Recruitment: Our 9 tips for an efficient and cost-effective recruitment process!

Implementing a recruitment process that enables you to source the best candidate profiles is both a challenge and an opportunity. However, companies that are content to respond to applications from APEC or Pôle Emploi are missing out on the best candidates.

So how do you recruit these hard-to-find individuals without spending a fortune? We've investigated for you: here are 9 tips for recruiting efficiently and cost-effectively today.

• Defining the recruitment process
• Recruitment: what are the challenges for VSEs and SMEs?
• 9 tips for setting up an effective recruitment process
  • Tip 1: Anticipate recruitment to avoid the rush
  • Tip 2: Use your employer brand to attract the right profiles
  • Tip 3: Involve employees in HR interviews
  • Tip 4: Advertise Job Vacancies on Recruitment Websites
  • Tip 5: Make yourself known in the areas of expertise in which you recruit
  • Tip 6: Use the company website to recruit
  • Tip 7: Create a candidate experience alongside the HR process
  • Tip 8: Reduce Recruitment Risk
  • Tip 9: Offer more attractive packages than the competition
• Conclusion

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Definition of the recruitment process

The recruitment process refers to the logical succession of recruitment phases that lead to the integration of a new employee into a company. There are typically 6 stages in the recruitment process, which can be subdivided into sub-stages: definition of the open position, definition of the required profile, sourcing of candidates, selection, bilateral agreement between employer and candidate and finally onboarding.

Recruitment: what are the challenges facing VSEs and SMEs?

According to a Brookings Data study in July 2014, 75% of hires in 2025 will be millennials. Yet we know that the expectations of these candidates and potential candidates have nothing in common with past generations for whom salary and regular recognition were sufficient. Millennials, now students, work-study students or young managers, have new expectations:

• they want to be considered and involved
• they attach a great deal of importance to the company project, but don't like corporatism;
• they are prepared to work for a lower salary, but want freedom in their working hours, etc.

This paradigm shift is a real challenge for the HR function, which, as well as filling vacancies, has to participate in changing the company's culture.

This challenge is only becoming more acute in modern companies, whose growth and changing needs are changing rapidly. In this case, HR policy needs to be ahead of employee expectations.

We have extracted a few figures from a recent survey of small and medium-sized businesses conducted by Wide Open . It illustrates the extent to which pressure is increasing on HR managers and recruiters. What we will see next, however, shows that it is possible to implement changes immediately without committing more human and financial resources. Quite the contrary, in fact.

This study highlights the fact that Human Resources Management (HRM) expectations are disproportionate to the resources available to recruiters. Many HRIS systems are limited to payroll management and legal obligations, whereas more collaborative and connected tools are needed. What's more, the training provided to Human Resources Departments (HRDs) is not in line with current needs in terms of career management, sourcing and talent recruitment.

Do you find yourself in this situation? Read on to optimise each stage of your recruitment process.

9 tips for an effective recruitment process

Without further ado, here are some simple HR tools and tips that you can implement right now to give your human resources management a new lease of life.

Tip 1: Anticipate recruitment to avoid the rush

Filling a post and looking for a job have one thing in common: starting the search when the need is there is tantamount to leaving with a major handicap. As we saw in the excerpt from the Wide Open study, 95% of recruiters feel under constant pressure to fill vacancies, which has an impact on the quality of the recruitment process, the quality of candidates, but above all on the chances of success of the recruitment mission.
This is especially true in fast-growing companies. In this context, there is a permanent sense of urgency, and recruitment errors are more frequent if there is no anticipation.

In fact, recruiters need to be constantly on the lookout and have constantly active sourcing tools to quickly start promoting a new position (permanent, fixed-term or even internship). This means making initial contact with candidates before they are needed, detecting profiles on an ongoing basis and attracting talent. Recruitment software fulfils part of this mission (CV libraries, headhunting on professional social networks such as LinkedIn and Viadeo, etc.). The other is made up of best practices, which we will explore below.

Tip 2: Attract the right profiles with your employer brand

The collaboration between a company and an employee is much more complex than an exchange of skills and time in return for payment. More than ever, candidates are looking for meaning in their jobs, which is why branding is so important. It answers the WHY questions as well as the WHAT, WHERE and HOW questions.

The WHY allows both the recruiter and the candidate to confirm that they share the same belief. The other questions are practical and merely validate the belief.

More concretely, the employer brand must highlight several essential points:

• Corporate culture: work-life balance, support for noble causes, encouragement of entrepreneurship, equal opportunities, etc.
  
• Values: trust, high standards, equality, etc. These are all points that structure the company's development. The more values a candidate shares with the company, the more motivated they will be.
  
• The mission: this is very often explicit in American companies and less so in French companies. Yet it is fundamental: what is your role in the world? Example: "Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world" .
  
• The vision: the vision can be described as the company's "ultimate objective" in a context that it imagines. It gives candidates the opportunity to project themselves into the long term and to understand the meaning of the objectives set.
  
• Objectives: objectives provide a framework for employees' short- and medium-term missions. They provide a more operational perspective.
  
• The product: this point is essential, yet many recruiters overlook it. It represents the candidate's contribution and position.

Google (Alphabet), ranked number one in the Forbes rankings, takes particular care with its brand image among job applicants, receiving 3 million applications a year.

Tip 3: Involve employees in HR interviews

A company's employees can pass on job vacancies to excellent candidates in their personal network. What's more, potential candidates are more likely to be convinced by employees than by "corporate" messages.
It is for these two reasons that companies wishing to recruit more easily and more cheaply should encourage their employees to pass on job offers and to encourage unsolicited applications from people who they feel match the company's expectations. The first step is to inform all employees of future recruitment waves or specific job openings. The second step is to set up a co-option system, which will in any case be less costly than a headhunting agency.

