While the pandemic might feel like it’s “over,” if you are responsible for any aspect of recruiting then my guess is you still are feeling the ramifications of the “Great Resignation” or “The Big Quit.” As an HR Consultant, I work with companies to source talent, fill mission-critical positions, and identify the unicorns in the sea of candidates. This has always been challenging. But in 2022, after 20+ years in HR, I can honestly say this is the most challenging time in the recruiting world that I’ve experienced. Here’s why:
- Candidates I speak with during an initial phone screen are so excited about the opportunity, appearing to be the perfect fit…and then the following scenarios happen:
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- The candidates ghost the next round of interviews. They literally don’t appear for their in-person or virtual interview. My mind still cannot comprehend this as it was so infrequent in the past. Now, it’s almost a common experience for every role I try to fill. These are not just for entry-level positions, as you may expect. This is for mid-senior level roles as well.
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- In the initial interview, the candidate is polite and everything goes great. Then, during a text or email exchange, they change their tone and become rude – true colors are showing more quickly than ever now. Perhaps this isn’t a bad thing, that we’re identifying potential red flags sooner in the process – it’s just unusual, and candidate behavior is showing up differently these days.
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- 4 hours after your initial interview, you hear from the candidate, and they let you know they’re accepting another job for which they were interviewing. The demand for the “unicorn candidates” is like none other, and if you aren’t able to quickly move the candidate through the recruiting process with your company, you’re likely to lose them – and not just in a matter of days, in hours.
- How do we solve this challenge?
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- Change up your interview process! What has worked for your company for the last decade is not likely to work in this recruiting era. Here are a few ideas:
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- Ask the candidate what values are important to them to find in an organization.
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- Offer them the opportunity to interview you and members of your team.
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- Rethink job requirements. Unfortunately, many candidate screening systems are designed to parse resumes for keywords and related experience, then push the best matches to the top of the list. While this automation creates efficiencies for the talent acquisition team, it now means that many high-achieving and fully capable candidates are going unnoticed.
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- Identify any bottlenecks in your recruiting process that impact your ability to move the candidate quickly through the interview process.
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To learn more about these strategies, and how to overcome these recruiting challenges, visit my course, Recruiting During the Great Resignation.
