Hiring skilled talent is essential to your company’s growth and success rate. The best candidates will help a company achieve their company goals and objectives. As Steve Jobs said, “The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world”.
Due to the importance attached to finding the best talents, it is not surprising that recruiters face a lot of challenges whilst trying to source top candidates. They are faced with hurdles at every stage from the screening right up until an offer is made. In Kenya especially, these key recruitment problems include poor-quality of candidates, acceptance of offer then subsequent withdrawal and unwillingness to relocate.
Kenya’s economic climate took a tragic downward turn after Covid-19. From social distancing to the need to stay at home, organizations are having to review their workplace systems and cultures to ensure they don’t become a hotbed for COVID-19 transmissions.
Why do recruiters receive too many applications?
When it comes to filling in positions, time is of the essence. The more job applications received for a role, the more arduous the shortlisting process becomes, because extra time is needed to filter the best candidates eligible for the next stage of the recruitment process.
Receiving a lot of applications can make it harder to identify the right candidate which can lead to the quality candidates being overlooked. As can be expected, the best candidates are often deciding between several job offers and when companies draw out their hiring process as a result of having too many applications, they run the risk of losing great candidates who often get snapped up by competitors. Furthermore, the time spent sorting through applicants means the position lying vacant and the company missing out on a fully staffed team. This can be highly ineffectual to the running of any organisation.
Overcoming the biggest challenge in hiring and recruitment
Research has shown that the leading pet peeve of HRs and talent acquisition is a surplus of job applications. However the expression, start as you mean to go on, is apt with the hiring process. The reason for floods of job applications can often be traced back to recruiting mistakes made at the very beginning which have a domino effect in the recruitment process. One of the biggest mistakes that often leads to an influx of job applications is poorly written and inaccurate job advertisement.
Writing a descriptive, accurate and appealing job advertisement will ensure you get more quality responses as opposed to quantity. One of the common reasons why job roles get flooded with applications is that the advert has not targeted the appropriate audience. This often leads to another common recruiting problem- too many unsuitable candidates applying for a position. To ensure you don’t get an overflow of applications, ensure your advert is specific with regards to the job title, skills and experience – this is an effective measure to discourage unsuitable candidates from applying.
If all else fails…
In recent years, there has been significant development with regards to the shortlisting tools available for recruiters. The benefit of these tools is that they are cost-effective, quickly and accurately shortlisting candidates. Hiring challenges have evolved over time, and this is why the BrighterMonday skills assessment tool is now more than ever, a necessity. These skills-based tests ensure you get the best candidates that are worth interviewing and prevent you from missing out on top talents.
