, which pushed the unemployment rate to a historic high of 14.7%. Now that things are starting to return to normal in some U.S. cities, there will be a flood of talent into the labor market.
With the labor market in flux, human resources (HR) professionals who need to ramp up hiring efforts must develop an agile, well-structured process to weather the storm. Here are five tips to keep your talent pipeline moving.
1. Build Out Your HR Tech Stack
Most professionals in the talent acquisition landscape agree that a quality applicant tracking system (ATS) is the backbone of their hiring process. Start with an ATS that can be integrated with various solutions and build out your HR tech stack from there. Here are some options to consider that will support recruitment efficiency:
• Candidate sourcing tools: From programmatic advertising that automates the purchasing and optimization of job ads to data systems that instantly mine candidates’ contact information, there are a variety of innovations available to help you source candidates proactively.
• HR chatbots: Ideal for recruiting at scale, chatbots engage job seekers where they are most likely to respond, such as on social networking platforms, career sites and email. Powered by artificial intelligence, HR bots can collect contact information, screen applicants and answer applicants’ questions.
• Skills assessment tests: Scale your hiring efforts by eliminating unqualified candidates and ranking top talent according to verified skills and competencies before they enter your hiring team’s radar.
• Virtual interviewing software: Unlike Skype or Zoom, video interviewing platforms are designed specifically for hiring. Recorded one-way video interviews can reduce the amount of time needed for first-round interviews because candidates’ recorded responses to predetermined questions can be shared with hiring teams to view and score anytime and from anywhere. (Full disclosure: My company provides skills assessment tests and virtual interviewing software.)
2. Plan A Well-Structured Hiring Process
A tech stack can only optimize hiring efforts if it is a part of a well-designed process. Therefore, HR professionals must implement a structured hiring framework by:
• Assembling hiring teams of recruiters, hiring managers and position stakeholders.
• Clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of each member.
• Establishing and communicating goals, including time frames for each portion of the hiring process and average time to hire.
• Creating a recruitment process flowchart that illustrates every step in your ideal recruiting process, beginning when the need for new hires is identified and ending when new hires start the onboarding process.
3. Develop Targeted Candidate Profiles And Sourcing Initiatives
If you laid off workers and now need to hire quickly, consider how position requirements may have changed due to shifting business demands. Solicit feedback from position stakeholders to develop thorough candidate profiles that go beyond mere descriptions of needed skills and knowledge by including desired behavioral characteristics and personality traits, and then assess candidates’ knowledge and experience for positions.
Leverage candidate profiles to write targeted job descriptions and define sourcing initiatives. Compile a list of past applicants and hires matching candidate profiles to target on job sites and social networks and from referral sources to prioritize and source talent accordingly. Reengage former candidates, including laid-off workers, to fill your pipeline quickly with top talent.
4. Explore Your Workplace For Internal Talent
Structural hurdles often prevent organizations from hiring internally. However, the concept of inextricably linking recruitment, retention and internal mobility is gaining traction. According to newly released data from LinkedIn, 73% of HR professionals reported internal recruitment is increasingly important to their organization. Before you pursue external candidates, assess the skills of existing employees to identify those who could step into a spot that was vacated by a laid-off worker who decided not to return.
5. Don’t Blink Or They Might Be Gone
Streamline processes so that once top talent is identified, an offer can be extended swiftly. Otherwise, you risk losing qualified candidates to competitors. In 2019, 77% of candidates (registration required) named the amount of time interviews required and the length of the recruitment process in general as reasons they withdrew their application. Candidate skill assessment is an important tool in helping you develop a fast-moving talent funnel that will help you secure the human capital you need.
6. Uncover Insights To Improve Recruitment Efficiency
With an advanced tech stack, HR professionals can leverage analytics to gather data across the hiring pipeline to extract useful insights. Use this information to identify the best-performing sourcing strategies, determine if your time and cost-to-hire are sustainable and pinpoint bottlenecks in the talent funnel so you can adjust recruitment processes and optimize efficiency.
In today’s uncertain times, businesses must adapt strategies and maintain an agile mindset to prepare for what’s to come.
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