In this era of AI, recruitment is still one of those domains that heavily relies on human intervention and undergoes consistent evolution. For this reason, every organization has a Human Resources (HR) member or team dedicated to making recruitment decisions.
Like any other organizational workflow, the recruitment process is never foolproof. Every organization has its share of common hiring mistakes, which can impact a company's annual turnover.
A recent study shows that a bad hire can cost an organization almost 30% of the employee’s salary. This value multiplies exponentially as the employee’s hierarchy increases or the number of bad hires increases.
A professional organization learns from its past mistakes and strives to make better decisions in the future. Today, almost every organization relies on data analytics to drive the performance of their products and services.
What if we can rely on similar data analytics to make data-driven recruitment decisions? Let us explore how insights from past employee hiring data and AI support can help organizations improve their recruitment process.
What Are the Most Common Hiring Mistakes?
To err is human. However, some errors can cause considerable losses to organizations. Attrition or employee turnover can result from mistakes or miscommunications during hiring. If the number of employees quitting their jobs in an organization shows a trend or gradual increase, it is necessary to assess the hiring process.
Here are some common hiring mistakes recruiters must identify and correct before their next round of hiring.
Not providing precise requirements for the role
Sometimes, an employee who signs up for a job finds himself involved in a role or workspace that needs to be better defined while applying. For instance, recruiters try to advertise the perks of the job. But, they hide or fail to provide specific critical data, such as work timings, flexibility during emergencies, cooldown periods, phases of burnout, etc.
For instance, the advertisement would have specified the skill set required for the applicant using a different software tool. However, the work will be done with a new tool because the team recently decided to change, making the applicant’s experience useless.
A clear and precise role description for a job offer goes a long way in showcasing the professional ethics of an organization. Of course, your description may receive flak if you have strict work policies. You get the candidate ready for all your terms and conditions and willing to stay long
Filling Roles in a Hurry
Most organizations have a talent pool where they receive applications from several online and offline sources. When an employee exits, the team head may ask the talent team to provide a matching candidate quickly.
The team instantly refers to the available applications and selects a near-matching candidate. They conduct routine tests and interviews as soon as possible, or for namesake, to ensure smooth operations for that team.
While this method works at times, it is not a good practice. One always needs to find out whether the applicant applied for the role or the team where he ended up. Such application shuffling and matching, filling roles on a first-come-first-serve application basis, skipping steps in the interview process, etc., can waste an organization’s time and money.
Online Reputation and Social Media Profiles
A company’s online presence on several social media platforms, as well as its website, is a direct reflection of the company and its culture. Also, these are the places where a company posts information relating to new job offerings.
A role available on a company's job portal must also be reflected on its official website and social media handles. Failing to maintain this consistency can show that the company hires quickly through a few channels.
Furthermore, a hiring advertisement for a role consistently present across online platforms shows that people applying for those roles do not stay. Ensure you update your online websites and handles with roles filled up or taken.
Not Involving Team’s Inputs and Feedback
Ideally, the team with an employee shortage must provide the recruitment team with explicit requirements on the number and skill set of the employees. Every team member must be involved in this process since they are the best ones to tell where they require a helping hand.
However, in most cases, the team’s top leadership decides these requirements, sometimes ignoring the team’s feedback. Some team leads struggle to negotiate with higher management to remain strict on a team’s budget.
Also, the interview process must involve one or two team members who can check firsthand if a candidate is suitable for their team. If a candidate is randomly hired from a talent pool, merging with a team with different expectations can be difficult.
Failing to do Background Checks
Employee turnover is not always due to the company or its work culture. Some employees find it incredible to switch companies within a year or two, citing better exposure. Such candidates can be a bad fit for organizations looking to hire long-term employees.
No matter how skilled specific candidates may be, loyalty and punctuality to their workspace are paramount. However, companies can still avoid employees who switch within a year or less. Recruitment managers must deeply analyze reasons for switches and career breaks in a candidate’s professional journey.
Thankfully, there are several tools and techniques for performing background checks quickly. A candidate’s social media profiles can be one way to learn about their personal and professional lives.
The Role of Data-Driven Insights in Avoiding Hiring Mistakes
Recruitment experiences influence future recruitment decisions in an organization. However, evidence-based reliability is preferred over word-of-mouth suggestions, gut feelings, and predictions.
Like in any other organizational domain, data insights and analytics can play a major role in the recruitment process. Several organizations have shown that relying on data-driven analytics has improved their recruitment process and employee retention by over 30% compared to traditional methods.
So, what exactly happens when you employ data analytics and insights to prevent hiring mistakes? You can confidently hire a tailor-made candidate to fit a job role.
What Are Data-Driven Insights?
Data-driven insights involve a thorough analysis of past data or patterns. In terms of recruitment, such insights show hiring patterns and employee turnover trends.
Such insights come from several rounds of analysis using machine learning algorithms from huge data sets with a lot of variance and other statistical parameters. Since the input data involve real-time hiring information, candidate profiles, etc., the results of such data-driven insights are highly accurate.
Hiring with data-driven insights has proven to be time-saving. This does not mean the steps are reduced, but each step can be fast-tracked without compromising quality.
Similarly, you can reduce the number of members involved in steps like shortlisting candidates, sending outreach emails, etc.
So, integrated with the right recruitment software, data-driven insights can help employers ease the selection process. Learn how to choose the right candidates tailor-made for your jobs.
How Data Helps Identify the Right Candidates
Data-driven insights can be part of all recruitment steps. Here are some examples of how data analytics and AI tools can ease the recruitment process.
Assume you are hiring an HR relationship manager for your organization. The previous manager could not communicate with some of your new overseas clients in their preferred language. This parameter can be a mandate for your new candidate.
