Internal Screening: Part Three of a Five-Part Recruiting Series

This is part three of our five-part series about effective recruiting in a candidate driven market.

By: Edna Nakamoto and Jessica Barrett

In part two of our five-part series on recruiting, we took a look at resources, strategies and processes. We’ve already briefly touched on the topic of internal screening, but today, we’re going to further unpack this important topic.

All too often, as soon as an employee gives notice that they are leaving, organizations quickly post the open role to fill the vacancy as soon as possible. It’s a natural reaction as losing someone means lost productivity, lost revenue, and a heavier workload for their colleagues. However, taking a step back and examining your current talent pool may prove to be the best first option.

What Is the Best Job Board?

With all the job boards available, it’s not always easy to decide where your time and money are best spent.  So what is the best job board? The short answer – there really isn’t just one. Not for everyone, anyway. There are, however, better ones. The key is figuring out what makes sense for your business, and to spend your time and money in those places. Let’s begin by breaking things down…

The Big Guys

You’ve no doubt worked with Monster and CareerBuilder already. They’re not the biggest for nothing. These sites have been around a while, and are still a “go to” of choice for employers and job seekers alike. They’re professional, they’re user friendly, and they have a whole lot to offer with regard to resources and communities. They span the gambit in terms of industries and levels of positions. If you’re trying to recruit candidates from all over the nation, or the world for that matter, these sites are a great place to start.

How Better Recruiting Reduces Turnover and Cost Per Hire

Recruiting has changed. The advent of so many startups, a new generation of workers, social media and technology, have all changed the game. Not only has the way we go about crafting job descriptions and posting roles changed, but even the start of the recruiting phase now begins well before a position is actually open. With everything that is evolving within talent acquisition, what hasn’t changed is that better recruiting leads to lower turnover and a lower cost per hire.                                     

Consequences of a Bad Hire – Beyond Turnover Costs

This recent study shows the average cost per hire to be at $4,000. But what is the turnover cost per hire if they’re bad hires? Turnover costs are estimated to be one-third of a new hire’s annual salary or more in order to replace them. However, the consequences of making a bad hire go beyond this. There are other costs as well, such as reduced morale among employees, disruption to a department, slower production, an increased workload, and depending on their position, the potential of lost sales or customers.

There are a whole host of factors that contribute to employee turnover; boredom, low pay, lack of recognition, limited advancement opportunities, dissatisfaction with management. However, one of the largest reasons for high turnover, 80% according to a statistic by The Harvard Business Review, is due to making a poor hiring decision in the first place.

Five Questions You Need to Ask About Passive Recruiting

It’s one of the oldest dilemmas in business, everyone worth hiring is already working for somebody else. To get at top-notch talent, you’re going to have to do more than throw up a banal job posting on the job boards. This is where Passive recruiting comes into play.

Great talent isn’t sitting around actively searching through posts on GenericJobListings.com, they are too busy contributing to the goals of their current employer. To reach them you are going to have to entice their interest through channels where you know they can be reached and have an efficient way to keep track of a large pool of candidates at different steps in the recruitment process in a single applicant management system or pipeline.

In order to start passively recruiting the best talent for your business, ask yourself these five questions: