With research showing that 58% of HR managers believe delays in hiring are impacting business performance negatively, organisations are quite right to be highly focused on recruitment as a matter of priority. But is it just the market affecting a company’s ability to hire, or could it just be inadequate talent acquisition skills and processes, outdated technology, gaps in branding, data and processes – or a combination of all the above? 

Most companies have spent years evolving their sales and marketing processes and concentrating on building their marketing funnel and revenue pipeline. However, according to new research by Josh Bersin, 74% of companies underperform when it comes to recruiting, and it’s now a major barrier to organisational growth.

The delays companies are seeing in hiring aren’t just down to candidates weighing up multiple offers or expecting sky-high salaries. The absence of strong talent acquisition skills, thought leadership and experience in this area are often an issue, as are gaps that may exist in current hiring processes. HR and talent leaders need to modernise and build out their recruitment infrastructures, and despite the urgent need for candidates here and now, it’s essential to play the long game. 

This is especially true with the prospect of a looming recession toward the year end – businesses have to think even more carefully about attracting quality candidates that will bring true ROI through a difficult time. Hiring is now a multifactor problem, and leaders implementing talent acquisition strategies need to consider the challenges that exist across the following six disciplines for hiring success. 

You don’t understand your candidate audiences/experience
It doesn’t matter how good you look on paper (or digitally as the case may be). Employee expectations have changed dramatically in the last few years, and it’s making many rethink the future of work. The power has changed hands. Employers can no longer demand unrealistic working processes from employees, or they’ll look for alternative opportunities out there, and there are plenty of them.

It’s about what your ideal candidate is looking for, what you stand for and where you will differentiate and win over your candidates. You need to sell on many levels that are important to the workforce, especially since the pandemic, such as remote working, innovation, wellbeing, equal pay and opportunity/reputation.

Your Employer Brand isn’t recruitment-marketing ready
While speed may be a top business metric, if you don’t lead with a well-researched Employer Brand first, you could be making mish-matched hires. According to a 2021 study done by research platform Finances Online, businesses with excellent employer brands receive 50% more qualified applicants. 

Our research shows that 42% of HR leaders don’t believe they have a strong awareness as an employer or don’t measure their brand awareness. One in ten didn’t even know what an Employer Brand was. If companies don’t know what they stand for, candidates are left to guess. How does your Employer Brand stack up? 

Your profile and reputation – which includes your digital presence – need to reflect the values you stand for. A dated social media biography or negative Google review might be the thing that puts your potential recruits off, especially in a world of remote hiring. If your brand values aren’t communicated consistently, you might be failing those candidates you may never meet. 

Your advertising assets aren’t resonating with your different candidate audiences
As tempting as it may be for companies to post mass job openings and for candidates to pursue a streamlined Tinder-like approach to arriving at a perfect match, the reality is that without knowing that your campaigns are resonating with your target audience, you will be missing the mark.

In a competitive talent market, where talent is faced with the highest amount of open vacancies than ever before, salaries are on the rise. But we all know that salary isn’t everything when it comes to finding the right employer. Candidates are facing a less personal, more disposable recruitment economy where it’s far too easy to ‘swipe left’. Differentiating via your marketing assets will be key to building future digital (and non-digital) campaigns and knowing where to spend. 

Technology can drive digital marketing and recruitment expertise to efficiently and effectively build pipelines and engage with niche talent like never before. Having the ability to track every dollar and pull metrics and report on the passive candidate response from first engagement to application is a game-changer. Today we can also track brand perception, application flow and the viability of social channels to engage the right passive talent via programmatic advertising.

Your application process is too long
The US labour market remained on fire in March with a record 4.5 million workers quitting their jobs, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently showed. To snap the right candidates up at the speed at which they are moving, you need an agile approach to finding and processing talent.

You can’t afford to sit on CVs or inbound approaches, candidates also respect and respond to agility in today’s brands. Test-drive your process to make sure you experience what the candidate has to go through. This doesn’t mean making mis-hires by hiring at speed, if your process is correct you will be filtering out the inappropriate candidates.

You’re struggling to use old, ineffective or the wrong tech to screen applications before they’re loaded into your applicant tracking system
Many businesses want to scale quickly and some even want to double or triple their workforces within a year or two. This is when traditional ways of recruiting, manual processes and outdated or inappropriate technology are going to prevent companies from reaching their goals.  

Technology can absolutely help with the initial, high-level tracking and processing of applications, including the screening of candidates to ensure they meet the basic requirements. The ease and convenience of AI-based databases and search tools can also help to kick off sourcing and executive search programmes quicker than before.

You’re not measuring the effectiveness of your advertising channels and so can’t optimise your investment
In some campaigns (take remote states in the US, for example), traditional billboards can be key to recruitment, but they can also be costly. If you can’t measure the success of any of your channels you could be wasting a lot of your investment. Data and your use of it will get you further ahead faster than any of your competitors. HR teams need as much access to data as marketing teams to see where their campaigns are resonating. Data-driven insight will also save a lot of costs and produce far more results.

All of the above factors are equally valuable in your recruitment engine, but if one is missing it will let the success of your talent acquisition down. Do all moderately well, and you’re going to be able to compete in the skills market. 

You might be in an almighty rush to hire people now, but play the long game when it comes to hiring, and you might find short term success too.