1. Develop a Specific and Authentic Candidate Profile

Having a clear, well thought-out profile of your ideal candidate will allow you to focus your recruitment process and identify suitable talent quickly. Furthermore, communicating this to your Technology recruitment agency from the beginning ensures they have the information they need to find the best matches for the role in less time.

Work together with your recruitment partner to define what you’re looking for in your perfect candidate, considering not just skills and experience but characteristics and cultural fit as well. When developing your candidate profile, ask questions around the criteria of the role: What technical competencies are required to perform the responsibilities? What is the nature of the team that this role fits into? What soft skills and personality traits are necessary for meeting your goals? What key values should the candidate align with? What sort of person would support the organisation’s overall vision and allow it to move forward?

By refining your answers into a summary of “must-haves” that are authentic to the role and organisation (rather than generic or templated), you can ensure a more targeted approach at every stage of the process.

2. Revise Your Recruitment Strategy

It’s easy for hiring to become a transactional undertaking aimed solely at filling a gap. However, to secure the best candidates in today’s employment market, organisations will need to engage people earlier, prioritise long-term value-add and put greater emphasis on what top candidates want in a role.

With all the complexities of hiring in the current climate, it’s easy to forget about the quality of the candidate experience. Candidates take notice when a job description is enticing and informative, when an application is easy to complete and when they receive timely responses at each stage. Concentrating on these fundamentals as part of your recruitment strategy will give you an edge over other employers.

Additionally, depending on the Technology job you are hiring for, it may be a good idea to not advertise the role on mainstream job boards. When you partner with a specialist recruitment agency, they will conduct the search on your behalf, ensuring you reach a more targeted pool of candidates that are a good fit for your requirements rather than being inundated with incompatible or lower-quality applications. The recruiter’s cultivated network of industry professionals is often to the best place to find great talent, including those who are currently off-market.

3. Address Process Bottlenecks

Often, recruitment procedures can grow to be ineffective as they change with each applicant and steps overlap, become redundant or no longer meet the needs of the organisation. This can mean incurring extra costs and potentially losing out on top candidates to competitors with faster, more streamlined methods. To address this, consider creating a workflow that compiles each stage and how to proceed, removing aspects that slow down your time to hire. You can this by:

• Eliminating unnecessary steps – Do you require multiple rounds of interviews or interview a minimum number of people before you can extend an offer to your preferred candidate? This could be holding up your process.
• Requesting references earlier – Instead of waiting until the interviews are complete, asking for candidates’ referee details when they submit their application ensures you can conduct reference checks as soon as you are ready.
• Minimising the number of decision-makers – Ensure that only the people who are crucial to the process are involved so that decisions can be reached faster.

Again, remember to consult with your recruiter when identifying bottlenecks – they can help you formulate an efficient process that will allow you to secure your first choice as soon as possible.

Summary

In order to recruit the best candidates for your organisation, you need a hiring process that mirrors the realities of today’s landscape. Taking steps to refine your approach and cutting out the inefficiencies will help you capture the talent you need to grow through the challenges of this climate and strengthen your organisation for the long term.

Want to know more about how you can get the most out of your recruitment drive? Speak to our team of Technology recruitment specialists in Brisbane or Canberra to discuss how we can help you secure exceptional people.