The success of a business ultimately depends on the people who work for it. Nothing can compensate for poor employees. However, good employees can be the difference between your business succeeding or failing. It’s sensible for businesses to put a lot of effort into their hiring decisions, but they often spend more time searching for the right employee rather than screening and researching the applicants.
Fortunately, there are a few ways that businesses can simplify the hiring process.
1. Use Software
As with every other aspect of modern business, there is software that can help with the hiring process. Recruitment software can be used in several different ways, from tracking applicants to posting job details in areas that are likely to attract those applicants.
In many cases, they can also help to sort and manage the applications as they come in. Some programs are even designed to work with other programs that hiring managers tend to use during the selection process. The vast majority of these programs offer a degree of customization to their users, so they can automate some parts of the process while handling others on their own.
The precise tasks that the programs can handle for their users will also vary from one program to the next, so smart managers will look through all of their options to see which one can cover the largest portion of their needs.
2. Use Video Interviews
There is no substitute for a good job interview, but it can be difficult and expensive to arrange one for applicants who need to travel a long distance to do it in person. Video interviews allow hiring managers to conduct the interview over the Internet, which saves a great deal of time and money while also making it easier to schedule the interview in the first place. That makes them a valuable tool, especially for early interviews before the pool of applicants has been narrowed down to the top few options.
That having been said, it is vital to conduct these interviews properly. One-sided interviews, which have the applicant answering questions that are asked by a computer, are both common and largely useless. They’re frustrating for the applicant, and they rarely provide anything that isn’t available from a written application. Instead, it’s best to use video interviews exactly like traditional interviews. It makes a better impression on the applicant and provides more useful information, so it is certainly worth the effort for most managers.
3. Leverage on Social Media
A large part of the population use social media in some way, and many businesses do use it during the hiring process to find new applicants. At the simplest level, recruiters can use it to publicize new job openings in a way that ensures that many people will see them. This is a great way to find younger employees with technical skills since that demographic tends to have more experience with the Internet than with traditional recruiting techniques.
Some businesses also use social media to conduct background checks on potential hires. That can be valuable, since social media holds a great deal of information, but businesses do need to be careful with it. All of the rules that govern applications and interviews still apply, which can complicate the process. As with every other type of background checking, social media investigations can be a powerful tool for businesses, but they do need to be conducted with care and awareness of all legal requirements.
Final Word
Even a single employee can have a big impact on a growing business, so it makes sense to take the time to make good choices. It’s also an expensive and complicated process, so it pays to find every advantage to make it easier. Using the right techniques will cut down on administrative work and make it easy to spend more time on the decisions that really matter.
Author: Sia Hasan
