It’s that time of the year to begin hiring for the
holiday season. With the battle for share of stomach continuing to drive a
wedge between restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores the companies
that are not understaffed will win this holiday season. Today Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA
based Foodservice Solutions® is sharing a Guest Blog By Natalie Dopp, Chief
People Officer at HireVue. Here we
go:
Hiring top talent can be a daunting task for any
organization. However, for companies dealing with high-volume recruitment
needs, the challenge is even greater. The need for high-volume recruiting
typically arises from rapid growth, seasonal demands like the upcoming holiday
season, or industries that require a constant influx of talent. This type of
recruitment is common in sectors such as retail, hospitality, customer service,
technology, and manufacturing, where organizations need to quickly fill numerous
positions to meet their operational needs.
Challenges:
While high-volume recruiting can be an exciting
indicator of organizational growth, it poses unique challenges for hiring
teams.
Tight timelines. First, hiring teams often
encounter tight timelines when managing high-volume recruitment. The need to
fill multiple positions swiftly can lead to rushed decision-making, potentially
compromising the quality of hires. The sheer volume of applications to review,
screen, and interview can be overwhelming, leaving recruiters with limited time
to thoroughly assess each candidate.
Large applicant pools. With a larger
pool of applicants, finding top talent becomes more challenging. Hiring teams
must sift through numerous resumes and applications to identify candidates with
the right skills, qualifications, and cultural fit. The risk of overlooking
qualified candidates or inadvertently hiring under qualified individuals
increases, impacting the overall quality of the workforce.
Maintaining company reputation. Maintaining a
strong employer brand becomes crucial in high-volume recruiting. A company’s
reputation and image play a significant role in attracting qualified
candidates. However, when hiring teams need to fill multiple positions rapidly,
it becomes challenging to provide each candidate with a positive experience and
effectively communicate the organization’s values and culture.
Increasing the size of the hiring team. Scaling up
recruitment processes to handle high volumes of applicants requires efficient
systems and streamlined workflows. Manual processes can be time-consuming and
prone to errors. Hiring teams need to leverage technology, such as applicant
tracking systems (ATS) and automation tools, to manage large applicant pools,
screen candidates, schedule interviews, and track candidate progress
effectively.
Creating a positive candidate experience. In high-volume
recruiting, there is a risk of candidates feeling lost in the crowd. Each
applicant deserves a positive experience, regardless of whether they are
selected or not. Failing to provide timely updates or personalized
communication can damage an organization’s reputation and deter qualified
candidates from applying in the future.
Overcoming these challenges requires strategic
planning, effective utilization of technology, and a focus on candidate
experience. By implementing efficient processes, hiring teams can successfully
navigate high-volume recruitment and attract top talent to drive organizational
success.
Best Practices
In the ever-changing landscape of high-volume
recruiting, effective strategies are essential for finding a large number of
quality candidates in a short period of time.
Source talent through a compelling job description in
the right channels. Crafting a compelling job description is crucial for
attracting the right talent in high-volume recruiting. Start by clearly
outlining the job responsibilities, qualifications, and skills required for a
candidate to be successful in the role. However, it’s essential to go beyond
the basics and highlight what makes your organization unique. Emphasize the
company culture, mission, and growth opportunities to capture the attention of
candidates who align with your values. Use concise language and bullet points
to make the job description easily scannable, as candidates often have limited
time to review each posting. Additionally, consider incorporating storytelling
elements to engage potential candidates and make the role more enticing.
Showcase the benefits of joining your team and paint a vivid picture of the
work environment, and you’ll attract individuals who are not only qualified but
also passionate about contributing to your organization’s success.
Also, to attract the right talent in high-volume
recruiting, it’s essential to promote job listings through the right
channels.
·
Leverage online job boards and professional networking
platforms that cater to your industry or target audience.
·
Utilize the advanced search filters provided by these
platforms to ensure your listings reach candidates with the desired
qualifications and experience.
·
Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and
Twitter to extend your reach and tap into passive job seekers.
·
Engage with relevant industry groups and communities to
generate interest and word-of-mouth referrals.
·
Collaborate with local universities, trade schools, and
professional organizations to tap into their talent pools through job fairs,
career events, or targeted email campaigns.
By strategically promoting your job listings in the
channels where your ideal candidates are likely to be active, you increase the
chances of attracting a high volume of qualified applicants who are genuinely
interested in your opportunities.
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Build a robust talent pipeline. By
proactively engaging with potential candidates, recruiters can ensure a steady
stream of qualified applicants when the need arises. One effective strategy is
to leverage networking events and industry conferences to connect with
professionals in relevant fields. Attending or hosting career fairs and
industry-specific job expos can also help establish relationships with
potential candidates. Additionally, building partnerships with universities,
trade schools, and vocational programs can provide access to emerging talent
pools. Internship and co-op programs can serve as a pipeline for identifying
promising candidates and nurturing them for future positions. By actively
participating in the professional community and establishing relationships with
passive candidates, recruiters can continuously nurture the talent pipeline and
stay ahead in high-volume recruiting.
Another effective method to build a robust talent
pipeline is through employee referral programs. Encouraging employees to refer
qualified candidates from their networks can yield great results. Offering
incentives or rewards for successful referrals can motivate employees to
actively participate in the hiring process. By leveraging the networks and
connections of your existing employees, you tap into a trusted source of
potential candidates who are more likely to align with your company’s culture
and values. These referred candidates often come with recommendations, making
the initial screening process more efficient.
