While 2023 is breeding more uncertainty, the war for talent remains a critical focus for most of my business owner clients.

This small project (less than one month, and an investment of just $10,000 from start to finish) won’t solve all your problems, but by reducing friction it makes the recruitment journey faster and easier for applicants and the internal managers responsible.

The Problem

With a target to grow headcount by 20% this calendar year, Alan could see his senior managers were struggling.

A series of recruiters had been tested, with largely mediocre results. Internal managers were clearly the best people to identify top candidates and woo them into joining his team, but he was reluctant to return to the old DIY solution:

• Applications being lost among multiple email addresses
• Slow response times from his team, that were off-putting to the best quality applicants
• Inconsistent processes that were difficult for some managers, placing responsibility on Alan to do multiple interviews
• An average lifecycle of almost 3 months from starting the process to welcoming the new recruit on board.

Our Solution

Alan wasn’t starting from scratch, so we proposed a solution that would work with what he already had – the current organisational structure and HR software.

This is a critical part to my business coaching philosophy: Be Practical. A perfect business solution poorly executed because change is hard … is far worse than a pretty good solution rapidly executed by a supportive team.

We proposed, designed, implemented, and trained a faster solution Alan’s people could actually use, building an end-to-end automated recruitment process saving time and money compared to sourcing new systems.

Now Alan’s senior managers:

• Have a library of job roles, with updated advertisement text that sounds amazing (and ranks for SEO)
• These roles are all live on his website, with a page slowly climbing towards the #1 Google position
• Applicants can apply 24/7 – either via job sites like Seek, when we’re actively recruiting, or directly via the website even when we are merely open to good candidates
• Applications are directly routed to the relevant manager, with role-specific screening questions also automated
• Managers can thus review CVs and screening questions – and disqualify mismatched candidates (including the polite, personalised response email) all in under 60 seconds
• All roles have templated phone screen questions and in-person interview questions drafted, allowing managers to spread the load with their teams while ensuring consistent standards are met.
• Once hired, with the click of a button the successful candidate and their file is exported into the Employee software – with the electronic employment contract and tax form information (plus some role specific requirements) emailed automatically and readily completed long before Day 1 begins.

Most importantly, this new process has been visually documented and trained to the whole management team.

The Outcome

The previous recruiter engaged was only able to put forward 1 (unsuitable) candidate for a key office role. Using the new system, the business received 107 applicants in 2 weeks, phone screened 8 people, and the senior manager interviewed and assessed the best 4 candidates.

Such was the quality that 2 of the candidates were offered positions, with the first able to commence less than 3 weeks (not 3 months) after the job was advertised.

For less than the cost of using a recruiter once, Alan’s company now has a system they can leverage – and he can successfully move more responsibility onto senior managers, or even potential future recruitment agencies.

Would You Benefit from Alan’s experience?

How is your Recruitment process? Want to learn more about whether this project could benefit you?

Then pick up the phone, and let’s chat +61 427 151 181.