So, where do you get such data regarding past experiences? Exit interviews, performance feedback from the reporting managers, and other sources help us refine role definitions and shortlist suitable candidates.
Similarly, imagine you wish to increase the duration of a technical interview segment without affecting the hiring time. Recordings of past telephone interviews can help you estimate the average duration of interviews and which steps you can skip or improve to hire better candidates.
Analytics in Recruitment
Data collected in each step of hiring forms the seed to generate deep analysis and reports on the kind of employees required by an organization. Such analytics also show you the scope for improvement if your employee turnover rate increases significantly.
Some of the advantages of involving data analytics while making recruitment decisions help resolve common hiring problems we came across -
- One person’s gut feelings and preferences can be different from another. AI tools powered by deep learning algorithms avoid such scenarios by predicting the right candidates.
- Tools do not show any bias in terms of experience and history. They help you find the right fit for your requirements.
- Data analytics help speed up and automate several stages of the selection process. AI tools are available for every step, from scanning profiles and analyzing voice tone in telephone interviews to generating accurate reports, predictions, and suggestions.
- Tools detect tools! A lot of profiles are AI-generated, which cannot be distinguished by humans. Analytics helps you identify human-made profiles and saves time you would otherwise have spent scanning fake profiles.
- Social media analytics help generate detailed reports on a candidate’s social media activity.
It is no wonder that organizations rely heavily on companies like Revaluate180 to help them with meaningful data-driven insights when hiring and retaining employees. Let us learn how you can ease each hiring step by integrating data analytics.
Steps to Implement a Data-Driven Hiring Approach
Each solution fits the recruitment requirements of only some organizations. An employer expects candidates to comply with their organizational policies and suit the team’s requirements.
Traditional methods fail in this strategy, where decisions at several rounds of the hiring process rely only on personal choices. The candidate may not suit the team’s technical prowess or be satisfied with the work culture.
Since data-driven insights come from actual past experiences of employee interviews and turnover rates, recruitment decisions are not just personal choices or gut feelings.
Learn how to leverage a fool-proof recruitment plan with data-driven insights.
Start with a Clear Hiring Strategy
Like any other organizational developmental activity, hiring requires proper planning and execution. When looking for the following candidate(s), try collecting past data and experiences of the ones who left.
Using the collected data, analyze the scope for improvement in your hiring strategy. Several AI tools are available for such activities.
For instance, you need two rounds of technical interviews rather than just 1 to filter more competent employees. But that could increase hiring time. So, find the exact number of proficient candidates you must call for your interviews without increasing your hiring time.
Here is where profile scanners, call recorders, etc., can help shortlist and filter proficient candidates.
Also, note Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in your hiring process. Setting the right parameters, such as the number of candidates to interview, hiring time, interview rounds, interviewers' lists, and experiences, can help frame the right hiring requirements before calling candidates.
Leverage AI-Powered Recruitment Tools
As mentioned before, an AI tool can supplement every step of recruitment. The tool's results and human intervention can confirm a skilled candidate for a role.
Several consultancy companies develop the right strategies and software to curate an organization's hiring and performance evaluation parameters. A comprehensive analysis of past recruitment data can be fed to AI tools across categories.
For instance, resume scanner tools help detect if a candidate’s experience matches a job role. You can also detect if the experiences are valid through instant verification on social media, check if the resume is AI-generated, etc.
You can also leverage specific software packages to create entry-level or advanced technical quizzes in different domains. From simple entry-level quizzes to complex analytical or reasoning problem statements, these tools can carefully assess employees' aptitude and create an overall score based on all your required key parameters.
Revaluate180 is committed to empowering an organization’s hiring process with analytical insights and human intelligence. We employ the latest in generative AI technology to illuminate human judgment and decision-making and assist organizations in hiring new talent.
Evaluate and Refine Your Process
With clear goals and a hiring roadmap, plan how you will empower your hiring team to move forward with the hiring process. Start by educating your team with analytics and data-driven insights from past hiring experiences.
Ensure your team is well-equipped and knowledgeable on the latest reports and requirements for the forthcoming hiring periods. Furthermore, ensure they have access and training on using all required tools and software.
Periodic feedback from all stakeholders is mandatory to refine the hiring process consistently at each stage. The process must be agile to keep improving within a hiring cycle.
Having a recruitment dashboard for detecting findings anytime and anywhere can make it easier to cross-reference during a hiring process. An interactive 3D view of each parameter under different KPI dimensions helps one understand the scope of improvement and prevent any past mistakes.
Above all, connect with your recruitment team or outsourcing partner regularly. Instead of stopping with hiring alone, look for ways to improve productivity and engagement. A professional recruitment partner will proactively suggest ways to increase an employee’s period in an organization.
Closing the Gap: From Hiring Mistakes to Perfect Matches
We came across how data-driven insights help improve the hiring rate and longevity of employees in an organization. Evidence-based experience metrics and turnover help companies hire the right people who fit the job requirements and the company’s core policies.
Many hiring mistakes can be attributed to hiring process inconsistencies due to personal preferences and experiences. Poor synchronization between the candidate’s team and the recruiters can also lead to a misfit selection.
With the correct data collected from several sources, you can get accurate predictions on the candidate who will be a perfect fit for your job requirements. You can leverage the help of several AI tools along with your intuitions to double-check and select the perfect hire.
Revaluate180 is one of the pioneers in curating fool-proof recruitment solutions for your hiring requirements. We devise an effective strategy to attract the perfect candidates, blending generative AI and human intelligence.
Connect with us today for any aid on hiring, employee engagement, and performance improvement.