Refined recruitment processes are efficient, productive and pleasant for both candidates and hiring teams. Here are a few ways to improve your recruiting process:

Craft clear and attractive job ads

Effective job ads help you evaluate candidates on job-related criteria. Work with your company’s hiring managers to create job descriptions that:

• Provide useful and specific details about open roles. When listing job duties, mention projects your new hire may undertake or teams they will work with. Distinguish between “must-have” and “nice-to-have” requirements so as not to discourage candidates who could learn secondary skills on the job. As a general rule, keep your list of “must-haves” to around 6 bullet points.
• Choose straightforward job titles. Be clear about roles you’re hiring for. Avoid using words like “rockstar” and suspect or clickbait titles and text (e.g. “Great opportunity for recent graduates!”)
• Promote your company. Describe what makes your company unique to give candidates compelling reasons to apply. Be specific: “We opened three new branches recently” is more precise than “We are growing fast.” Also, outline benefits and perks your company offers.
• Use clear and inclusive language. Avoid jargon and complicated sentences and speak directly to candidates (e.g. use “you” instead of “the ideal candidate.”) Avoid discriminatory language (e.g. “salesman”, “young and energetic.”) And if your company actively supports diversity, let candidates know.

Boost your candidate sourcing

Most people who are employed still want to hear about new job opportunities. Discover passive candidates with these sourcing techniques to increase your chances of making great hires:

• Source on social media. Follow conversations and people on popular social media like Twitter and more niche platforms like Reddit. Look for people with interest and expertise relevant to positions you’re hiring for (e.g. if you’re hiring for a data scientist, look into threads or conversations on big data or machine learning on StackOverflow or GitHub.)

(To source EU candidates, please refer to guidance on using social media for recruiting and collecting candidate information as per the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.)