3 Hiring Roadblocks and How to Avoid Them 29 May 2019

You’re running into some roadblocks with your hiring process. As soon as you find a candidate you think is the right fit for the job, they get stolen out from under you. Why is it so difficult to hire?

Everyone’s hiring. Well, not everyone, but plenty of businesses are hiring, which is cutting into the available applicant pool. In 2018, the United States had 6.6 million job openings. When so many companies are hiring, finding the talent you need is tough.

To get new hires, you have to stand out from the crowd of other businesses. Improving your hiring process gets rid of the hiring roadblocks in your way and draws in applicants. Let’s discover some current hiring roadblocks and how you can use your hiring process to get past them.

1st Roadblock: You’re Overwhelmed With Applicants

The challenge: You’re swamped with candidates, both qualified and unqualified. By the time you sort through them, the best ones have moved on. How do you organize your applicant pool?

How to avoid it: Write a clear job description so you’ll know which applicants are right for the position. Avoid hiring for multiple positions at once. Filling one job at a time lets you focus on each applicant pool separately. Use an applicant tracking system to sort through the candidates and identify the best matches for the job.  

Even businesses with huge HR departments need help sorting through candidates. Some have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with their talent pool. Unilever, a company that owns multiple food, home care, and beauty brands, uses AI to find and assess the best applicants. Having AI identify the right candidates frees up recruiters’ time. It lets them focus on getting potential employees interested in the job.

After you’ve sifted through job candidates, now it’s time to put your applicants through the interview process. Not so fast! Your interview process may be another roadblock on your way to making a new hire.

2nd Roadblock: Your Interview Process Takes Too Long

The challenge: Getting through your interview process takes forever. You have to coordinate both your applicants’ and interviewers’ schedules. The delay means interviews are held weeks after you’ve first contacted the applicant. By the time you decide on an applicant, they’ve moved on to a different job.

How to avoid it: Streamline your interview process and cut out any unnecessary parts. Before candidates get to the interview stage, have your hiring staff look over their qualifications to ensure they’re a good fit for the job. Use video interviewing to take the pressure off of people’s schedules.

Hilton shortened their hiring time from 42 days to 5 days by using video interviews. Applicants record their answers to interview questions anytime they want, and hiring managers watch the responses when they have time. They can even rewatch an interview if needed. Adopting video interviews could be the key to shortening your time to hire.

Now that your hiring process is starting to shape up, why are qualified applicants still so hard to find?

3rd Roadblock: You Can’t Find the Right Person

The challenge: There are no qualified applicants. Even though you’re offering a competitive salary and fantastic benefits, the right applicant isn’t applying for the job.

How you can avoid it: Be willing to hire someone who may not have all the qualifications and skills you want. Remember that you don’t need a perfect candidate. You need someone willing to learn the necessary skills. Offer training and apprenticeship programs to teach your new hire the knowledge required for the job.

Many large companies recognize the value of training. For example, Marriott International offers virtual and in-person training to its employees worldwide. This training ranges from developing management skills to maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Training programs attract applicants to Marriott’s companies and can do the same for yours.

The quality of your hiring process means the difference between getting the new hire you need and going without. By improving your hiring process, you’ll get around serious hiring roadblocks that stop others in their tracks.

Take the Right Detours to Get Past Hiring Roadblocks

Your business will always have the new hires it needs to grow if you avoid hiring roadblocks. How can you get past them? Make three valuable changes in your hiring system.

First, avoid being overwhelmed by candidates by filling one job at a time and using an applicant tracking system. Next, streamline your interview process to cut down on your time to hire. Finally, offering a training program means you don’t need to find perfect applicants in a tight job market.

Stop worrying about filling your job openings. With an improved hiring process, you’ll find the right applicant in no time.