Optimize your screening process. When it comes to
high-volume recruiting, speeding up the hiring process is paramount, but it has
to be done effectively. An efficient screening and assessment process is
crucial to identify the most qualified candidates quickly. Here are a few tactics
that hiring managers can employ to optimize this process:
1. Utilize
Technology and Automation: To achieve fast yet effective
high-volume hiring, leverage applicant tracking systems (ATS) and other
automation tools, like HireVue provides, to streamline the screening and
assessment process. These tools can help in sorting and filtering applications
based on predefined criteria, such as skills, qualifications, and, saving
valuable time for hiring managers. Additionally, consider using online
assessments and pre-employment tests to evaluate candidates efficiently and
objectively. These assessments can provide valuable insights into a candidate’s
abilities, knowledge, and cultural fit, enabling hiring managers to make
informed decisions more quickly and speed up the overall hiring process.
2. Develop Clear
Evaluation Criteria: Define clear evaluation criteria based on the job
requirements and desired skills. This ensures consistency in the screening and
assessment process and enables hiring managers to make fair and objective
comparisons among candidates. By establishing a scoring rubric or checklist,
hiring managers can quickly identify the top candidates who meet the predefined
criteria. This structured approach eliminates biases and allows for a more
systematic and efficient evaluation of a high volume of applicants.
3. Conduct
Structured Interviews: Implement structured interview processes to
assess candidates consistently and fairly. Start with realistic job
previews, so candidates are clear with what the role entails.
Next, develop a set of standardized interview questions that focus on
specific competencies or skills relevant to the role. This helps in comparing
candidates directly and ensures that all candidates are evaluated based on the
same criteria. Consider using video or panel interviews with the help of
a video
interview platform to save time and accommodate a larger number of
candidates. Structured interviews help maintain consistency and reduce
subjectivity, leading to more accurate assessments in high-volume recruiting.
Improve your onboarding process. Efficient
onboarding is essential to ensure a smooth transition for new employees in
high-volume hiring. To save time and ensure consistency, recruiters can prepare
onboarding materials in advance. This includes employee handbooks, welcome
packages, and training materials. By providing these resources to new hires
before their start date, they can familiarize themselves with company policies,
procedures, and expectations beforehand. This proactive approach allows
recruiters to focus on personalized elements during onboarding while providing
new employees with essential information to hit the ground running.
Another strategy is to develop a structured onboarding
program that covers key aspects such as company culture, values, job
responsibilities, and introductions to key team members. Break down the
onboarding process into manageable steps, providing new employees with a clear
roadmap of what to expect during their initial days and weeks.
Incorporate a mentor system where experienced employees
can guide and support new hires, answering questions and helping them acclimate
to the company culture. This can help ensure new hires actually stay on the
job. In fact, a recent survey by Paychex indicates only 63% of new hires
are satisfied with their company’s onboarding process and an alarming 50% of
new hires planned to quit soon.
By implementing a structured onboarding program,
recruiters can foster a positive employee experience, ensure consistency,
reduce the time it takes for new hires to become productive, and keep them
engaged and motivated.
Leverage technology from beginning to end. Technology
and automation allows hiring teams to elevate their high-volume recruiting even
further. Applicant tracking, assessments, structured interviews, these are all
automation tools that provide recruiters with the opportunity to optimize their
hiring processes, and HireVue offers a comprehensive set of technologies that
will enhance your high-volume recruiting and bring quality candidates.
Using technology for high-volume recruiting
Utilizing recruiting software is crucial for success in
high-volume recruiting.
Video interviewing technology allows
recruiters to conduct remote interviews efficiently and at scale. With
high-volume recruiting, scheduling and coordinating in-person interviews can be
time-consuming and logistically challenging. Video interviews provide
flexibility for both recruiters and candidates, allowing them to participate
from anywhere at their convenience. Recruiters can review recorded interviews
at their own pace, facilitating faster candidate evaluation and
decision-making. Video interviewing technology helps streamline the screening
process, enabling recruiters to assess a large number of candidates effectively
and identify top talent quickly.
Game-based assessments enable recruiters to evaluate
candidates’ skills, problem-solving abilities, and aptitude for the role in a
practical and engaging manner. Assessing a high volume of candidates’ technical
capabilities can be time-consuming, but game-based assessments automate and
standardize the evaluation process. This helps recruiters identify candidates
with the right technical proficiency and select the most qualified individuals
for further consideration.
Conversational
AI technology helps recruiters screen candidates more
efficiently by automating initial screening conversations. Conversational AI
can ask candidates pre-defined questions and capture their responses. This
technology analyzes candidate responses, assessing factors such as
communication skills, cultural fit, and job-related knowledge. By automating
the initial screening process, recruiters can focus their efforts on engaging
with the most promising candidates, saving time and resources in high-volume
recruiting.
Coordinating interviews with a large number of
candidates can be a logistical challenge for recruiters in high-volume hiring.
Simplify the process by offering candidates the ability to self-schedule
interviews based on predefined time slots. This eliminates the back-and-forth
communication typically involved in scheduling interviews, saving recruiters
valuable time and reducing administrative burdens. Automated interview
scheduling helps streamline the process, ensuring a smoother experience for
both recruiters and candidates.
Structured interviews allow recruiters to standardize
the interview process and ensure consistency when assessing candidates. With
high-volume recruiting, conducting numerous interviews can make it challenging
to maintain a consistent evaluation approach. Structured interviews help
mitigate biases and ensure fairness by asking all candidates the same set of
standardized questions. This enables recruiters to make more objective
comparisons and identify top talent accurately.
About the Author:
By Natalie Dopp is the Chief People Officer at HireVue, the global leader in video
interviewing, assessments, and text-enabled recruiting solutions
Foodservice Solutions® team is here to
help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking
a customer ahead? Visit GrocerantGuru.com
for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue
you need to propel your continued success.
