Katherine Wiid of Career Ambitions writes:
As a hiring manager, you are in charge of representing your company brand to every candidate who sends in their CV, sends you an email or walks through the door. You are there to market the company, and to make sure that it’s a place that top talent wants to work.
Company reputation is often at the forefront of our minds when we’re meeting new candidates. But how often is your own personal reputation?
Recruiting isn’t just a reflection on the company’s employer brand, it’s a reflection on you.
So often I hear the clients I coach complaining about the recruitment process. They’ve spent hours on their CV, researching the employer and writing personalised covering letters, only to send it off and never hear a word back. No acknowledgment, no feedback, nothing.
Firstly, that’s just plain rude. How would you feel if you put hours of work in to never even receive a polite ‘no thank you’? For candidates, the recruitment process can be draining and radio silence doesn’t help.
There is no excuse for this in today’s highly sophisticated, automated world. How hard would it be to set up some sort of auto responder to say (at the very least) yes or no? In an ideal world, you would go further than this, and explain to applicants why It’s a yes or no. This adds value, and even if you’re rejecting an application, the candidate will go away with something of value. And that reflects well not just on your company’s employer brand, but also on your own recruiting reputation!
It’s worth investing those five minutes to ensure that you give every candidate the best possible experience you can – and leave them saying only good things about both you personally and the company you represent.
The second most common complaint I get from candidates is the length of time that job applications stay open.
This puts them in limbo land! With no closing date, candidates are left unsure whether you’re still hiring and when they might expect a response (or more likely, no response at all). If the job advert has been live for a while, candidates start wondering why you’ve not found anyone yet – what’s wrong with the job / company / you the hiring manager? Why would they want to work for you? Uncertainty can allow doubt to creep in and put off candidates who might have been great.
When you’re recruiting, think about your company’s recruitment reputation, but also your own.
Your career brand is built up over time, and should be a reflection of who you are professionally. Are you proud of yours?
If you do it right, your career brand will not only help your own career but also your company’s recruitment reputation. A strong career brand will pull people towards you. So that you don’t need to sell the job so hard. It’s just about marketing yourself in the right way.
With this marketing rather than selling approach, you’ll find that top talent is drawn towards you, rather than you having to actively seek out the best candidates when your company is hiring. You’ll also be able to keep in touch with the job market, find out who is hiring, who they are hiring, and when the best people are looking for new opportunities. Not only will this develop your company’s recruitment reputation, but your own too.
Give candidates the time they deserve.
Remember, you were a candidate once! And you might well be one again. Take a few moments to explain why a candidate was successful / unsuccessful. It doesn’t just reflect positively on your company’s employer brand, but on your own recruiting reputation too…