Hiring managers have a lot on their plate, and sometimes it can be hard to keep up with all the changing recruitment trends. But if you're looking for new ways to help find talent faster than ever, without compromising quality, this Learnings article is just what you need.

We'll cover five skills every successful hiring process should feature; from how being organised helps us reach our goals efficiently (and effectively).

Organising a hiring strategy

Recruiting candidates is a vital skill for today's managers. The process of finding new employees can be difficult and time-consuming, but it doesn't always need to follow the same channels or method. More senior roles will require different strategies than less complex positions do. In order to find good people quickly, while still being thorough enough with your search efforts overall, you'll have make sure that adaptability comes naturally when recruiting on behalf of an organisation

There are a number of statistics that show the importance of an effective hiring strategy:

- A study by the Institute for Employment Studies found that the cost of a bad hire can be up to 30% of that person's first-year salary.

- A study by the Harvard Business Review found that 86% of executives believe that their companies are not very good at hiring.

These statistics show that an effective hiring strategy is essential for any business. There are a number of strategies that can be used to find and hire the best employees.

Building an employer brand

The employer brand is the mirror through which potential employees will perceived your company. It's about more than just your company's reputation. It's about the entire employee experience; from the moment they learn about your company to the day they leave. Statistics show that your employer brand has a major impact on your ability to attract and retain top talent. In fact, employer brand is one of the most important factors in a job seekers' decision-making process, with 74% of candidates saying they would not even apply to a company with a poor brand. Also, you'll improve your bottom line: statistics show that companies with a strong employer brand, see an average of 28% higher revenue per employee.

So how can you implement this?

Clear communication: An important way to improve your employer brand is to make sure you're communicating it effectively. After all, statistics show that only 24% of employees say they're very familiar with their company's employer brand. We suggest that you set up a hiring structure that every applicant follows and create automated templates highlighting your amazing company – which applicants receive as they move through the process. They could highlight your company culture, benefits, CSR activities, significant facts, values etc. Then continue that through to onboarding, ensuring consistency of communication. You can set this up simply using technology and then build it up over time to create an amazing experience for all.  

Enhance the candidate experience

Engagement is critical to the candidate recruitment experience. Candidates who feel engaged throughout the process are more likely to have a positive experience and therefore more likely to accept a job offer. Here are some statistics that show the importance of engagement:

- Candidates who feel engaged during the recruitment process are 2.7 times more likely to accept a job offer (Source: CareerBuilder)

- 59% of candidates would not reapply to a company after a bad experience (Source: Glassdoor)

It's clear that engagement is key to the candidate experience. But what can you do to ensure that your candidates feel engaged throughout the process? We suggest implementing an ATS (applicant tracking system) to help with the following:

- Make sure your application process is easy to follow and that you provide feedback at every step.

- Make sure your communication is clear and timely. Candidates should never feel like they are in the dark about what's happening in the process.

- Be responsive to questions and concerns. Candidates should feel like their questions are being heard and addressed.

- Personalise the experience as much as possible. Candidates should feel like they are more than just a number in your process.

- You should also focus on culture when you're recruiting. Candidates should feel like they would be a good fit for the company and that they would be happy working there. Make sure to communicate your company culture clearly and give candidates a chance to ask questions about it.

- Keep the process as streamlined as possible. Candidates should never feel like they are jumping through hoops for no reason.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your candidates have a positive experience and are more likely to accept a job offer. Engagement throughout the recruitment process is key to attracting top talent.

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Train in interview best practice

The interview is one of the most important steps in the hiring process, yet it is often one of the most neglected. In order to effectively screen candidates, it is important to ask the right questions and to pay attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues.

Structured interviewing is a type of interviewing that involves asking the same questions to all candidates in order to compare their responses. This makes it an ideal tool for recruitment, as it allows you to objectively assess each candidate's engagement, experience and cultural fit. It also removes the potential for bias. We recommend that candidates are posed an open-ended question, and are scored based on how many of the STAR response they give. This is SITUATION - did they outline what it was? TASK - did they outline the task they had to undertake? ACTION - did they articulate what they did and RESULT - did they clearly tell you the outcome?

Here are some tips for conducting a successful structured interview:

- Engagement: Make sure that you ask questions that are relevant to the role and that will elicit meaningful responses. Candidates should be given the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas, so avoid yes/no questions where possible.

- Experience: Ask candidates about their previous experiences in similar roles and ask them to share examples of how they handled certain situations. This will help you to assess their suitability for the role.

- Culture: It's important to ensure that candidates will be a good fit for your company's culture. Ask about their working style and how they like to collaborate with others. This will give you an insight into whether they would be a good fit for your team.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your structured interview is successful and that you find the best candidate for the role.

Be a strong negotiator

When it comes to negotiating a job offer, salary is often the most important factor for employees. In fact, according to a recent study, salary is the top negotiation priority for 57% of workers.

If you're in the process of negotiating a job offer, it's important to keep salary in mind. However, there are other factors that can be just as important, such as the benefits package, job duties, title, progression and work schedule.

Be transparent with the potential employee and also try and gain an understanding of what are the key motivating factors to them so you can focus your offer. Beyond this, give an ability for the person to speak to you about the offer directly and then put a compelling offer letter together to highlight the benefits of joining your company. Finally, ensure there is a clear deadline on the offer so you all know where you stand.

Here at Stryve, we make it our business to offer you all of the above and more through our technology. If you want to speak to one of our hiring experts about your organisation book a meeting here.