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5 Cringe-Worthy Recruiting Mistakes & How to Avoid

There is no shortage of blogs and articles that highlight the recruiting mistakes job seekers make and how they can better impress recruiters, informing them of all the things they do that keep them from getting hired. Job seekers, however, are not the only variable in the recruiting equation – recruiters and hiring managers play an equally important role in bringing an outcome to the process. They sometimes make recruiting mistakes that can prove to be quite costly for their company’s hiring process. 

Employers and organizations that are looking to bring the best talent on board should be concerned about the recruiting mistakes their HR staff and hiring managers often make.

The fact is that recruiters are also guilty of making plenty of cringe-worthy recruiting mistakes that could lead to applicants turning them down. Worse yet, providing an applicant with a poor experience during your hiring process could be damaging to your company’s reputation and can potentially become viral.

Check out our list of some of the biggest recruiting mistakes employers make and how to avoid them:

Recruiting Mistakes #1: Taking too long to respond to applicants

Recruiters have to realize that applicants are typically applying to numerous companies while on the job hunt. In today’s economy, even the most qualified candidates will likely take, or at least strongly consider, whatever job they can get their hands on. Making applicants wait weeks to hear back about a job prospect is unacceptable and the candidate will probably start looking elsewhere (if they have not already).

How to avoid it: Simplicant’s applicant tracking software provides a workflow-enabled automatic emailing mechanism which allows for constant communication between the recruiting staff and applicants at every step during the hiring process. With full customization capability and the functionality to include content tailored to the candidate’s stage of the hiring, the applicants can be kept informed throughout the process, avoiding the common problem where they may feel ignored or forgotten.

Recruiting Mistakes #2: Directing candidates to a poorly built career site

How your careers site appears has a direct effect on whether or not a candidate will be interested in applying. A site living in a different era and using technologies from two decades ago is not going to attract the best talent. When people are looking for a new opportunity, they are looking for companies that are early adopters or at least modern enough to provide opportunities to learn something new. A career site that is poorly designed and difficult to navigate will make candidates skeptical of the legitimacy of your organization.

How to avoid it: Career pages created with Simplicant are compelling and engaging. In addition, the careers site can seamlessly blend into your corporate web page, resulting in a world-class careers site that has the flexibility to include all the content that you need to engage your audience: video, social networks, sharing options and much more.

Recruiting Mistakes #3: Lack of detail in the job description

A vague description of the job may not only attract the wrong applicants but will create more work for you in the long run. Without a clear job description, you could end up with countless unqualified candidates to sift through until you are able to finally find what you are looking for.

How to avoid it: Be very clear and upfront about what you are looking for in each position, in order to prevent wasting everyone’s time. Specify each of the skills and qualifications a candidate must have and even list what you do not want, to help narrow it down further.

Recruiting Mistakes #4: Being ill prepared for the interview.

Hiring managers are often annoyed when they feel that a candidate has not done the necessary research about their company before an interview. It is only fair that recruiters and hiring managers do their homework as well. That is not to say that you should know the applicant’s life history before interviewing them, but it also should not be the first time you have looked over their resume. Being unprepared for an interview reflects poorly on you and your entire organization. A candidate will be hesitant to work for a company that cannot even conduct a proper interview.

How to fix it: Review each candidate’s resumes before the interview. Do not ask questions you could easily find answers to by glancing over the resume. If the applicant is going to be interviewed by multiple people within the organization, meet in advance to discuss who will be asking what questions. Simplicant’s collaboration functionality allows your team to plan, create and complete recruiting related tasks with easy to follow guidelines and aggregate all information and content related to a candidate in one consolidated profile that provides an easy reference for everyone involved in the process.

Recruiting Mistakes #5: Using personality as the main evaluation criteria.

Personality is an important factor; however, it is not always an indicator of whether or not the candidate is suitable for the task at hand. It is far more important to judge the applicant based on their past experience, competency and ability to perform well in the job in question. Aim for diversity in personality types to provide your organization with a rich mix of individuals, who bring something interesting and unique to the table.

How to fix it: People are often not completely themselves in an interview, which further complicates hiring based on personality. Develop several methods for evaluating an applicant. If you believe a candidate has the skills and qualifications to complete the job, put them to the test.

What do you think? What are some other recruiting mistakes that employers make?

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash