6 Reasons Why Your Hiring Process Is Broken

Ask any industry leader about issues related to hiring, and they will tell you that there is a serious lack of qualified candidates to fill critical positions. However, the solution to the hiring process can be found much closer to the home turf. Yes, problems like a talent shortage and broken processes might scuttle your entire hiring strategy, but there are certain reasons behind this problem.

Here are the top 6 –

Your interview process is too transactional

According to an accomplished leader in the hiring business, most interview processes are nothing more than two parties trying to find a middle ground to achieve something. While one is trying to land a job, the other is trying to hire a good fit for the role. Here lies the problem. If the two parties set aside these descriptions, and instead try to build up a relationship, then the hiring process gets more human and puts both parties at ease. Instead of telling prospective employees that they are lucky to be interviewing, the focus needs to move towards highlighting the individual’s strengths and explaining the growth potential due to those skills in the company.

The skill assessments are going wrong

Hiring for technical roles can be tricky. It’s difficult to gauge whether a person is actually good at something their CV mentions. According to Vivek Ravisankar, CEO of HackerRank, sometimes there can be unconscious biases that can get into the hiring process like, ability, age, and race. A great way to do away with it is to create coding challenges, technical tests with peers, and pair programming.

Your job descriptions need to change

Discussions regarding required skill sets are at the very top of the recruiting funnel. Stating a long list of very specific skills will oftentimes deter most candidates. What matters more is the ability to learn quickly. Instead of saying “Skill Required”, consider changing it to “Recommended Skillset”. This way, candidates will be encouraged to apply. Also, always restrict bullet points to one-third of the post as you would want to describe the position in detail at this stage.

You have outsourced recruiting

A major culprit if you are facing problems in recruiting and hiring. If the entire HR process has been outsourced to a third-party, issues are bound to happen. The reason behind it is the fact that the company doesn’t belong to the recruitment agency. The vision will not be as clear as yours and will result in sub-standard candidates who aren’t a good fit for what you’re trying to build.

The keywords you are searching for are wrong

If your recruitment process begins with searches on platforms like LinkedIn, then probably the keywords you are punching in are wrong. If you’re looking for a web developer, and you are searching for a web designer, the candidates you get might not be the ones who would fit into the role. While one is technical, the other one’s pure design, so you might want to re-visit the keywords you’re using.

Your requirements change too frequently

A lot depends on whether you know what you exactly want. This is tied directly to every reason stated above and can have adverse effects throughout your recruitment and hiring process. A lot of candidates state that they get offers that require skill-sets they don’t have. This means Human Resources haven’t done their research properly. A quick fix to this would be to research what skills are required for a particular position, punch in those keywords, and reach out only to candidates who have it listed on their profile.

There you have it. Top 6 reasons as to why your hiring process is broken and how you can fix them. Most of these solutions are very simple and can be implemented in small and large organisations alike. So if you feel that the HR strategy in your company is broken, look out for these reasons, and implement the solutions immediately.