In today’s competitive business landscape, competition for talent in the market has increased globally. Organizations are finding it extremely difficult to hire exceptional employees with the right skills for various designations and departments.
Companies invest a lot of time and effort to hire suitable candidates, but the question is how many will apply? Perhaps not many as expected. After screening and evaluating resumes, how many do even get qualified for the job role?
According to “Society for human resource management (SHRM)” report, 59% of HR professionals believe basic skill-set missing among candidates who apply for a job. And 84% of them believe there is a shortage of applied skills among the candidates. With such deficit, how do you even hire the right candidate? There are many reasons why enterprises are not able to find or making it difficult to hire the right candidates.
Here are 6 critical reasons why companies hire wrong candidates:
- Outdated Hiring Process
Many enterprises be it SMBs or large MNCs are still stuck with traditional interview processes that are not at all effective and acceptable anymore. This is one of the major reasons why many companies fail to hire adept candidates. Today, it is all about being inclusive and creating a diverse workforce. So, how do you create an inclusive and diverse workforce which attracts the new untapped audience that were never in the picture with traditional hiring practices?
As Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve the problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”.
To start with, enterprises need to tweak their hiring policy to find the right candidates. Earlier, the competition was less, and the supply was more. Today, the tables have turned and finding good candidates is like finding a needle in a haystack. Few ways to tweak your hiring process can be done through:
- Expanding candidate pool by having a gender diverse pipeline
- Hire the exact match to hit the ground running
- Check for in-house candidates who can be a match
- Involving employees while hiring to find the right fit
- Groundless job descriptions
Regardless of job roles, job descriptions are considered as a marketing piece aimed to attract desired candidates. In this regard, many companies fail to focus on “What’s in it for the candidates.” Still many sticks on to traditional job descriptions that are ambiguous, non-specific list of duties and job requirements. Many enterprises come up with their requirements quickly and don’t emphasize it as strong as required.
- Not making it easy to apply
Job aspirants are expected to work hard to land at a specific job role. But, needing to invest tons of time to complete an application process, frustrating form fields where candidates are supposed to enter the same piece of information every time, 404 error pages, lengthy questionnaires, and broken links. Well, that’s sure to discourage many aspiring candidates and step out from applying for the same.
- Unreasonable expectations
Many enterprises overlook great candidates thinking of landing at a “perfect candidate”. Remember every candidate doesn’t fulfill job requirements and thus get rejected. At times, the job requirements list might be unrealistic and quickly you will have to go through your applicant pipeline. Just forget about the word “perfect,” instead look for the candidates who might turn into great employees in the near future by focusing on their strengths rather than their weaknesses.
- Failing to build awareness
Several qualified and expert candidates aren’t even aware of your company’s existence. There are ample companies in the global market competing for the exact position like yours. Regrettably, it’s the biggest ones with instant name recognition will survive in the industry. Hence, building a reputation online for your company can be crucial in landing right candidates. Candidates today look at Google and Glassdoor reviews even before attending an interview.
- Not targeting passive applicants
Passive candidates are usually content with their existing career. Undoubtedly, they are not actively seeking job change presently but may be interested if the opportunity is right for them. Remember, they are passive candidates waiting for the opportunities to fall into their hands rather needing to seek out for the same.
These passive candidates offer ample value to your business. Unfortunately, they are ruled out for not being a profound job seeker from hiring managers.
Above described may not be an extensive list of suggestions that when followed will yield immediate results. But, it will help to address current gaps while hiring and can streamline your processes to find the right candidate across departments within your organization. With effective and efficient hiring practices it will provide a potent foundation upon which companies can address the need of the business.
