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Every good business knows that hiring a staff member is more than just a single decision or action - it is an in-depth process that starts with making skilled candidates aware of a vacancy, and ends with successfully onboarding the most qualified applicant.
This process can be referred to as the recruitment funnel, through which relevant industry talent can be attracted, assessed and selected by the company as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. Just like with the similar concept of the sales funnel, this process needs to be planned out carefully and reviewed regularly to ensure that your organisation is getting the absolute most out of its recruitment efforts.
In this blog post, we will take you through the basics of how an ideal recruitment funnel should work, and the steps that HR professionals and hiring managers need to take to make sure your hiring system is delivering the best possible results.
What is the recruitment funnel?
The recruitment funnel is a concept that helps to visualise and describe the various stages that applicants will need to move through in order to complete their hiring journey with a specific company.
The term “funnel” is used because the first stage represents the largest addressable audience, with each subsequent stage becoming narrower as potential applicants are filtered out, leaving only the most qualified and well-matched candidates at the end of the process.
Although different organisations define the recruitment funnel in different ways, a typical example of the model works as follows:
● Awareness - making prospective applicants from across the industry aware of your employer branding, by establishing a strong web presence and social media profile that advertises your qualities and characteristics as an employer
● Interest - generating interest in vacancies by creating compelling job listings and descriptions, and then advertising these roles through job boards, professional networks and recruitment agency collaborations
● Application - guiding skilled candidates through the application process, creating a seamless pathway from the initial application through to the interview stage and beyond
● Selection - narrowing down the right candidate to offer a job, through shortlisting, interviews and other formal assessments, allowing you to select a well-suited and enthusiastic candidate who has the necessary skills for the role
● Onboarding - making the job offer, negotiating a suitable employment contract and package, and helping them make a seamless transition into their new role
Attention needs to be paid to every stage of this recruitment funnel, as a poorly-developed approach to any part of the process may result in your company missing out on the talent you seek.
How can you improve your recruitment funnel?
There are various steps you can take to strengthen your company’s recruitment funnel at each step of the process, ensuring that candidates who could become valuable additions to your team do not encounter unnecessary barriers to joining you:
● Awareness - ensure that your company’s social profiles and careers pages are regularly updated and properly reflects your organisational values, with a focus on employee benefits, CSR commitments and an appealing workplace culture
● Interest - ensure your job descriptions are detailed, containing the keywords and information that prospective applicants will be searching for. They should clearly explain why working for your company is so desirable, and you can work with a specialist recruiter to ensure your adverts are shared through job boards and platforms that attract the highest number of active and passive candidates
● Application - streamline the application process to be quick, easy and accessible from any platform, including mobile devices. When candidates apply, you should follow up on their interest with regular communication, letting them know how the process will work and when they can expect to hear back about the next steps
● Selection - make sure your interview and screening processes are optimised to get the information and insights you need as efficiently as possible. This will allow you to eliminate unnecessary steps and hire the best candidate without making them wait too long
● Onboarding - create a thorough onboarding process to quickly get your new starters up to speed with your essential processes and integrate them into your company structure and culture. This may include assigning other team members to take responsibility for helping newcomers to acclimate, while addressing their needs
By taking these steps, and continually measuring the performance of your recruitment processes at each stage, you will be able to develop a recruitment funnel that delivers maximum return on investment, while ensuring that you are able to fill crucial vacancies as quickly as you need to.
How can we help?
Developing the perfect recruitment funnel for your business requires a holistic and intelligent approach to hiring, with attention paid to making the right decisions at each step of the process. This is much easier to achieve when you are able to call upon the advice of a specialist recruitment agency, with years of experience in this field.
Employment Solutions has been working to help businesses refine and revolutionise their recruitment processes for more than 20 years. We will help you to redesign and improve your recruitment funnel from start to finish, ensuring that your business is able to reach and recruit the very best candidates every time.
To learn more about how Employment Solutions can help you enhance your recruitment efforts, call the team on 0161 839 5353, or complete the contact form below to arrange a call back.