High-volume recruiting for the holiday season poses unique challenges for hiring teams surrounding tight timelines and large applicant pools. Overcoming these challenges requires strategic planning, effective utilization of technology and a focus on candidate experience. By implementing efficient processes, hiring teams can successfully navigate high-volume recruitment this holiday season.
1. Source Talent Through a Compelling Job Description.
Use concise language and bullet points to make the job description easily scannable, as candidates often have limited time to review each posting. Showcase the benefits of joining your team and paint a vivid picture of the work environment, and you’ll attract individuals who are not only qualified but also passionate about contributing to your organization’s success.
2. Promote Job Listings Through the Right Channels.
- Leverage online job boards and professional networking platforms that cater to your industry or target audience.
- Utilize the advanced search filters provided by these platforms to ensure your listings reach candidates with the desired qualifications and experience.
- Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to extend your reach and tap into passive job seekers.
- Engage with relevant industry groups and communities to generate interest and word-of-mouth referrals.
- Collaborate with local universities, trade schools and professional organizations to tap into their talent pools through job fairs, career events or targeted email campaigns.
3. Build a Robust Talent Pipeline.
By proactively engaging with potential candidates, recruiters can ensure a steady stream of qualified applicants when the need arises.
- Attending or hosting career fairs and industry-specific job expos can also help establish relationships with potential candidates.
- Building partnerships with universities, trade schools and vocational programs can provide access to emerging talent pools.
- Employee referral programs allow you to leverage the networks and connections of your existing employees, you tap into a trusted source of potential candidates who are more likely to align with your company’s culture and values.
4. Optimize Your Screening Process.
To achieve fast yet effective high-volume hiring, leverage applicant tracking systems (ATS) and other automation tools to streamline the screening and assessment process. These tools can help in sorting and filtering applications based on predefined criteria, such as skills, qualifications, and saving valuable time for hiring managers. Additionally, consider using online assessments and pre-employment tests to evaluate candidates efficiently and objectively. These assessments can provide valuable insights into a candidate’s abilities, knowledge and cultural fit, enabling hiring managers to make informed decisions more quickly and speed up the overall hiring process.
5. Use Technology for High-Volume Recruiting.
- Video interviewing technology allows recruiters to conduct remote interviews efficiently and at scale. With high-volume recruiting, scheduling and coordinating in-person interviews can be time-consuming and logistically challenging. Video interviews provide flexibility for both recruiters and candidates, allowing them to participate from anywhere at their convenience. Recruiters can review recorded interviews at their own pace, facilitating faster candidate evaluation and decision-making. Video interviewing technology helps streamline the screening process, enabling recruiters to assess a large number of candidates effectively and identify top talent quickly.
- Game-based assessments enable recruiters to evaluate candidates’ skills, problem-solving abilities, and aptitude for the role in a practical and engaging manner. Assessing a high volume of candidates’ technical capabilities can be time-consuming, but game-based assessments automate and standardize the evaluation process. This helps recruiters identify candidates with the right technical proficiency and select the most qualified individuals for further consideration.
- Conversational AI technology helps recruiters screen candidates more efficiently by automating initial screening conversations. Conversational AI can ask candidates pre-defined questions and capture their responses. This technology analyzes candidate responses, assessing factors such as communication skills, cultural fit and job-related knowledge. By automating the initial screening process, recruiters can focus their efforts on engaging with the most promising candidates, saving time and resources in high-volume recruiting.
6. Improve Your Onboarding Process.
Efficient onboarding is essential to ensure a smooth transition for new employees in high-volume hiring. To save time and ensure consistency, recruiters can prepare onboarding materials in advance. This includes employee handbooks, welcome packages and training materials. By providing these resources to new hires before their start date, they can familiarize themselves with company policies, procedures and expectations beforehand. This proactive approach allows recruiters to focus on personalized elements during onboarding while providing new employees with essential information to hit the ground running.
Natalie Dopp is the chief people officer at HireVue.