In addition to acquiring application files, it is very economical and effective to involve employees in the candidate selection process. They will be more attentive to technical skills and past experience, which adds an extra level of internal control. The recruiter can concentrate on interpersonal skills, personality tests and administrative aspects.

Tip 4: Post job vacancies on recruitment sites

There are almost 200 job boards and recruitment sites, ranging from the intranet of a Parisian university to international job sites such as Indeed, via the Pôle Emploi site and APEC. As these platforms are real breeding grounds for candidates in France, it is highly recommended that you are listed on them and, what's more, that you are more visible than other recruiters.

To do this, there are recruitment tools such as Gestmax or Taleez , which broadcast your vacancy on all the relevant job boards in a matter of seconds, when it would take you days to do it manually. In the case of Gestmax, the tool positions your job on premium sites without charging you any additional fees.

The savings are immediate:

• The time taken to place the advert is zero. The recruiter can concentrate on work with higher added value.
• Premium positions on job boards are included in the recruitment software subscription.
• There's no need to use the services of a recruitment agency or headhunter, because your method will be just as effective.

The recruitment software you can find here also allows you to monitor the recruitment process and build up a CV library. They can also be used to build relationships with leading schools (ESSEC, HEC) without any extra effort.

Tip 5: Make yourself known in the areas of expertise in which you recruit

Being visible at events that interest your potential candidates is an excellent way of attracting the best people at a low cost. Here are a few concrete benefits:

• On the candidate side:
  • Only the most motivated people go to events;
  • Events on specific themes are of interest to the most expert.
• For recruiters:
  • Participation in this type of event is generally free;
  • Exposure and attention are maximised and the context lends credibility to your message.

All you have to do at the end of your presentation is conclude in a corporate manner and say that the company is recruiting. These meetups or online conferences should preferably be given by employees from the profession in question rather than by HR.

Tip 6: Use the company website to recruit

Making the most of your website costs absolutely nothing, apart from a few hours preparing the pages and texts. Create a "recruitment" page to describe open positions, but also to answer a fundamental question: why work for you?

Recruitment software such as Gestmax allows you to encapsulate your job offers directly on your site. This gives visitors real-time access to the positions on offer and allows them to apply via an online form.

A major trend in recruitment is inbound recruiting, inspired by inbound marketing, which involves devising a conversion tunnel to capture the best profiles and turn them into candidates. In this way, an unknown person becomes a visitor, then a candidate, then an employee and finally an ambassador.

To do this, you need to use all the levers of the Web, such as good SEO practices, your blog, career site, company pages, job boards and social networks. If you have a vacancy for a Java developer in Lyon, for example, name your page "Java Developer Lyon" to move up the Google rankings.

Tip 7: Create a candidate experience alongside the HR process

The candidate experience is inspired by marketing and sales methods aimed at improving the customer experience. The idea is to engage the candidate in all the stages leading up to their hiring and, in so doing, eliminate potential friction.

This starts with up-to-date vacancies on your site and job boards (recruitment software synchronises vacancies with your site and job boards). The online application process must also be easy, fluid and reassuring for the candidate. Recruitment software like Taleez, for example, with its ergonomic, customisable careers site, offers an exceptional candidate experience.

As well as promoting the employer brand to attract the best profiles directly, this type of software allows you to create a candidate account and send notifications at each stage of the recruitment process.

Emails and phone calls should show that you are grateful to the candidate: they have made the effort to come to you, so thank them. Finally, the collaborative aspects of recruitment are appreciated by candidates: it creates harmony that gives an image of professionalism and a healthy corporate culture (good internal communication).

Tip 8: Reduce recruitment risks

Everyone can reduce the risks involved without using a recruitment consultant. There's no need for a psycho-technical test or any other science. Here are 4 things you can do straight away:

• Ask for recommendations and check them;
• Let the candidate talk and listen. Detect any inconsistencies;
• Interview at least 3 colleagues to get 3 opinions;
• Target the right people: according to Pfau and Ira Kay, you should approach people who have done the work you are looking for, in the same context and in a company with a similar culture. This advice is based on the observation that past habits are the best predictors of future habits.
  In the same way, don't try to train people who don't have the profile for the thing you want. If you're looking for a project manager, look for someone who has this experience and who is methodical and good at working with others.

Tip 9: Offer more attractive packages than the competition

The subtlety is in the phrase. Generally speaking, it's good practice to offer a higher salary than what the competition is offering locally. The best profiles will spontaneously come to you rather than your competitors and, above all, they will stay with you. The cost of a resignation is several thousand euros, so offering a salary a few hundred euros higher than the average is to your advantage.

However, salary is not the only way to consider an employee: luncheon vouchers, housing allowance, profit-sharing, stock options, annual bonus, supplementary health cover, etc., are all part of the package. By playing on the tax and cost (versus perceived value) of these benefits, you can offer a package that will be perceived as more attractive.

For these benefits to be appreciated, however, you need to communicate their cost, the difficulty of putting them in place and the risks involved.

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Conclusion

We have seen in this article that HR management in terms of human capital alone is a strategic issue. However, HR software and recruitment methods are not keeping up with the pressure on HR departments. To overcome this problem, there's no need to overhaul your HRIS or call in a recruitment consultancy: inexpensive recruitment software combined with good practice can save you money and make it easy to recruit profiles that were so hard to find before.

Updated article, originally published in October 2017.