The internet has brought volumes of resumes to hiring managers everywhere. Simply post a job and dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of candidates flood your inbox. The biggest problem in hiring has gone from getting people to apply to getting the right people to apply.
To solve the problem and fill your position the first question is am I advertising in the right place to get the candidates I want. The answer is, if you have a volume of resumes, yes! How can I know you are advertising on the right job boards without knowing which ones you are using? It is easy, they all get the same quality of applicants. If your employment ad has enough people responding the job board is doing its job. Here are a few statistics to prove it.
We compared 10,000 candidates sourced from Indeed sponsored advertising, Craigslist, and ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter sources candidates from free resources, using organic listings on over 100 job boards. Our team scores candidates from 1 to 100 as a candidate quality index. Candidates with a score of 90 and above received an “A”, applicants with a 70 to 89 a “B”, and 69 and below a “C”. Here are the percentage results by advertising source:
Indeed – A – 13%, B – 28%, C – 59%
Craigslist – A – 14%, B – 24%, C – 62%
ZipRecruiter – A – 13%, B – 32 %, C – 57%
The percentage of quality candidates is nearly identical from each source. Better applicants from one job board over another is a myth!
This begs the question, where are the better candidates?
The answer is easier than you think. If you have a volume of applicants they are already in your pile. You just need a system to bring the right candidates out of the group into your business for an interview.
This is same as a sales team dealing with leads. Sales reps ask for more leads every day, and when questioned about the leads they have it is always, “those were bad leads”, “they weren’t buyers”, or “all the good ones already bought”. Yet, hand those same “bad leads” to a sales rep hungry enough to contact them and sales are found.
Companies know that there is a ton of competition for sales leads. Usually they are considering more than one product and more than one store to sell it to them. It is no different in the recruiting business. Unemployment is at its lowest level in the last 50 years. This means that quality candidates are considering multiple companies and different types of jobs. To hire the people we need we have to go the extra mile.
Here is a simple approach and guideline:
- Make sure every candidate receives an email acknowledgement of their application that thanks them for applying and let’s them know what to expect from the interviewing process.
- Create a branded company employment page. Invite applicants to the page so they can learn why people want to work at your company. Make the page inviting and media rich. Just like your main website page that encourages people to learn more about your product and buy.
- Give every candidate the opportunity for a short phone screening interview. This can be short, but it ensures that every applicant is given the chance to give more information that might help in deciding if an in-person interview is warranted.
- Have a standardized objective scoring system with set questions for both the phone interview and in-person interview. Assess candidates on the actual skill and talent they need for your job. Most of these aren’t found on a type assessment like DISC. Qualities like communication skills, job tenure, and professional training. Standard questions and scoring ensures you consider each candidate carefully so a diamond isn’t stepped over.
- Ask every applicant if there is an updated resume. Job boards are trying to make it easy to apply, so they get the least information possible and store resumes indefinitely. Over 40% of the applicants we screen provide us with an updated resume once we speak.
- Have a prepared email template to confirm in-person interviews with a list of “why work for our company” statements. Send the email 24 hours prior to a candidate arriving at your business
These simple steps will make sure you maximize the value of the resumes you receive. Your company is spending tons of money getting people to apply, it is time to put the money to good use. The answer isn’t another ad and more applicants. If your business doesn’t have enough man hours to handle fully vetting everyone who applies, software to organize them, and a website to motivate new applicants to interview get some outside help.
Happy hunting for your next perfect hire 🙂
H Gregory Gershman – Recruitment HQ