The evolution of the recruitment process

Today’s market is challenging in terms of recruitment, but there are ways that your business can adapt to be best equipped to hire top talent. We believe this is about reflecting on your recruitment processes and the core values of your business that you present during the interview stages. You should aim to utilise the newest technology to source the best candidates, as well as developing your diversity and inclusion (D&I) programmes so that candidates want to join your business. Throughout the hiring process, candidates should be able to understand where the process is heading, what their role within the business would be, and get a true sense of what it would be like to work for you. 

Here we look at two of the ways the recruitment process is evolving and how companies like yours will need to adjust processes accordingly to keep pace. 

Diversity and inclusion is crucial to your business offering

Top candidates are becoming more vigilant when job hunting and one mishap in the recruitment process can mean the difference between them coming to work with you or not. Linked to the importance of good company culture, D&I are becoming more critical to top talent considering a move in roles, or being compelled to leave a business. D&I is a prime example of an element of businesses that can be continuously improved and developed. You should aim to continue to review and renew your policies so that they are serving your business in the best possible way, and developing alongside your ever-developing workforce. 

Perhaps surprisingly, recent research we carried out on D&I found that only 34% of C-level executives say that their company has a D&I policy and know what it is. A good candidate might ask you about your D&I initiatives and what you are doing as a business in this area. Being forward-thinking and proactive in your approach to recognising your weaknesses and putting in a plan of action to eradicate them, will help to showcase to the candidate the type of organisation that you are. 

The inclusion element of D&I has been known to be overlooked by businesses. It is a great first step to diversify your workforce and employ a wide range of people to your teams. However, if you don’t ensure that your approach is inclusive and that your people can bring their whole selves to work, then you will be missing out on the full capabilities that they could bring to your organisation. Therefore, without inclusion, it is unlikely that top professionals will remain with your business for long. Our D&I study outlined that three-fifths of workers (61%) have experienced feelings of exclusion within the workplace, most commonly office cliques (30%) or witnessing bullying or discrimination (21%).

Technology is revolutionising recruitment 

Not only is D&I crucial to improving your offering, but candidates also want to be assured that they are working with organisations that are at the forefront of new technology. Your recruitment process can give a lasting, positive first impression if you use innovative solutions that allow flexibility during interviews and incorporate technology to create a streamlined experience from start to finish. 

The way that businesses recruit for talent is continually changing and developing. Whether this is how job advertisements are written, where they are posted, or how companies are interviewing talent. This could be through a traditional face-to-face approach, multi-staged interview, or using video to shortlist candidates or broaden the scope to reach people overseas. An interview is the first interaction you will have with a potential candidate, and it is crucial to showcase as much as you can about the business and what you want to achieve, as well as getting to know them and learning more about their experience. 

Developing your recruitment process will broaden your scope of potential talent and alternative interview techniques, which will allow you to assess a potential candidate in the most effective way. Introducing certain types of testing, such as psychometric, allows you to create a solid shortlist of candidates to invite to interviews. Through this testing, you can learn more about a candidate’s technical and behavioural skills that are needed for the role, to successfully assess their suitability. 

There is no doubt that the recruitment processes of the future will be wholly different from the approach that businesses take today. In the future, we may hold interviews with company leaders, where they share a strategic vision from the C-suite level down, create videos about working conditions, or even promote a live feed of the company ratings from review sites such as Glassdoor or Top Employers. At Michael Page, we can advise you on how to implement tools will enable your business to host more flexible interview processes with candidates, or create a shortlist of candidates to invite to the interview stage through viewing video applications. 

We can help you to prepare for the future through the attraction, hiring, and development of your people. Go back to the Tomorrow's Talent homepage to learn more about the challenges of hiring, how to attract top talent, and the importance of soft skills. Alternatively, if you are looking to hire top talent in your sector, get in touch with one of our specialist recruitment consultants today.