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By Mike Brett, APAC Sales Director and NFP Specialist at Xref

HR professionals the world over face the ongoing challenge of identifying, attracting and hiring the best talent to grow a successful team. But far too often the pressure to do so quickly and repeatedly means we don’t take time to step back, look at how we’re doing things and envisage how we could be doing it better.

Traditional, manual hiring approaches – the status quo – are causing delays and pitfalls that add risk and inefficiency to the process. For an industry reliant on the integrity of its people and bound by the restrictions of a limited budget, risk and inefficiency are two things NFP HR professionals cannot afford to ignore.

There are a number of ways recruitment can be improved in order to deliver greater value to both the recruiting team and your overall organisation. Here are three key steps:

1. Streamline the hiring journey

There are, for all the right reasons, a number of steps to take during recruitment to ensure we’ve done the right level of due diligence that will give us confidence in the hiring decisions we make.

However, for busy recruiters with a number of vacancies to fill, the need to repeatedly do these traditionally admin-heavy tasks can result in process fatigue and lead to corner cutting. The goal shifts from doing each of the processes thoroughly and well, to just getting them done.

Our latest research report, Xref Recruitment Risk Index: Industry Perspective, explored HR manager and recruiter perspectives of the recruitment process – with a specific focus on reference checking.

It found that 35 per cent of respondents cited the time it takes to get to a hiring decision as the most frustrating element of the hiring process.

By introducing tech-based solutions, you can not only overcome the specific issues of each particular recruitment step, but also identify the software platforms that work together to offer a more streamlined recruitment journey overall.

These online solutions add efficiency and reliable, data-driven insights that will give you the peace of mind and assurance you need to have confidence in the hiring decisions you make.

2. Understand the “why” and “how” of each recruitment step

Doing something a certain way just because that’s how it’s always been done, is no longer a valid justification for tired, old processes. It may be human nature to fear change but to ignore the changing landscape you’re working in will only cause you greater pain in the long run!

Revisit each step of your recruitment process and remind yourself exactly why it has to be done.

Reference checking, for example, isn’t just a way to confirm employment dates and roles, it should be a chance to gather insightful information about a candidate’s strengths and weakness, not only to inform your hiring but also to help manage them if they join.

Processes that no longer meet the needs they were originally designed to fulfil should be updated.

Once you’ve reconsidered why you’re taking each pre-employment step, then think about how you’re currently doing them. For example:

• Are you reliant on manual processes that are at risk of human error?
• Do you know how trustworthy the information you’re collecting at each stage of the journey is?
• Does each process require admin and form-filling, taking up time that could be spent on other more valuable and strategic tasks?

Each of these questions will shine a light on the dangers of any traditional processes you adopt and highlight the areas that could be vastly improved with the introduction of tech-based alternatives.

3. Generate and make use of data, confidently

If every step of the recruitment journey is done well, together they will deliver a vast amount and range of data to build a picture of the candidates you are whittling down until you find your number one.

However, that data can also be put to very good use elsewhere. It can become a useful tool on which to base the professional development of a new recruit, working on areas for improvement that were raised during interviews and references (no one’s perfect, right?) and enabling them to utilise the skills highlighted.

The data can also be used as a benchmarking tool for future candidates, to improve and further streamline recruitment drives.

But having access to this data and using it well requires processes that give you confidence in its relevance and reliability, as well as the support you need to ensure you aren’t at risk of breaching any data privacy laws in the way you gather, store and use it.

Again, tech-based solutions offer you this confidence and allow you to turn candidate details into actionable insights.

Hiring can seem like a never-ending task and can cause tunnel-vision for busy HR professionals, with the end goal in sight and a lack of perspective about the best ways to get there. Taking time to look beyond the status quo and recognise the benefits of doing things a little differently will ensure that HR professionals take the most value from their recruitment process and have a future-proof approach to hiring.

By Mike Brett, APAC Sales Director and NFP Specialist at Xref.

Xref brings ease, security and value to the candidate referencing process. The online, automated solution delivers data-driven insights that inform smart, confident hiring decisions. Xref was a Gold Partner for the 2017 Not-For-Profit People Conference.