You know what your ideal candidate looks like; you know where they work and you hope you have an offer and benefits package that is attractive enough to grab their attention. You post your advert and you get a great response – finally you’re going to recruit that top finance talent you’ve been searching for.
Except there’s one problem – you’re not the only business recruiting for top finance talent. Whilst you’re busy chasing your hiring managers for feedback and attempting to navigate through over complicated diaries to find a suitable interview date, your competitors are moving quickly. In the time you’ve taken to close the job advert, shortlist and book in an interview (in 2 weeks time), your competitors have completed their interviews with your dream candidates. Before you know it; your shortlist is rapidly reducing as your talent receives counter offers, goes for other interviews or gets snapped up by a head hunter.
You’ve moved too slowly and you have missed out on top talent!
When it comes to recruiting top finance talent; time really is of the essence!
- Understand what’s slowing your recruitment procedure down – Is managers’ availability the issue? Are you spending hours sifting through unsuitable applications to find your shortlist? Is your scattergun approach to job board advertising attracting too many candidates who don’t meet your essential criteria? Understanding where the delays are occurring can help you appreciate what needs to change.
- Fix the delays – Easy right? Once you’ve identified where the issues are – you need to take active steps to improve them. If the managers diary is the issue, work with them to block the time out in advance. If you’re getting too many unsuitable CVs – revisit your adverts and make sure they are accurately reflecting the role and its responsibilities.
- Make yourself worth waiting for – Sometimes you just can’t make the interviews happen any sooner (no matter how hard you try) and in this situation, you need to make your offer worth waiting for. With multiple choices on the table; candidates are more likely to make offers wait for a few days before making their decision if they are bought in to your brand, your culture and your style of communication. Get your existing workforce on board, keep candidates warm and use social media wisely to allow candidates to get a real feel for what your business is like to work for. Why would they want to work for you over your competition? Allow your reputation speak for itself.
- Use a recruitment agency – the reality is; recruiters will have access to a skilled talent pool far quicker than you going it alone and can rapidly reduce the time it takes to get suitable CVs to the table. Not only will using a recruiter save time in sourcing, screening and shortlisting applications, but can speed up the ongoing recruitment administration of communicating with candidates too. Work with your recruiter and book in interview dates early on so that when suitable candidates are identified; they can be interviewed and progressed quickly.
- Consider an assessment centre – If diaries and availability is an issue, consider group interviews / assessment centres – providing the potential to meet multiple candidates in one full day of recruitment. Not only is this a better use of time; but can also provide really useful insights into your candidates’ personal characteristics and behaviours such as team work, communication style and ability to cope under pressure.
- Don’t delay the offer – This should go without saying but when you find your superstar candidate; the one who ticks all the boxes and has valuable skills and experience – don’t hang around. Chances are if you want them – others will too. Make the offer and work with your recruiter to help manage any necessary salary negotiations.
Whilst the finance market is candidate rich at the moment and unemployment levels high; you can’t be complacent with recruitment. If you really want the best finance or accounting talent to join your team; you need to act quickly. Why not revisit your recruitment procedures and make sure your approach is as effective as it can be for 2020?