How much of recruitment comes down to communication? Quite a lot! At every single stage of the recruitment process, you are essentially communicating something to your applicants. The specifics of your message will depend on your approach, but it can’t be ignored that applicants can only work with what is given to them by the employer.
Below, we layout just three simple ways you can vastly improve your recruitment process. These methods are taken straight from our own methodology here at Employment Solutions, so you know they can really bring results.
1) Reply in a Timely and Regular Manner
It might sound simple, but slow responses can leave many applicants turning their heels. In fact, many applicants report finding that comms from a would-be employer will often simply cut off without explanation, partway through the recruitment process.
Not only is this disrespectful to your applicants, it’s also indicative of wider problems with your internal organising. Don’t shoot off emails as-and-when; make a schedule and stick to it. Communication between hiring managers and applicants should be regular and timely throughout the process. Those who are unsuccessful should even be prioritised to lessen your team’s workload.
How you guarantee that responses come through quickly is up to you. We recommend an automated system, which leads into our second recommendation…
2) Automate communications where possible
Although a freshly typed, bespoke email is nice, writing to dozens of applicants can take a significant amount of time. This leaves room for some applicants to miss or never even receive communications.
The best way to resolve this is to implement a system that allows for automated responses depending on when applicants are moved on to different stages of recruitment. This way, you can ensure that you are able to avoid clerical errors and missed emails, and maintain a professional image throughout the process.
3) Distribute in-house responsibilities for communication
If you’re working with multiple people or multiple teams during the recruitment process, it will be difficult to delineate responsibilities without planning. An unplanned communication strategy could quickly lead to missed connections and problems that snowball down the road.
It’s vital that every member of the recruitment process is aware of their responsibilities. That means managers, recruiters and any supporting staff. This will help to remove any unnecessary communications, crossed wires and conflicting information.
This becomes increasingly important the further down the recruitment process you go, as you don’t want to accidentally reject the applicant who was accidentally successful just because your team wasn’t organised. Similarly, conflicting information such as a “we’re interested” and a “no thank you” email in the same inbox will leave applicants feeling confused and unsure about working with your business.
How can we help?
Of course, these three suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to improving your recruitment communications. If you would like to find out more about improving communications around your recruitment process, get in touch with Employment Solutions.
With 20 years of experience supporting businesses from various sectors, we can help you develop a holistic and joined-up approach to communications across your entire recruitment process. This will ensure you are able to present your organisation as effectively and professionally as possible to the candidates you are most interested in hiring.
If you’re looking to revolutionise your recruitment comms, then contact a member of our Employment Solutions team on 0161 839 5353 or fill out our online contact form.