The 12 Days of Recruiting

The time between Thanksgiving and New Years is always slow and relaxing...unless you’re a recruiter. From hiring during the holidays to end-of-year deadlines, lots of HR teams feel like they’re in charge of making everyone happy in an impossible amount of time-- a lot like Santa! To help keep your holidays delightful, here are the 12 Days of Recruiting. 

(We apologize in advance if this song gets stuck in your head but... ‘tis the season!)

On the 12th day of recruiting my true HR team sent to me...

Twelve candidates applying

Sometimes we want as many people as possible to apply-- the wider the net, the better the chance of the perfect candidate, right? But too many applications can be concerning, especially if your job posting is too broad. Shoot for a job posting that is specific enough to encourage applications from candidates who would best fit your organization and its culture. 

Eleven people replying

Nothing slows down your time to hire as much as a candidate who is slow to respond. Often, candidates don’t even read their emails. In fact, SHRM found that only 18% of candidates actually do, and only eight percent of them will actually respond. Candidates who have already applied to your position are more likely to respond to your emails, but for a better and faster response rate, try text messaging. Not only do nearly 90% of candidates read their texts, but candidates often respond in an average of 90 seconds compared to a 90-minute average response-rate via email (CTIA).

Ten days of hiring

The average time to hire varies across industries and positions, from 10.5 days all the way to four months (Workable). No matter the role, though, HR teams wish their time to hire was faster. The best ways to keep time to hire down are to streamline communications, automate where it counts, and take advantage of background screening providers that integrate with other HR platforms to provide industry-leading turnaround times.

Nine tech platforms working effectively

Automation works wonders-- that is, until it doesn’t. It’s frustrating to have to log in to a bunch of platforms, and it’s risky to transport sensitive data from platform to platform. Ideally, all of these platforms would work together. Imagine an ATS that also had a background screening section, and a video interviewing platform, and so on. When platforms work together, recruiters can streamline their hiring process, decrease time to hire, and work more efficiently, overall. That’s why Verified First partners with more than 70 HR solutions to make background screenings as effortless as possible.

Eight finance deadlines a-pending

From ACA documents to W2s and 1099s, the end of the year is a busy time for HR teams. While most of these forms are due at the end of January, HR has to spend most of December collecting all the right numbers. Plus, let’s not forget about the additional things HR has to track-- like benefits. The end of the year is a great time to check your employees’ benefit usage. By reviewing your employees’ usage, you can better assess your company’s benefits package to determine if it still ‘makes sense’ for your organization.

Seven leaders a-learning

According to Villanova University, 48 percent of HR teams said that change management is one of the hardest parts of their job. People will always come and go, and company dynamics will always change. If you can help your leaders navigate these changes, you’ll have a stronger and more cohesive team, year-round.

Six departments a-communicating

HR has a tricky job as they recruit and hire for teams across the entire company, yet each position and department has very unique needs and requirements. The good news is, the more proactive HR is about communicating with each department, the better fit their hires should be. 

Also, remember that you’re not just there to help these other departments-- they can (and should) also help you! For example, marketing can help you get the word out about your open positions, and IT can help you streamline your application forms.

Five golden references!

References are a great way to learn more about your candidates. Either you’ll find out some of your candidates’ less ideal traits, or you’ll find out that a candidate has been too humble, and they’re a great employee. No matter what, you’ll most likely get insights on your candidates that you won’t get from them. However, references do take time as people don’t always call back and calls typically take at least five minutes to get the right information. To keep your time to hire low, outsource the reference process-- you’ll get the same information, without having to play phone tag.

Four interviews

Some companies, especially in the tech world, have renowned interviewing processes, where it feels like the candidate talks to just about everyone at the company. While multiple interviews are a good way to put your candidate through various tests, too many interviews might push away great candidates. Use Google’s Rule of Four-- they found that with only four interviews, they could accurately hire with 86% confidence while keeping their time to hire low. 

Three office development sessions

Whether you want to focus on culture development, harassment, employee referrals, or upskilling your employees, office development sessions are a great way to make sure your employees are all on the same page. The end of the year is a good time to schedule these sessions and connect with one another!

Two final candidates

Ideally, you’ll have two to three final candidates before you make your hiring decision-- that way, you can run background screens to make sure that all three candidates are a great fit. Then, you’ll be able to make the most informed decision possible. Then, have one more call with these candidates, to figure out what they want for a salary, when they’d be able to start, and their interest in the position.

And a background screening provider taking care of me!

Verified First takes care of all aspects of your candidates’ backgrounds, from reference checks and verifications to drug tests and entire drug screening programs. While other background screening providers take their time getting results or go too quickly to get good results, we meet you in the middle-- we can get you thorough and compliant screens in industry-leading times!  

Choose to keep your holidays happy with Verified First!