Recruitment can be one of the most time consuming functions in the human resources department. Starting from the requisition approval and job advertisements to screenings and interviews, it is a process of hunting the best of the talent pool. Additionally, it concludes with an effective on-boarding program that embodies the company cultures and vision, ensuring that the new employee is filled with confidence that they have made the right career choice.

With an increasing shortage of global talent, finding candidates with the right skills and experience is becoming a challenging task, especially in an emerging economy like Myanmar where skilled work force is scarce. Gone are the days where the employers can be very picky out of a large pool of job seekers. Recruitment is no longer a static one-way process but should be approached in a two-way communication between recruiters and job seekers, aligning their mutual interests.

The following are areas of the recruitment process where recruiters can influence a positive outcome.   

Job posting

Surveys worldwide have indicated that 75% of candidates say that the look and feel of a job posting influenced their decision to apply for the job. Hence, a job posting needs to be visually appealing, while clearly communicating the employer’s value propositions.

In Myanmar, JobNet.com.mm is the number one website that job seekers use to find jobs, receiving more than 800,000 visits every month. The first step to attract the right candidates is to use a job title that job seekers will immediately recognize. Obscure job titles that are bespoke to your organization may be overlooked by a job seeker who is searching using key words. If the job title and opening sentence don’t appeal or are confusing, they may be skipped over and your posting will be wasted.

The job’s purpose must also cater to the interests of specific groups. Millennials for example are looking to make a bigger impact to their world rather than just have comfortable working conditions. Therefore job postings should highlight the bigger picture of the job scope and the impact that they would create. Due to the speed at which Millennials scan their devises, you have only a few short seconds to catch their attention before they scroll on.

Application abandonment

There can be cases where the job postings have a brilliant outreach, but do not attract many applications. This can often be because the job description was too vague or too dry to grab the job seeker’s interest.

Application abandonment is possibly the biggest undetected leak in the recruitment funnel. Job advertisements should not be an obstacle, but instead a vehicle to transport the prospective candidates to your company.

Therefore, it is crucial to find out from candidates what encouraged them to apply for the job and to give honest feedback about the job advertisement. Take note of any aspects that caused confusion or misconception and work on improving the job advertisement to make these points clearer and more appealing.

The interview

No matter how experienced they may be, interviews are always nerve wrecking for candidates. They often do their homework and make a lot of preparation before going into the interview room. However, can we say the same for the interviewers?

In addition to conducting the interview, they also have to make a positive impression on the candidate. Interviews are the first encounter between the company and the future employees, and offer a sneak peek at what it would be like to work there. Many candidates also use this as an opportunity to ask key questions to determine if this is their ideal workplace.

Interviewers need to be prepared. They will have reviewed CVs thoroughly and must be ready to sell their company experience. Being punctual is a good start. Keeping a candidate waiting around gives the impression that the interviewer doesn’t care about the candidate’s time. It can also give the impression that the company is disorganized, and that running late is acceptable.

Onboarding

When a candidate accepts the job, the process is far from over. The period between accepting and actually commencing a new job is a tricky time. If they are currently employed and have to resign, there may be a counter offer made by their existing company. They may be nervous about the prospect of changing employment to an unknown employer and start to get cold feet. Some candidates, buoyed by the success of securing a new post and having made the decision to resign, might even start to look at what other jobs might be out there.

Surveys have revealed that 36% of the employers are lacking a structured onboarding process, resulting in delayed start dates and lower productivity. An onboarding process should not commence on the first day the new employee arrives for work. By keeping in touch with the new employee before they commence working, the new company has an opportunity to not only share information that will help the new recruit get off to a flying start, but it shows that it cares and is looking forward to the new employee joining their team.

The onboarding process is also an opportunity to check if new hires are a good fit or not. For example, some silicon-valley companies have a one-month onboarding program, at the end of which, they actually pay their new recruits an exit fee to leave the firm if they don’t feel like they belong.

Onboarding programs need to be invested in financially, technologically, culturally and administratively. They are the perfect opportunity to start a positive employee experience, a platform to empower the fresh minds, and can have an impact on productivity and retention.

By regarding recruitment as a journey, looking at it from the candidate’s view point, and structuring an effective end-to-end recruitment process that delivers an exceptional candidate journey, employers will reap many benefits and eliminate future headaches.