There are just some things in life worth not rushing. While output delivered at the soonest sounds akin to productivity and progress, nothing beats taking one’s time; what you then bring to the table is results that are well thought out, with time spent on trial and error, and away from hasty decisions. Putting in the time to do the work also allows the person to be more relaxed. As the process continues, they can focus more on their responsibilities.
The same can be said with job placements and looking for the best candidates to fill various organizational vacancies.
What can you do to pull back the reins in the hiring process so you don’t succumb to the pressure to hire fast, but instead move at a pace that emphasizes looking for the right career fit?
Mass Hiring Has Its Benefits, But Is It Really Worth It In The Long Run?
Organizations opt for faster options to fill in gaps in their workplace for different reasons. This is where mass hiring comes into play. Perhaps the organization is rapidly expanding, or there are new roles within the organization, and their functions to the work process are urgent. Other organizations would like to cast a wide net in the recruitment pool, with the hopes of catching “the one.”
Of course, increasing the volume of hiring or the number of new hires in the shortest time is a go-to method to cut corners when it comes to cost. Expediting the hiring process through mass hiring means fewer resources spent on recruitment, such as additional office hours to evaluate applicants. The costs you saved can be directed to other organizational expenditures, such as improving office resources.
Mass hiring is effective in speeding up the recruitment process, but moving at a sped-up pace may result in excess hires, a burnt-out recruitment staff, and a blur of what you are really hiring for.
If your organization is still opting for mass hiring, you may see the following problems:
- Chaotic hiring process. Interviews and evaluations come one after another, which can be a nightmare to keep up with. Moreover, jumping from one hiring task to another doesn’t bode well for a recruiter’s work environment, as it muddles their schedule and disposition towards completing tasks.
- Potential great hires are instead reduced to simply “hires.” When mass hiring, recruiters typically have a specific set of criteria they are on the lookout for. Once an applicant hits these marks, the applicant makes it and is hired. But when there are brilliant and exceptional applicants who may have surpassed set standards, they go unnoticed. They blend into the crowd, and are seen by the organization as just another hire. It will take some time for the organization to see what else they offer, because recruiters fail to highlight this.
- Over hiring. Recruiters find it difficult to strike a balance between the organization’s current demands and hiring the right number of employees to meet those demands. While mass hiring immediately answers the current demands, what happens when said demands decrease?
This presents the organization with a conundrum as to do with employees who have nothing to do. Some organizations may find it easy to just send new hires away, but this proves inconvenient to the employee who will lose a job, and the recruiters who put their heart and soul into looking for the best fit for the role.
- A stressed recruitment workforce. Pushing recruiters to exert effort in procuring more employees puts excessive pressure on them. Employee stress and burnout are real, and human resources staff feel these stresses the most when they are laboring through mass hirings. Organizations wouldn’t want the added task of hiring new recruiters in the case that their current ones decide to leave, not during a time when they need new employees.
Begin To Prioritize Job-fit Above All Else
Even if there is an urgency to get positions filled, take care that no one is compelled by the demand to hire right away—the right employee will only reveal themselves if you take the time to find them.
By easing into the hiring process, you allow each applicant to truly introduce themselves. Beyond simply hiring an individual is beginning to form an actual relationship with them; the applicant now thinks if they are a fit for the organization and will begin to consider if they see themselves working with the organization for a long time.
To allow for more time in the hiring process, consider the following:
- Read the resume before the interview. Some recruiters don’t realize how tiresome it can be for interviewers to go down the line of their resumes and ask about information they already received beforehand. As a recruiter, you should have read the resume. The interview can instead be spent asking situational questions to test the candidate’s critical thinking. While it’s tempting to just push through to the interview itself, you lose time finding out how good, or bad, the applicant actually is.
- Go beyond the interview. Personality and aptitude tests help add another layer of understanding to who the applicant really is. While professional skills and experience are valid information when evaluating if the person is the right fit for the role, putting them through a battery of tests gives them further chances to prove who they are underneath their declared information.
These tests will also help you better decide if the applicant is a cultural fit for the organization. Admittedly, some employees leave because they are not aligned with their job’s culture, so it’s better to safeguard this so-called fit right at the start of the hiring process.
- Give time for the vetting process. It’s so tempting to skip this step altogether, and just trust the current hiring process. But more than just confirming job roles and responsibilities, the vetting process will also talk about the applicant’s past relationships with their peers and bosses.
A good attitude towards colleagues speaks volumes, sometimes even louder than a person’s work background. There are organizations who would rather hire someone easy to work with rather than a person who may have the skills, but does not have the decency to cooperate within a professional community.
ACS PROFESSIONAL STAFFING UNDERSTANDS THIS EMPHASIS ON JOB FIT ABOVE ANYTHING.
We at ACS Professional Staffing see hiring an individual as only the start of great things for them. That is why we focus on a candidate’s job fit rather than finding the job for them right away. This would help them see their next professional endeavor as an opportunity to grow professionally. For us, job placement is more than just recruiting but headhunting.
And it’s this extra effort towards headhunting that allows us to deliver fantastic results. We are proud of our retention rates because we put time into getting to know our applicants and partnering them with a job aligned with their preferences and professional background. The right job fit means joy and satisfaction in their work, which leads to job longevity.
Here at ACS Professional Staffing, it’s people first. Always. If you want hiring assistance a traditional staffing agency simply can’t offer, send us a message now, and let’s have a conversation.