Hiring is one of the most crucial decisions that any firm has to make. It has to be strategically planned, curated and executed so that it addresses all the needs and demands of the firm. Making the right hiring strategy and aligning it with the business’s long-term strategy is of utmost importance. For hiring the perfect fit for the company, a common matrix needs to be decided for assessing all the candidates, and a large applicant pool must be there to choose from, but nowadays many sectors are suffering from a shortage of applicants, and there are various reasons for the short-supply of talent amidst the rising demand. So, let us explore some of the reason why the firms are suffering from a shortage of applicants and what is the correct hiring decision process that the firm must undertake.

Shortage of applicants – The new dilemma

A new and disturbing trend emerging in the market is that finding quality candidates for job positions is taking a huge time, and there is a shortage of applicants for job positions. The landscape is changing due to several social and economic factors. Job openings are there in the market, but skilled people are not available who can take up the role. There is a skill gap that is widening. Many companies also have an outdated recruitment strategy that needs to be polished and radicalized. A serious problem that needs to be looked after, let us look at some of the reasons for the same.

What are the reasons for the Shortage of applicants?

• A talent shortage: A required talent for the job opening is scarce, and most of the people lack the technical skills required for the job.

• Rapid innovation: With rapid innovation, more and more people are finding it difficult to adapt to the changing requirements and thus lack the skills.

• The millennial challenge: This generation finds it easy to job hop, and thus no candidate sticks at the job long enough, and there is a perpetual need for candidates to fill up the positions.

• The lower brand image of the firm: One of the reasons might be that the company has a lesser-identified brand image, and the job advertisement is not reaching many people.

• Candidates lack experience: Companies need an experienced candidate, and people are with no experience, such an odd combination!

• Increased competition amongst firms: Nowadays, firms compete with one another to hire the best talent, and some might win, some might lose! So, there is a shortage of skilful applicants.

• Presence of culture “quirks”: Some companies might have some characteristics in their work culture, which makes it difficult for the new hires to gel up with. Thus, retention rates for these firms are quite high.

• Outdated recruitment strategy: Being out there on social media, in the eyes of job searcher, makes the company more visible rather than using the age-old method of using job listings in newspapers.

So, owing to the above facts, many firms are facing a shortage of applications on their job listings. The major problem that the companies can handle from their side is having a great hiring decision process ready that is more according to today’s tech-savvy world and improving their brand name in the process so that more candidates want to apply for the position.

What is a hiring decision process?

An efficient hiring decision process is the step-by-side guide for an organization for identifying the needs of the firm, searching from the talent pool, interviewing the candidates and finally hiring the perfect fit who is also the most qualified for the organization. Most companies, regardless of their size, have a well-thought-of and panned hiring process already in place. Every hiring process has the same basic steps required for hiring, which the company can customize according to their needs and the industry they are in. So, to make the correct hiring decision, a comprehensive step by step guide must be followed.

What are the different steps in a hiring process?

As already discussed, the hiring decision is a carefully laid out, step by step approach, which every form needs to follow for efficient hiring. So, the steps are as follows:

STEP 1: Need Identification for hiring

The hiring process begins with the identification of the need to increase the workforce either for filling up a new position or better manage the workload or expanding the organization. The key is to identify the kind of job role that needs to be filled and finding the appropriate candidate.

STEP 2: Make a recruitment plan

An essential step of the recruitment process is to devise the entire process, provide clear instructions to all the people involved in the hiring process about their roles, employees who will provide input, employees who will select the candidate. This step also involves how to make a clear job description, advertising the opening, reviewing applications, the process of taking the interviews and the final hiring.

STEP 3:  Making a clear job description

A job description includes job requirements, qualifications required, characteristics and the required experience for the specific job role.

STEP 4: Advertising the job opening

Advertise the job opening to the employees so that the position can be filled by internal hiring or publicize it on social media and various job sites so that external hiring can be done.

STEP 5: Reviewing of applications

The next step is reviewing all the applicants to eliminate all the candidates who do not fit the minimum requirement criteria, which can be done either by an ATS or manually by the team. Then the candidates are decided upon whose interview is to be taken.

STEP 6: Initial screening of the candidates

If the applicant pool is large, only the interview round won’t be possible for so many people. So, there must be some initial screening of the candidates, which serves as the elimination round for non-suitable candidates. This round may also have a phone interview round, where the candidates are interviewed to make sure that they align with the company’s values and to choose the candidates for the final round of interview.

STEP 7: Final interviews

Depending upon the company’s needs, there can be multiple rounds of interviews. Early interviews are generally based on the person’s skills, knowledge and work history. The next round of interviews can be group interviews which can be more in-depth or with team members to see how the dynamics between them will be. There can be more round of interviews with the specialist of that field, and the final round of interviews can be with the senior leadership team or the HR round, which is offered to a very small pool of candidates.

After all these steps, the hiring team must undergo some final steps to come to a final hiring decision. These steps are also included in the hiring decision process and help the company to select the best candidate for the job finally.  

How to make the final hiring decision?

Once the interviews and assessments are done, it is time to deliberate on the candidate’s performance and thus select the best candidate for the job opening. So, some of the steps that are involved in making the final hiring decision are:

• Check all the criteria that the candidate meets before hiring: Make sure there is a common matrix for assessing all the candidates on the list of the same factors. Make a checklist of all the criteria and assess all the candidates on them. Some of the factors can be: the amount of experience required, number of skills, how quickly can the person learn without supervision, amount of training required, achievements and many more.

• Doing the background checks before making the final offer: Doing a background check provides the clarity required for hiring the person for good. Background checks can clear up any last-minute confusions that the recruiter might have.

• Get all the stakeholders on the same page: Make sure all the decision-makers involved in the hiring process are on the same page and thus choose the candidate unanimously.

• Extend the job offer to the selected candidate: The offer letter must include salary, benefits, responsibilities, start date, conditions of employment, work schedule, remote working and many more. Some of the terms are negotiable, and some are not.

• Hiring the employee: The candidate is finally hired, and all the paperwork needs to be filled and sent to the firm.

• Onboarding: It lays the groundwork for any employee, and the company needs to make sure that this is a welcoming one. This makes sure that the employee has a clear idea about the responsibilities that are expected from the new hire.

So, by having the correct hiring process, the problem of Shortage of applicants can be reduced. Having a proper decision process in place not only helps the company to plan out their recruitment drive but also helps in saving on last-minute resources.