Hiring the right people is one of the most critical decisions a company can make, but attracting and retaining top talent is easier said than done for your hiring strategy.
Here are four key ways to strengthen your talent acquisition and retention strategy. These will help you avoid common hiring pitfalls, build a more dynamic team, and become a company that great people want to work for.
What Are the Most Common Problems Recruiters Face?
Recruiters don’t have an easy job, and their success is crucial for their organization’s overall advancement. Here are four of the most common problems in talent acquisition strategies, and recruitment advice for employers.
1. Good Interview, but a Bad Fit
One of the biggest problems with an interview process is that it requires a very specific set of skills. Traditional interviews favor charismatic people, great speakers, and people who can effectively sell their skill set.
While those people skills come in handy while communicating in the workplace, it’s possible for a less-than-ideal candidate to charm their way into a position without the necessary skills to back it up.
The Solution: Conduct Multiple Interviews with Different People
Candidates should be interviewed by a range of positions and personalities as part of an organization’s talent acquisition strategy. For example, a candidate could do a phone interview with the hiring manager as the first point of contact and then have another call with their potential manager.
After that, a final, in-person interview with key members of their team can give you a chance to see how they’ll interact with their coworkers. You can add or subtract interviews based on your timeline and your organization's needs, but make sure multiple people contribute insights to the decision-making process.
2. Unconscious Bias Influencing Decisions
Self-aware people know that they have a set of internal biases, no matter how hard they try to be neutral. It’s simply human nature, and hiring managers are no exception to this. People also tend to like those who are similar to them, but that approach is how you get an office full of people with the same personality, which creates a vacuum of diverse thought.
You need an established process to test the behavior, skills, and communication style of every candidate, every time, in the same way. This allows you to reduce bias and get the same information in a consistent and easy-to-understand way.
The Solution: Utilize Assessment Results, Every Time
The beauty of using assessments as a key part of your hiring process is that they will give you measurements of insights you didn’t know you needed, as well as the language to share that understanding.
Instead of relying on gut feelings to make decisions, your hiring team can utilize tools built to understand candidates beyond the interview. You can learn about their behavioral style, emotional intelligence, workplace skills, and more through assessments. The best part? This process is repeatable, helping avoid bias between candidates and throughout the hiring process.
3. In-Demand Candidates Have Several Offers at Once
In every kind of job market, the best candidates will be in high demand.
According to SHRM, 76% of organizations struggle to find qualified candidates.
Finding someone with both hard skills and soft skills who has the necessary experience to succeed in your open role isn’t easy.
The Solution: Focus on Creating an Excellent Company Culture
The solution to attracting top talent is to create an undeniable company culture. If you focus on employee development, benefits, established company values, brand recognition, and great communication, the talent will seek you out.
When you have a rich, established company culture, you become a destination, not just a pitstop.
4. Hard to Fill Roles
All of these hiring problems only intensify when trying to fill a position that requires special skills.
If you’re looking for an individual with a unique skillset, you’ll have to look hard while your competitors do the same. In the meantime, that position can go unfilled for weeks or months.
The Solution: Work with a Recruiter
It’s crucial for businesses to know exactly when to bring in a professional to help them fill the gaps in skill and knowledge on their existing team.
Searching for an ideal, unique candidate requires a lot of effort and time that your HR department and hiring manager might not have. Outsource the search and enjoy the results—and make sure your recruiter is using trusted, validated tools to find the right fit.
Strengthening your hiring strategy isn’t just about filling roles—it’s about building a team that will drive your company’s success long-term. By addressing common challenges like interview misfires, unconscious bias, competitive job markets, and hard-to-fill roles, you can create a more consistent, fair, and effective hiring process.
If you want to harness the power of assessments in your hiring process, TTI can help. Contact us here to get started.
