The Nashville County Institute of Labor says 34 percent of employees quit their first year, costing U.S. businesses $536 billion a year. In the tech industry, the turnover is even higher. Coders may repeatedly tell employers that they are not looking for another job, but statistics show they tend to jump on a boat. The same behavior has been noticed in the average employee at Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple — according to job search company Paysa.
Indeed, there are many challenges an employer has to go through when hiring, but the candidates’ journey isn’t smooth either. It’s no secret that the process of talent acquisition is broken.
First, let’s think about what companies should aim for when filling a position.
- The person who has the best skills to perform the job responsibilities is who you need to recruit.
- Ideally, the person should be honest. It’s a sign of a great work ethic.
- Candidates need to be passionate about their careers and love their job.
Indeed, finding the talent with these qualities isn’t easy either. But these can be good benchmarks if considered for a great hire.
We have noticed that a talent acquisition process is broken from both ends, and we have discussed each of the parties’ viewpoints one by one below. But before that, let’s get a brief overview of recruiters’ challenges.
Challenges Recruiters Face in a Talent Acquisition Process
Indeed, recruiters have to face many hiring challenges, and none of them are similar. Moreover, since every company has different goals, missions, workforce, and policies, every company faces other challenges.
However, some challenges remain familiar to most recruiters, and we have discussed them below.
- 76% of hiring managers accept that attracting the right candidate is their biggest challenge — Glassdoor.
- Grading the incompetence of the candidates when hiring is often what most recruiters struggle with.
- Top talent remains the priority for every recruiter. It poses fierce competition among different companies’ recruiters and becomes a challenge to attract qualified candidates.
- A ResumeLab survey found that 36% of Americans lied on their resumes because they lacked long-term employment. Spotting the lies in resumes is also a challenge that most recruiters have to overcome.
- According to Linkedin, only 30% of companies can fill a position within 30 days. Recruiters have to face ‘cost’ and ‘time’ as challenging variables when hiring a qualified candidate.
What is broken in the talent acquisition process from an Employer’s viewpoint?
1. Lies in Resumes
As we discussed earlier, 36% of Americans lied in their resumes.
When candidates mention that they have performed a specific task exceptionally, they can expect recruiters to ask more about it. Recruiters may choose to go deep and ask the candidate a detailed explanation to know whether it’s the candidate who did it or he is stealing someone else’s credit.
2. Applying on Job Posts Anyways
Irrespective of what title candidates had in their former company, they must understand their capabilities and avoid applying for jobs they don’t qualify for. Not doing so will either give an immediate rejection to the candidate, or the truth will be revealed in the interview later.
3. Recruiters want to see the core competency in candidates
If a hiring manager/recruiter knows about your IT architecture expertise, he might like to drag you on to a specific problem to see what strategy you can propose and how viable it is. A recruiter might even want to discuss it with you to see whether there’s a solution that he is unaware of.
4. Candidates must have a Passion
Candidates who don’t have a passion for their work don’t go too far in their profession. Every employee doesn’t need to burn himself in the fire of passion, but an employer expects that the candidate likes what he is doing to make quality contributions to the company. Being good at what you do requires a lot of hard work, and when you love what you do, you never feel like working. Nobody wants a surgeon that only chases the compensation he will be paid for after the surgery.
What is broken in the talent acquisition process from a candidate’s view?
1. Salary should be Discussed Initially
If a job posting doesn’t disclose the salary, the pay needs to be discussed at the initial hiring stages and not at the end. It’s a waste of the company’s and candidates’ time if their salary is way off what the company is willing to stretch.
2. Candidate’s Salary History must not be a Hiring Companies’ Concern
Also, the candidate’s salary history must not be a hiring companies’ concern. Additionally, it does not matter what the candidate was paid for. What matters is what a candidate is willing to work for and what companies compensate.
3. Face-to-Face Interviews are no less than a Formality
A face-to-face interview is no less than a formality from the candidate’s perspective. In addition, recruiters don’t understand the excuses or lies candidates have to make to their managers so that they can show up for an interview process. Indeed pandemic has changed the face of hiring processes, and now candidates can ask for telephone or video interviews.
Still, the recruiters must consider this side of candidates.
4. Respect the Candidate’s Time
If you bring in a candidate for a personal interview, make sure it’s a one-and-done thing unless the candidate wants a second personal interview. It needs to be considered because it is very likely that the candidate is burning their time to come and interview with you. Anyone can think of one place they went for an interview five times, only to hear “no” at the end.
5. Be Flexible when it comes to Arriving Late
Be both flexible and understanding when it comes to arriving a little late or a little early. We’re not talking 30 minutes or an hour, but what if they’re 5 – 10 minutes late.
A candidate may be racing from work for an interview and face challenges finding the place or getting stuck in traffic. Of course, it’s essential to be punctual, but one can bet that the average person (even your recruiter) can be late at any time, and that’s out of your control.
Conclusion
By outlining these broken points in the talent acquisition processes, we don’t mean to point fingers at any parties. Instead, the objective behind drawing these points is to make recruiters, hiring managers, employers, and candidates aware of what needs to be improved to streamline an acquisition process.
Hirebeat is a revolutionary HR tool that links recruiters/hiring managers and talent with each other. The tool allows companies to shorten the screening time, automated video interviews and also helps in evaluating candidates using AI.
