How Not To Compromise CX During A Fast Growth Phase

Very often recruiters are asked to increase the team rapidly. Improving Candidate Experience is challenging and it can look impossible to achieve when the company is in a fast-growth phase. On top of this, it is rarely taken into account that resources for Human Resources need to multiply too in order to meet the objective. In this post, we are not going to talk about what challenges Recruiters face when growing the team but how to implement a few tricks to continue improving CX. So here are some tips to be able to meet goals without compromising your Candidate Experience.

Define quantity and quality

Remember that a good Candidate Experience will improve the effectiveness of the hiring process but it will also make employees stay longer in your company. If this Candidate Experience is not good enough, candidates may decide not to continue in the hiring process and new employees may quit during the onboarding process.

By now, you probably know how important communication is for Candidate Experience. Take the time to write a proper Job description since it is the first content piece candidates see when looking for a job. Choose the right tone when writing it and also at interviews, with feedback and when sharing the final decision with the candidate. At this point there is no need to mention that recruiters also need to inform candidates that won’t continue in the hiring process and this will make a huge difference, especially when it’s by telephone instead of automated email. As we mention in our blog post “Candidate Rejection and Candidate Experience”, positive candidate experience ratings jump upwards of 22 per cent when they receive a phone call versus an automated email rejection, a difference that can go a long way.

Combine skills assessment tests with interviews

Interviews are good for understanding the past experiences of a candidate, and assessment tests are used to know how the candidate will actually get along with the day-to-day tasks at the company. Combine both to get a more comprehensive view of how a candidate may fit in the role and therefore, make a better hiring decision.

Negotiate with the Employer and Hiring Manager

If resources are not sufficient to reach the growth percentage, inform your employer about this. Make them aware of the current situation and try to negotiate the resources you need to do your job properly. You can also negotiate having hiring managers involved in order to speed up processes and decisions, but also to make sure you don’t end up with no hires at the end of the funnel or even bad hires. Remember that, as a recruiter, you may start the hiring process but hiring managers will take action during the process and may not follow the best practices.

How can you engage hiring managers to involve them in the hiring process? Sit down with the hiring managers and make sure you are on the same page. Share good interview practices with them (punctuality, organization, preparing questions for the interview, etc.) and make them understand that a negative Candidate Experience can lose them, great candidates. Make it clear that this is something you all have to do for their team and not for yourself as a recruiter. Start with understanding both what is needed for the role and organizing what type of questions or assessment tests you will each do to have a complete understanding of the skills involved.

Streamline interview with video

Video interviews can save you up to 15 minutes if we compare them to phone interviews. In addition, through video you get a better feeling of how the candidate could fit in the role and you can be more efficient when making the decision about whether to have a second interview with them. This way, recruiters can be more accurate when sending the best talent to a personal interview.

On top of this, candidates get a better experience if they have the chance to see you in the video too, it reduces tension and helps candidates to be the best version of themselves.

Eventbrite, for example, uses Spark Hire for video interviews:  “We use it for NON Tech profiles in the EU. For now it is only a pilot, but it seems to work pretty well” – Tania Pérez, Talent Acquisition Manager at Eventbrite.

Avoid recruiting – Look after your staff

Make sure employees at your company feel appreciated. One of the most common reasons for people giving up their job is because they are treated as if they are disposable.

Guarantee a successful onboarding. According to SHRM organization, 17% of their new hires left within the first three months and 21% within 45 days. The Hiring manager needs to be ready for the onboarding as much as the recruiter. Provide anything the new hire may need in time for their first days at work: a permanent workstation, tools, laptop, programs, software, email account, documents, etc.

Speed up the process with transparency

Explain to candidates what the hiring process is going to consist of. Make sure they understand the number of interviews, if there is an assessment test, who the interviews are going to be with, and even what topics or part of their experience will be covered in each interview. This is a nice way for them to come prepared and show the best version of themselves but also for the recruiter to save time by making sure they know the candidate well enough to make a decision.

As we said in our previous blog post “Improving Candidate Experience during the Application Process” it is fundamental to be completely transparent in the job description to avoid setting the wrong expectations from the very beginning of the hiring process.

Use direct sourcing and referrals

Find high quality candidates in hiring communities like Circular. Let us help you! We will put you in contact directly with candidates who have the profile you are looking for. Candidates at Circular are excellent, because they’ve come recommended by other recruiters in the community so quality will be guaranteed without having to search in different platforms for hours and hours. You can quickly set interviews and carry out the hiring process the way you prefer. In the end, if you can skip the searching and screening, so much the better!

Direct sourcing and referrals from the company team have proven to be a great source of highly-qualified candidates.

Use Talent Pools

Let’s link the previous point with talent pools. They are the perfect source for hiring during rapid team growth. You can proactively build your own talent pool throughout the year but for those who don’t find the time to do so, Circular can also be your talent pool.

Talent pools have multiple benefits: they reduce time to hire since you can access qualified candidate profiles straight away and they promote diversity since different talent capturing methods are used.

Implement Inbound recruiting

Inbound Recruiting combines strategies of online and offline marketing to attract talent and engage both passive and active job seekers during the hiring process. The power of Inbound Recruiting is that you will be receiving candidates that want to work for you. This ends up reducing the advertising costs many recruiters spend on job boards in order to attract talent.

Social Media Recruiting has been very successful in recent years, which is the reason why many companies like Cabify have opted for it. This strategy is based on using social media networks (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn) to attract targeted talent. This strategy helps increase job visibility thanks to Social Media Networks’ large audience.