How To Improve Quality Of Hire In 4 Simple Steps

Defining talent: Shaping future leaders for success

As the world of work continues to evolve, forward-thinking leaders are grappling with what to expect next and how to strengthen their teams in the meantime. Luckily, the Top Employers World of Work Trends Report provides three impactful trends employers can look to as a guiding light for implementing people practices into their hiring.

There's a reason why we often hear that employees are the most valuable asset of any company. No matter how advanced your products, services, and techniques might be, you can only achieve success with the right people in the right roles. Unfortunately, recruiting, interviewing, and screening candidates can be a long and challenging process. Even worse, even if you get to the top of the talent pool, you might struggle to offer a personalized and engaging candidate experience.

Here we’ll break down each trend to help employers perfect their hiring approach and stand out from the crowd when it comes to recruiting top-tier talent.

Step 1: Define the Talent You're Looking for

As we look ahead to the future, the roles of leaders will be vastly different. This is partly due to the rapid pace of technological advancements and the resulting impact on industries of all kinds. For leaders to be successful in this new landscape, they must possess a new set of strategic skills. Specifically, they must be able to understand the pulse of their organization and adjust their methods accordingly. Strategic leaders are already considering long-term goals, which start with the right talent.
 
Before you start reaching out to candidates, it's important to define what skills you're looking for in a role to help your team reach future goals. Start with a job description that's detailed and comprehensive. This will help you eliminate those that aren't qualified and find those that best match the position that you're hoping to fill. While experience and qualifications matter, it's also important to consider soft skills, such as motivation, drive, and teamwork. These traits can help you find the best candidate who will fit your company culture.

Step 2: Attract the Right Candidates

Searching for candidates proactively and leveraging new social spaces and platforms is a necessary but daunting hurdle for top employers. Along with turning over new stones and testing new platforms, your employer brand should speak volumes on your behalf. 

Along with perfecting your organization’s social media and career pages, ensure you’re aware of the discussions happening on websites like Glassdoor and other platforms. When you’re aware of how candidates and employees perceive your application and interview processes, you can better identify what’s working with your brand and what’s working against it. 

Step 3: Create a Personalized Candidate Experience

The worst thing for any interviewee is to feel as though they're just a number: faceless and interviewed en masse. Job seekers today are looking for a personalized candidate experience, so considering more personalization can help you improve your brand and stand out from the crowd. Top Employer organizations offer a wide range of resources to empower and uplift their employees. These business leaders understand that personalization is essential for well-being and that each individual’s needs require individual solutions.

To set the tone of a personalized employee experience, which is a priority for top employers in 2023, start during the interview process. Organizations should extend their range of personalized offerings through communication preferences, interview preferences, and updates throughout the process. 

Well-being also becomes more prominent in individual conversations ahead of a job offer, where leaders should discuss ideal work design and tailored technical support for career development, work-life balance, and health benefits.

Step 4: Prioritize Communication

From start to finish, it’s vital to remember that communication is key. Be sure to prioritize clear, consistent communication that can keep candidates in the loop about what's happening throughout the recruiting process and beyond. Keep in touch with candidates between the various interview rounds, and make sure that you're communicating the right expectations. The more transparent and honest you are during the interviewing process, the more you're likely to win in terms of both employee loyalty and satisfaction.

Finally, remember that the hiring process doesn't end when the interview is over. Prioritizing candidate personalization requires a follow-up with people who you don't end up hiring as much as those you do. Writing personalized, professional follow-up emails can leave a positive impression on an interviewee, even if they didn't get the job. These small touches not only reflect well on your brand but can also help to improve your future recruiting processes.

Final Thoughts

Recruiting top talent is undoubtedly a competitive space, but with the right approach, it can be a rewarding experience that leads to a stronger, more successful company. At the heart of this process is a commitment to engaging with people in a personalized and respectful way. By using the tips above, employers can create an environment that fosters trust, positive relationships, and, ultimately, the recruitment of the best talent for their open positions. So don't wait, start incorporating these strategies into your hiring practices today!

To get a more in-depth view of competitive trends in the workplace and their implications on personalizing employee experiences, take a look at our World of Work Trends Report 2023, where we elaborate on these topics and more.

With over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition, Trevor Bogan serves as the Regional Director of the Americas at Top Employers Institute.