Are you hitting a brick wall with your recruitment efforts? Struggling to land quality candidates to fill urgent vacancies? Chances are, you’re dealing with recruitment bottlenecks. A bugbear for many businesses, bottlenecks can quickly take their toll on talent acquisition efforts and considerably slow down the hiring process. However, once you’ve identified your pain points, they’re relatively easy to resolve.
What is a recruitment bottleneck?
Recruitment bottlenecks include any inefficiency in your recruitment strategy that impacts the hiring process. They can occur at any point in the hiring workflow, from the creation of a job description to the screening of qualified candidates and managing the interview process.
Every bottleneck brings with it negative consequences. By not being able to recruit the right talent in a timely manner, companies can miss out on lucrative growth opportunities. Out of desperation, some businesses may opt to fill key roles with people who aren’t really suitable.
The reality is, it’s a jobseeker’s market, with the most desirable candidates being snapped up within a week or two. If your recruitment process is plagued with bottlenecks, you don’t stand a chance of enticing these would-be employees to your organisation.
Most common recruitment bottlenecks and the best solutions
Have bottlenecks brought your recruitment process to a standstill? Perhaps you’re still unsure about where the problem actually lies. Below, we explore some of the most common recruitment bottlenecks faced by businesses, along with some simple fixes to speed up your time-to-hire.
Unrealistic expectations from hiring managers
It’s all well and good setting the bar high, but unrealistic expectations can be a major obstacle to talent acquisition. There’s often conflict between hiring managers and recruiters, with the former usually being the one who’s overly critical of potential candidates. This can significantly slow down the hiring process and impact productivity. To avoid this bottleneck, be upfront with hiring managers about what’s expected from them, as well as candidates.
You’re waiting for a dream candidate that doesn’t exist
You might fantasise about finding the perfect team member during the recruitment process, but these candidates rarely exist. Too many businesses turn away plenty of suitable applicants in the hunt for a dream candidate, putting a considerable drain on resources as they do. This bottleneck can be resolved by establishing the essential skills a suitable applicant needs to have. With these confirmed, you can then draw up a list of desirable qualities to help narrow down your search.
Too many people are involved in the recruitment process
Having too many people involved in the recruitment process can create problems. It can slow down the creation of job descriptions and the early stages of the screening process. However, it becomes a major issue once you’ve arrived at the interview stage. Avoid the urge to overstuff interview panels with people who aren’t relevant to the role to break this bottleneck.
An ideal candidate refuses a job offer
There’s nothing worse than spending time and resources on recruitment, only to have an ideal candidate reject a job offer at the final hurdle. Fortunately, this bottleneck is easily resolved. Transparency is key to the candidate and recruiter relationship, so ensure you’re being upfront about the role and company culture at every point. Maintaining open lines of communication is also important. Any hesitation in responding to questions from candidates can increase the odds of a rejected job offer.
You’re swamped by applications
Being flooded with responses for an urgent job vacancy can seem reassuring. However, sifting through a mountain of applications is no easy task. What’s more, there’s no guarantee any of those applications are going to be relevant if a job description has failed to capture the key requirements of the role. Resolve this bottleneck by using filtering questions to ensure only the most qualified candidates actually apply for a position.
Outdated job descriptions
Don’t fall into the trap of turning to generic job descriptions whenever a vacancy becomes available. While job titles themselves rarely change, role requirements are in a constant state of flux. Many companies fail to update job descriptions accordingly, which can complicate the recruitment process and lead to an influx of applications from unsuitable candidates.
To sidestep this bottleneck, make a point of reviewing job descriptions against actual duties every time you come to recruit. This way, you’ll ensure candidate experience actually matches up with the role you’re advertising. And in case you need some inspiration, here you can find dozens of job description templates.
You’re not being flexible enough
The way we work is changing. A large number of businesses have embraced a hybrid model of working. Others have shifted to a remote-first model. It’s not unusual for jobseekers to expect some degree of flexibility when looking for a new position. To widen the net and snare the best candidates, consider how your business stands to benefit from moving away from a more traditional working model.
Likewise, prepare to negotiate salary and benefits with the most desirable candidates. Determine what the market rate is for the role you’re advertising, then decide how much you’re prepared to spend to secure the best person for the job. This way, you can respond quickly with a counteroffer, rather than leave a candidate hanging as you attempt to secure a higher starting salary.
Delays caused by external factors
Even if you’ve managed to identify a suitable candidate quickly and they’ve accepted the job, bottlenecks can still happen. Many jobs require additional screening, while reference checks are a staple of every recruitment process. To avoid delays, ensure you’re making it as easy as possible for referees to contact you. If you’re working on a tight timeline, consider asking candidates to grease the wheels by reaching out to referees so they can respond as promptly as possible.
How a recruitment software can help you solve these recruitment bottlenecks
While you can attempt to resolve hiring bottlenecks one by one, you can make life much easier by investing in recruitment software. With a solution like Teamdash, you have all the tools you need to perfect the recruitment process and make bottlenecks a thing of the past.
Offering far more than the standard applicant tracking system, Teamdash automates all those menial admin tasks, freeing up recruiters to focus on more important matters. You can create message templates for every step of the application process, from rejection emails for unsuccessful candidates to interview invitations for the most qualified applicants. Just about every aspect of the hiring workflow can be automated with Teamdash, with automated interview scheduling helping lighten the load during busy recruitment drives.
Fed up with being inundated with CVs from unsuitable applicants? Teamdash lets you create compelling job ads every time a position becomes available. What’s more, you can appeal to the savviest jobseekers by refining your careers page and broadening your reach by integrating with more job boards than ever before. To help you streamline the screening process, Teamdash also lets you create custom application forms.
Eager to see how Teamdash can help you break through those recruitment bottlenecks? Why not arrange a demo today?
