Don’t leave all the cleaning for the homestead. Your office and your hiring process probably need just as much spring cleaning as your garage or grout. So this spring, as the weather heats up, it might be time to re-organize your hiring processes so you end up with the coolest new employees.
Evaluate Your Hiring Needs
The first step to better, more organized hiring is to evaluate where you currently are with your hiring process. It’s time to ask yourself some important questions, and don’t pull any punches with your answers. For instance:
Where is the company heading? Where will you be by next spring? What personality attributes, experience, and skills do you need to look for in potential employees? What have been your biggest hiring mistakes? What can you learn from them? What are the major inefficiencies of your current hiring process? What’s great about your company culture? What isn’t?
Once you’ve answered these tough questions, you’ll be in a better position to see where your current hiring process stands. After all, you won’t know what changes need to be implemented until you’re familiar with the challenges and problem areas of your current situation.
Spring Clean Your Job Descriptions
Hopefully you now have a better sense of your company’s big picture hiring challenges, which means it’s time to focus. And what better place to start than the place all your applicants do, with the job description? The job description is the entryway into the world of your company, the position, and your organization culture in general. Make sure your job descriptions include keywords your ideal candidate will be searching for, so the right people stumble upon your jobs. Great job descriptions will be more than just a listing of relevant skills and experience needed. Great descriptions will give candidates a good idea of what life is like at your company and why they should be excited to work for you. Be tailored and specific in the description of the job function, but don’t be afraid to share the flavor of your company culture.
Cut Out The Hiring Clutter
Spring cleaning is all about getting rid of what you no longer need. So look critically at what is bogging down and cluttering your current hiring process. Here’s one thing you can ditch: the phone screen. Phone screens are inefficient and time-consuming. On average, they take about 30 minutes, yet most seasoned hiring managers will know within the first 90 seconds if a candidate is all wrong for the position. In the phrase “out with the old and in with the new” you’re not just getting rid of something, you’re embracing new innovations. If you replace the old school phone interview with a video interview, you can save yourself precious time and embrace new technology. In a one-way video interview, candidates answer the written questions submitted by employers on video. If you get a few seconds into a video answer and know the candidate is all wrong for the job, there’s no problem. Now you can skip the other 29 minutes on the phone and proceed directly to the next candidate.
File It Away
Now that you’ve decluttered your hiring process, it’s time to declutter your physical surroundings as well. Your hiring process should be just as lean and efficient as your surroundings. It’s hard to concentrate in chaos, after all, so don’t just throw another resume on top of your overflowing pile. Divide your important papers into subsections, create files for each, and put these files in a place you can easily access. Consider using a color code system so you can quickly and intuitively determine where important information should be housed. This way, in six months you’re not desperately trying to read your own cramped handwriting on a label.
Clean Your Desk
Get ready to feel gross: the average office desk has approximately 10 billion bacteria living on the surface. Think that’s bad? The average desk actually has 100 times more bacteria than a kitchen table and — this is where things get really bad– 400 times more than the average toilet seat. Eww! Make sure to thoroughly scrub your desk and then set up a schedule to disinfect your space regularly. Nothing sets back productivity more than time out due to illness or losing concentration due to ill health. Fight those germs by keeping your office space bacteria-free.
Don’t Rely on Your Memory
Our memories aren’t half as good as we think they are. Instead of relying on your noggin to remember whether you sent a candidate an interview invitation or an email response, set up automatic reminders. Most email systems and applicant management systems will allow you to set up a task list or even push reminder notifications to your mobile phone. This spring, while the flowers are blooming, it’s time to give your hiring process a brand new start. Follow these easy organization tips, and you’ll find the best people more efficiently than ever before. What are some ways you plan to spring clean your hiring process? Share in the comments!
