The Mind Shift that Needs to Happen in HR

January 12, 2018

 

iCIMS Staff

3 min read

The world of modern recruitment is largely driven by lowering unemployment rates, sinking to 4.1 percent in December of 2017. With top candidates becoming more selective than ever before, organizations must shift their mindset to prioritize the impact talent has on their competitive advantage as a company, and the role recruitment plays in overall business strategy.

Let’s Look at the facts:

Consumer-Minded Candidates Are in The Driver’s Seat

Low unemployment rates mean more available positions for job seekers to select from, leading to higher expectations of potential employers. With 83 percent of recruiters reporting that power has shifted away from the employer, an impressive candidate experience can be the difference between hiring a great employee and losing him or her to the competition.

Competitive companies actively seek out new and innovative ways to establish a seamless experience for candidates from the beginning of their job search to the moment a hiring decision is made. That’s because they understand that the impression left on job seekers during the recruitment process directly transfers to everyone that individual speaks to about the hiring organization. In fact, 4 in 5 candidates view their experience as an indicator of how an employer values its people, making it far too important to get wrong.

A Strong Recruitment Strategy Revolves around a Superior Candidate Experience

A positive candidate experience not only improves recruitment efforts, but also directly impacts an organization’s bottom line. The reality is that in industries such as healthcare, retail, finance, or manufacturing, the likelihood of a candidate also being a customer is high. Even when a candidate is not currently a customer of a hiring organization, those satisfied with their recruiting experience are twice as likely to become one. Establishing recruitment practices around the expectations of today’s candidates has become an essential component of business success.

Candidate experience best practices:

o   Search engine friendly jobs

o   Simple application process

o   Ongoing and personalized communication

o   A compliant and secure experience

o   Seamless hiring workflow transitions for timely feedback

o   A great user experience on any device

Organizations risk losing candidates if the recruitment process doesn’t match the modern user experience they have come to expect as a consumer. Driving a competitive candidate experience with the support of best-of-breed recruitment technology keeps employers ahead of hiring complexity, to ultimately select the best talent available.

The Mind Shift: Recruitment Deserves a Seat at the Table

Not only should recruitment be prioritized from a software perspective, but within an organization’s strategy as a whole. Executives must understand the cost risks associated with poor recruiting, recognizing its direct impact on a company. A poor hiring selection due to a broken recruitment strategy could lead to costly production failures, life threatening patient care and the loss of loyal customers.

Recruiting is no longer just a concern for the human resources department. It must be top of mind for senior executives in all areas of a business. Because of its consumer facing nature, recruitment can no longer be considered just another part of the administrative function. Leaders must view recruitment under the same competitive advantage umbrella as sales, marketing and product development. Remember, recruiting practices are an extension of an organization’s corporate brand and without the buy-in and collaboration of senior leadership, recruitment can actually hurt a business.

Talent acquisition is now a strategic tool that fuels all other business initiatives. After all, a competitive strategy means nothing without the right people to carry it out. Learn how to get the conversation started with your leaders by checking out “5 Tips for Getting Budget Approval for New Recruiting Tools.”