In today’s competitive world, every individual is pushed into this endless employment race. Some are pushed by constant peer pressure, others by their needs, and some by the hope of achieving more than just a job. There are numerous skilled individuals and a variety of job opportunities available yet a constant challenge remains such as a mismatch in job-market alignment. Often, this problem becomes evident when companies evaluate the skills matrix. A question may come to mind, “How are such skilled individuals not able to find the right job?”. The answer consists of various factors one of the main ones being the poor recruitment process by organizations. Today, we will explore the challenges faced by job seekers and ways organizations can address common loopholes in their recruitment process.

The Struggles in the Job Market

Before getting into organizations’ recruitment processes and their impact, it is important to understand the basic factors that contribute to the challenges faced by both job seekers and employees. After going through various tests and competitions in their academic journey, an individual finally makes it through ready to enter the job market. This is when the search starts. The first phase they go through is to do an extensive job search where they go through job posts after posts, advertisements, and much more. They must prepare their CVs, craft cover letters for each unique job post, and submit them with the hope of receiving a final call or email. Job seekers have to face the uncertainty of the job market which often includes experiencing anxiety and nervousness. During these times, organizations should ensure their recruitment process, which job seekers anticipate, is transparent, supportive, and creates a positive candidate experience. If organizations fail to provide an efficient recruitment process to candidates, both job seekers and employees continue to struggle ahead as a result of a mismatch of skills with the job. We will be exploring more details ahead.

Common Problems in Recruitment Processes

But, in doing so, there are many factors they overlook that set the stage for various arising problems ahead i.e. an efficient recruitment process. The recruitment process should be transparent and designed in such a way that it is fair to and supports all the candidates that may become a part of it. Only through this efficient system can companies witness a positive output on the skills matrix. To find a solution, we must dive deeper into the problem and this is what we will be doing ahead. Let’s look into some of the common problems in recruitment processes and how organizations can solve them.

Poor Job Descriptions

One of the most essential parts of the process of finding a job is reviewing the job descriptions. Job seekers do extensive job research as the first step in finding a job for themselves. But, when there are job posts put up by organizations that are too generic, lack the details and specifications of job requirements, and fail to convey clearly what the organization is looking for, job seekers tend to turn away. Poor and unclear job descriptions are one of the reasons for the misalignment of required individuals and the candidates that apply for the jobs and overall the inefficient recruitment process. Job descriptions should be clear, straightforward, adequately detailed, and contain not misleading. Organizations should ensure that when they post a job description, they choose the most relevant job title for it. In the descriptions, they should ensure the job purpose, responsibilities, and educational requirements are mentioned. It should also include the working conditions and additional or compulsory skills or qualification requirements. They should ensure that it includes all components a job seeker might potentially want to know about. It can include a company overview where the organization paints an honest and clear picture of the company. Optionally, they may include salary and employee benefits details as well.

Unnecessarily Long Applications

Some organizations create excessively long job applications, leading potential or ideal candidates to abandon the process out of frustration. While organizations should gather necessary information about the candidate and their skills, unnecessary or repetitive questions in applications can discourage candidates. A person may decide to start filling out an application but find repeated or irrelevant questions including questions about work unrelated to the job as well as extensive open-ended questions. They may also find the application format complicated, coupled with the requirement for extensive documents. In some cases, they may find questions that may be too personal and irrelevant to the job. All of these factors can raise questions in the job seeker’s mind and eventually push him to click away to a different job post. Job applications should adopt a simplified format with direct and non-repeating questions. They should ask for only the information and documents which is relevant to the job, avoiding redundant inquiries. A user-friendly and straightforward approach to the job applications encourages candidates to not only fill out the applications but also have a good experience applying to your esteemed organization. Job applications do create an impression of your company on the candidates.

Poor Communication with Candidates

Job applications and posts are two of the many ways to communicate with candidates. Therefore, organizations should ensure that they are efficiently carried out. Other ways organizations communicate with candidates are through direct emails, phone calls, and Updates on their websites. Failure to efficiently relay their message to them through any of these is a failure to provide a positive candidate experience. Poor communication with candidates includes delayed responses to emails about any inquiries regarding the job, delayed updates on job posts and application status, and lack of feedback after interviews. If a candidate is interested in a company’s job position and has queries that have not been addressed through the post or website, they would expect you to address them through direct contact, i.e., email or phone. The longer the company delays the response, the more disengaged the candidate becomes before finally turning away. Similarly, lack of updated information on the company’s website can push potential candidates away. Organizations must keep their websites updated and provide the latest news about their open job positions and relevant details. Similarly, companies should be more open to and adapt the latest technological tools to help them streamline their recruitment processes. Companies must ensure that regular updates are given to candidates after they submit their applications as well as an immediate acknowledgement of application. They should provide them with ways candidates can inquire about their applications as well as receive constructive feedback.

Conclusion

Organizations need to play their part in making the job hunting and applying process of job seekers easier by ensuring that their recruitment processes are clear and supportive. An efficient recruitment process is beneficiary for the company, job seekers, and employees. A proper, unbiased, fair, and transparent recruitment process allows companies to present themselves in a good light, provide positive candidate experience, support job seekers in their job hunting journey, and ensure that the candidates that will be future employees are doing a job that aligns with their skill set. It is high time that companies take these steps to improve their employee recruitment process to create a competitive work environment and increase productivity.