The New Year is a great opportunity for progressive recruiters to tweak their TA approach by adding small things that will make a big difference.
Descriptors… recruiting/tools – how to – simple but effective – 3 min. scan
Simple High-Impact New Year Resolutions For Recruiters
If you are seeking small changes that can significantly improve your recruiting outcomes, here are a handful of simple actions that have been proven to make an immediate difference. So during the next year…
- Resolve to… make a conscious effort to praise top candidates – in a recruiting marketplace where top candidates have multiple job choices. You can take proactive action to excite them by being a little less coy. And instead, look for opportunities to consciously praise the candidate for their capabilities and accomplishments. Because that reinforcement and praise will keep them excited and will reduce candidate dropouts. One approach that you should consider is “one minute praising,” and you can find out more about it here.
- Resolve to… be more curious about what happens to your recent hires – because recruiters are so busy, they routinely “drop new-hires over the wall” and essentially forget about them. That is a huge mistake because you can’t improve your personal recruiting process if you simply assume that all of your new-hires become successful. Instead, become more curious about how well they do during their first six months. Do that by checking to see if they quit during their first six months, if their manager would rehire them, and if their initial performance appraisal rating was above average. Also, begin pushing your recruiting leadership to measure the on-the-job performance of new hires in all key positions. You can learn more about no-math methods for measuring new-hire quality here.
- Resolve to… give candidates a real problem to solve during their interviews – you can improve the accuracy of candidate interviews dramatically. During their final interview, give candidates an existing current problem to solve. And then,
- ask them to verbally walk you through the steps that they would take to solve it. Alternatively, you can also ask them to walk you through the steps that they will proactively take during the first month in order to learn more about their job and their team. You can learn more about giving candidates a problem to solve here.
- Resolve to… make more data-driven decisions – realize that in a world that will be dominated by AI and quantum computing. Making recruiting decisions based on data (rather than intuition) will become an absolute requirement. So prepare for these inevitabilities by beginning to make an increasing percentage of your recruiting decisions more objective and data-driven. Especially your decisions in the areas of sourcing, job posting, candidate assessment, and employer branding. You can learn more about how an individual recruiter can become more data-driven here.
- Resolve to… prioritize your jobs – even when you are pressed for time. An individual recruiter can improve their business impacts by prioritizing their open jobs. So that you consciously focus your time and resources on your open jobs that will have the most business impact if they are filled by a top candidate. You can learn more about how position prioritization can lead to excellence here.
- Resolve to… proactively fill team skill gaps – when you are hiring for a position in a critical team. Instead of only considering the skill requirements for this open position in isolation, work with the hiring manager and team leaders to determine if there are any current or upcoming skill gaps that are negatively impacting the whole team. And then, make a conscious effort to ensure that this new-hire is not only qualified for the job, but also helps cover the most important skill gaps for the team.
Final Thoughts
In today’s business environment, where job security for recruiters can be uncertain, you will also have to continually improve your recruiting approach and results. One step in that continuous improvement process should be the conscious use of New Year’s resolutions as an opportunity to improve yourself, especially when hiring is ramping back up after the holiday pause.
Author’s Note
- Please spread these ideas by sharing this article with your team/network and by posting it on your favorite media.
- Also, join the well over 20,000+ that follow or have connected with Dr. Sullivan’s community on LinkedIn.
- And if you don’t already subscribe to Dr. Sullivan’s Aggressive Talent Management articles, you can do that here.