Having a strong, streamlined recruitment process is a great way to save your business time and money.

Does it feel like you are caught in the endless cycle of hiring? If so, it may be time to reevaluate your recruitment methods. Many businesses are unaware of the amount of time and money it actually takes to attract and hire the top talent the first time around, which is why we would like to share with you the importance of getting the recruitment process RIGHT the first time, as well as some tips on how you can improve your business' recruitment process.
Why is it important?
Did you know that on average, employers spend a minimum of $4000 to find an employee? This is only a reflection of the financial costs, and does not include the time and effort necessary during the hiring process, which requires both effort and money to avoid wasting payroll or losing sales. In fact, hiring the most qualified people can actually save you money! Having committed and quality employees from the beginning of onboarding means that they will be able to get started and make valuable contributions sooner than if you spend time going through the recruitment process again after making the wrong hiring decision. To elaborate, a wrong hire can take up to 70% more time than a member that contributes a better performance. In addition, it is also unbeneficial for your company to leave a position unfilled, because of the revenue loss that your company will experience, since an employee on average could bring 1 to 3 times more revenue than their annual salary to the business depending on their role and purpose. However, it is useful to keep in mind that it could take up to five or six months for an employee to achieve full productivity and ability to gain profit for the company, which emphasizes the importance of recruiting top talent right from the start.
Now that you are aware of the importance of hiring the right employee, you may be wondering, “how do I accomplish that?” To help you answer that question, we will be outlining some tips and tricks on how to improve your business’ recruitment process in order to achieve the maximum potential for attracting and hiring top talent.
Employer Branding
According to a survey conducted by LinkedIn, 75% of candidates research a company’s reputation before applying for the job opening. This is why it is crucial for your business to have effective branding through your online image. This can be done through:
Establishing a strong social media presence: Social media platforms, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, are an extremely popular medium to be used as a recruitment tool, as it reaches a broad audience made up of Millennials and Gen Z workers who are of great value for the job and employment market. If your business emphasizes its company culture through its online brand, it will increase your credibility and initiate meaningful conversations amongst your target market.
Highlighting employee’s personal experiences: It is also beneficial to use platforms such as Glassdoor or LinkedIn, as well as other sources to highlight current and past employee personal experiences since candidates tend to trust the employee experience 3x more than the company itself. Employees’ advocacy is crucial for branding and recruitment efforts as their opinions are perceived as more reliable to the public than that of the employer. Their ability of employee experience to humanize the brand when candidates are doing their research on your company is extremely beneficial to attracting quality employees.
Including Salary Range
LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2019 report reveals that 27% of the companies currently share salary ranges with employees and candidates. This shows that companies are aware of how valuable an asset it is to be transparent with the offered salary for the recruitment process. Transparency about salary range is an extremely useful tool because:
Millennials value transparency: Millennials, who will make up about 75% of the workforce by 2025, value transparency about financial opportunities in job postings much more than the older generations.
It gives your business a competitive advantage: Sharing the salary range will also allow your company to stand out from the pack as top candidates have a tendency to be selective in their job search. Therefore, being upfront and honest about the position details will give your business a competitive advantage.
There are increasing trends towards more transparency in the hiring process: Ontario passed a legislation called the Pay Transparency Act in 2018, and even though it has not yet been fully implemented, many businesses have prioritized including it in their hiring practices. If you would like to learn more about this, please visit our previous blog post on “How to Find and Hire the Right Employees.”
Sourcing Passive Candidates
Candidate sourcing is an important recruitment method that involves proactively searching and engaging qualified talent to fill current or future empty positions. Sourcing passive candidates is advantageous because:
It opens up the doors to a new and extensive talent pool and reaches passive candidates who otherwise would not have applied.
It allows your business to act as a funnel to initiate conversations with top-qualified talent that suit your business’ needs and requirements.
Sourced candidates are more than 2x as efficient as the candidates that apply without being sourced. As the graph shows, on average, 1 in every 72 candidates that are sourced are successfully hired, which is much more impressive than the 1 in every 152 ratio for general applicants.

Conducting Assessments
Conducting different types of assessments is a valuable tool for recruiters because it showcases the specific skills of the candidate for ease of ensuring that they are the correct fit for the position. Employers that use assessments see:
Higher productivity,
Increased employee retention;
and improved efficiency amongst their workforce
However, before choosing these tests, employers should decide the types of skills they want in an employee and then designate the best way to test them. It is recommended to conduct some research to see what assessments other companies in your industry use to gauge the skill set that their candidates have. Some of the most common types of assessments include:
Job knowledge tests
Integrity tests
Emotional (EQ) tests
Personality tests
Cognitive ability tests
Skills assessment tests
Physical ability tests
So, Are You Ready to Improve Your Hiring Process?
These tips that we have shared with you are only a snapshot of ways to improve your business’ recruitment process. It is important to remember the value of putting sufficient effort into this process to ensure that you do not hire the wrong candidate for the position as that will cost your business time and money.
We offer recruitment services for employers to help you achieve your hiring goals! Please contact us at info@lightninghr.ca to learn more and let us help you find the right candidate!
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