The sweet spot for any Talent Acquisition agent is a streamlined collaboration and optimised process connecting employers with potential applicants in their hiring pipeline. But hiring friction is an industry reality and a complex candidate sourcing challenge for HR teams. The process of recruiting and onboarding new hires can be lengthy and complicated, involving numerous steps and stages.
The basic hiring friction obstacles that prevent prospective and suitable active and passive talent from being hired include:
- Long and clumsy application processes
- Poor communication between HR and job applicants
- A lack of transparency
In a candidate-driven environment, reducing hiring friction – where job applicants get stuck somewhere in the candidate journey – is crucial to attracting top talent and retaining them once employed.
By implementing practical candidate sourcing strategies and Talent Acquisition tips, employers and HR managers can change the tide on hiring friction within their organization’s ATS (Applicable Tracking System) and seamlessly find and recruit the best active and passive talent out there.
5 Tips to reduce hiring friction and optimise your talent pipeline:
#1 Streamline your hiring process
Sometimes, the most obvious and simplest solution is the most effective. Taking the time to go back to the basics and ‘audit’ your current recruitment process will help you identify any hiring friction bottlenecks or inefficiencies that may be slowing down your hiring pipeline.
- Identify and eliminate any unnecessary steps or processes
- Automate repetitive tasks
These basic ‘fixes’ will significantly reduce the time and effort required to identify, screen and hire.
(This is also the first step to eliminating recruiter burnout in your candidate sourcing strategy).
#2 Leverage technology
In an age of digital transformation, technology has become an essential tool for optimising your Talent Acquisition strategy and hiring process. From Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to online job boards and social media, technology – paired with human expertise and insights – can assist you in attracting hidden talent.
An optimised ATS allows you to:
- Easily manage job postings,
- Screen resumés
- Track candidate progress.
The strategic leveraging of social media platforms – such as LinkedIn – will also help you reach a wider pool of candidates and build a strong employer brand and reputation.
#3 Improve your candidate experience
Reducing hiring friction is about optimising your ‘backend’ profile and ‘front end’ visibility. Streamlining your hiring process and leveraging technology are necessary behind-the-scenes necessities, but improving your candidate experience is all about proactive and deliberate applicant interfacing.
In the current Talent Acquisition context, your business’ brand is just as much ‘on trial’ as a potential candidate. (Perhaps even more so in the tech and pharma industries where prospective qualified candidates can pick and choose the best jobs out there).
Creating a positive candidate experience is a non-negotiable in contributing to a strong employer brand and attracting top talent:
- Simplify your application process
- Provide regular updates to candidates
- Offer personalised experience throughout the hiring process.
#4 Use data to drive hiring decisions
Data-driven recruiting effectively leverages stats and metrics to inform your hiring decisions. This is where a reputable Talent Acquisition partner comes alongside to assist you in owning your talent pipeline and advancing from being a transactional recruiter to becoming a strategic resourcing change agent.
Analysing data can help HR teams be more efficient by
- Identifying which hiring channels are most effective at sourcing and attracting undiscovered talent
- Determining which stages of the hiring process are taking the most time
#5 Prioritise diversity and inclusion
The most innovative company must also be the most diverse -Apple Inc.
The intentional and sensitive nurturing of a strong and inclusive workplace culture gives every employee a meaningful voice in decision-making and leads to increased performance within an organization.
This is not just a politically correct diversity parity ‘tick box’ in your Talent Acquisition strategy, but rather a step towards diversity of thinking in which varied cultural differences, gender perspectives, age experience, personality types and leadership styles all become the springboard to creativity, enhanced innovation and constructive teamwork.
A commitment to diversity and inclusion in your candidate sourcing strategy will always attract a wider pool of qualified talent.
- Include gender-neutral language in job descriptions
- Offer flexible working arrangements
- Build relationships with diverse communities
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Recruitment processes are dynamic and at the mercy of economic trends and nuanced industry factors. Finding ways to reduce hiring friction within these fluid processes, will require Talent Acquisition agents to adjust to evolving contexts to protect their employer reputation, create a positive candidate experience and sustainably streamline their hiring pipeline.
The journey to a smooth and efficient hiring process requires the specialised insights, diagnostic tools and expertise of a trusted Talent Acquisition partner which is uniquely positioned to help reduce hiring friction by assessing how well candidates enter, flow and exit the recruitment funnel as well as help benchmark the performance of your recruitment function.