Are you a client looking to hire? Here are 12 common recruitment problems and some tips on how to resolve them!

  1. The candidates are not qualified enough

You are receiving plenty of applications, however the candidates you have received do not have the relevant experience. This is a common problem among employers and has some key causes and therefore solutions;

  • Check your advert- is it deterring those who do not have this skill? Your advert should be attracting the right candidates and deterring those without the relevant skills and experience.
  • Does it clearly state what is essential and what is desirable? If candidates feel that certain skills are not essential, those without that experience may apply.
  • Is your salary competitive enough?

A recruitment agency such as Hooray will be able to write an advert which attracts the right candidates and deters the wrong ones and has knowledge of the sector and can let you know if your salary bracket is competitive enough to attract the right candidate for the role.

  1. Not enough candidates have applied

You have barely received a response to your advert, but plenty of candidates are looking at your advert and you cannot understand why they are not applying. There may be several reasons for this;

  • Your advert might not have enough information for them to apply e.g. you may have missed out location.
  • You may be too specific on what is essential and have put the right candidates off.
  • There may be high demand for your particular role and you are not competitive enough.
  • You have not advertised across enough mediums.

Hooray can help you by advertising across a large number of job sites and social media mediums in order to attract the highest number of candidates as well as actively sourcing across all the major CV upload sites to find you the best matched candidate.

  1. The candidates never get back to you

You have plenty of applications, but you call the shortlist and they never call you back and quickly seem to lose interest.

  • You may not have contacted the candidates in a timely manner – they are most active in the first 3 days of applying.
  • Have you contacted them enough? The candidates may be courting several prospects and simply lost track, contact them up to 3 times if possible.
  • Have you contacted them through various methods, i.e. phone call, text and email? We have all lost or broken our phone at some point, only to have missed out on something give your candidates the benefit of the doubt.

Hooray contact the majority of candidates within the first 3 days via multiple methods of communication. If you choose to engage our services we can take care of all of this for you.

  1. You lose candidates in the process

You have called the candidate and had a great conversation, you have thought about it and had a team meeting and you would like to move them forward so you call them but they no longer answer your call and you have to start all over again.

  • You may have taken too long to make a decision over candidates and your competitors have snapped them up in the meantime – recruitment calls for fast decisions to keep your candidates engaged.
  • You need to block out time to make room for recruitment so that you can make it a smooth process for you and the candidate otherwise they will feel they are not a priority.
  • You need to keep in contact with the candidates and keep them engaged in the process, otherwise they will think you are no longer interested and look elsewhere.

Hooray can take over your recruitment process and can keep in touch with candidates to ensure they are fully engaged, and keep you up to date on whether they are still keen to continue as well as providing guidelines on how quickly you should move in your recruitment process.

  1. You don’t have time to sort through the candidates

You have received plenty of applications, however you do not have time to sort through them, and you are so busy.

  • You will have to block out time to deal with the applications in your diary and stick to it, otherwise you are letting down the candidates who have applied and missing out on a potential fantastic hire.

Hooray can help you by taking over the entire process and we can also provide you with comparable candidates which we have sourced ourselves if the standard is not as high as you had hoped.

  1. You don’t have time to contact the candidates

You have lots of applications, you have managed to sort them but you do not have time to contact the ones who look interesting, let alone screen and book them in for interview.

  • You do need to contact these candidates as think about the money you are potentially losing by not hiring the person to address the need in your business.
  • Not contacting them can be damaging to the reputation of your business – if people know you do not respond to applicants, they will talk and eventually people will no longer apply for your roles.

Hooray can take over this whole process for you and furthermore we contact all your applications and keep them up to date, which can have a strong positive effect on the reputation of your business.

  1. You need to hire quickly

You need someone not tomorrow, or today, you need them yesterday!

  • We would recommend the moment you are aware of your vacancy, do not delay and think about the candidates you are looking for.
  • Think about hiring a temporary worker who may be immediately available, they may end up being the permanent solution you are looking for!

Hooray can provide both permanent and temporary workers to our clients and can provide a fast turnaround time on both permanent and temporary vacancies.

  1. Candidates don’t stay in the role

You have gone through the entire hiring process, only to have the person you have hired leave the business within a 3-month period and you are back to the drawing board.

  • Do a thorough exit interview with them – what were the main issues and can you address them?
  • Perhaps you did not screen them thoroughly enough and ask the right questions about whether the role suits their current situation.

Hooray go out to your workplace and meet the hiring manager to get to know what you are looking for in detail prior to sending you CVs. Hooray also thoroughly screen and meet candidates prior to interview to ensure they are the best match for you and have processes in place to support you if the role does not work out in a short space of time.

  1. You don’t have time for multiple stage interview processes

You really like a couple of candidates however you do not have time to meet them or arrange to meet them.

  • I cannot emphasise more the importance of meeting your candidates prior to offering them the role, especially more than once if there is more than one good candidate you are considering.

If you cannot meet your candidates more than once, Hooray can meet them initially on your behalf and screen them for you so that only one interview stage is required.

  1. Candidates keep accepting other offers

You have finally decided on “the one” and made them an offer, however this offer is declined as they have accepted another offer and you are left having to start again and you wonder why.

  • Your salary may not be competitive enough – your competitors are taking your ideal candidate as they are more willing to be flexible with salary.
  • You are not flexible enough – perhaps the candidate has asked for one day off home working a month and you did not want to accommodate that, however your competitors might be.
  • You have taken too long to make the offer or have not provided them with a written guarantee of the offer.

Hooray know our clients and speaks to all candidates and manages their expectations before interview stage so they can know if you are likely to be flexible and have good market knowledge so can give you a good idea of what your competitors are offering and whether you match up.

  1. Candidates don’t show up

You have sorted, screened and arranged all interviews however the candidate does not show up to interview or even on their first day and you are left disappointed.

  • Ensure you have sent a written confirmation of interviews or an appointment with you to candidates at least 24 hours before the interview.
  • Always give candidates an opportunity to reschedule- call them and say you are happy to, they may have had something urgent happen to them.

Hooray take control of this process and ensure candidates are engaged with the process as well as managing interview confirmations and preparation with the candidate.

  1. You do not know how to ensure equality and diversity in the workplace

You have read all the articles that show that diversity in the workplace equals better productivity and you would also like to have a more diverse workforce to bolster your reputation, but you don’t know where to begin.

  • Advertise your role across as many channels as possible to reach the most number of people and therefore are more likely to reach a diverse range of individuals.
  • Check your wording, sometimes certain types of wording can put off certain groups inadvertently e.g. competitive is considered to be a ‘masculine’ word and may put off women from applying to your new role.

Hooray has over 30 years of recruitment experience between them and advertise across a diverse network of job sites to ensure your role has as much reach as possible and we can advise you on how you can make your process as inclusive as possible.

Contact us – 01242 300228 – hello@hoorayworks.co.uk