The recruiting and hiring process is one of the most important aspects of business, as a single hiring decision can have a major impact on the way the rest of the business functions. To make the right decisions during this process, business leaders can collect and analyze data to assist them in their efforts.
But once leaders have collected this information, what do they use it for? How can they best leverage it to not only hire the right talent but also improve the recruiting process overall? Here, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss ways business leaders can use data to support their recruiting efforts and how doing so can help them achieve their goals.
Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss data and its use in the recruiting process.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. To Screen Candidates More Effectively
Data can improve your screening process for recruiting. Businesses get tons of resumes and going through all of them can be very hectic. Using the data from the CVs of previously appointed or rejected candidates, you can come up with a checklist to screen candidates prior to initiating the recruitment process. This would help you save time, minimize costs and improve the recruitment process. – Jared Atchison, WPForms
2. To Identify The Initiatives That Are Most Successful
Collecting a variety of data points throughout the recruiting process will yield valuable—and sometimes surprising—results. A simple example: We ask all our applicants, “How did you find us?” This allows us to identify those initiatives that attracted the highest caliber talent, further refine them and continue to improve our recruiting pipeline. – Jack Perkins, CFO Hub
3. To Determine Where To Find Top Talent
Data can help your recruiting efforts by providing information about where to find the best talent. This could include data on where your top performers went to school, what companies they previously worked for or what skills they have. By understanding this data, you can better target your recruitment efforts and improve your chances of finding the best talent. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
4. To Speed Up The Recruitment Process
Recruitment is not just a hectic process for companies—even the candidates don’t like signing up for never-ending recruitment drives. Data helps you speed up the recruitment process. Using the data from your past experiences, you can refine your recruitment process by removing the bottlenecks and facilitating automation. This helps minimize recruitment costs while improving the quality of the hires. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
5. To Analyze Candidate Demographic Trends And Priorities
Data can help you analyze trends and patterns about who is responding to your job advertisements and listings. Certain keywords can indicate what demographics are applying and what is attracting them. You can also find out how candidate priorities have changed since the pandemic and how you have to meet their expectations. – Duran Inci, Optimum7
6. To Assess Candidates For Red Flags
You can use data to set up “red flag” tests on your applications. Essentially, these tests are designed to weed out candidates who are not a good fit for your company. You’ll need to create the test and add weight to each answer before you can use it in recruiting. However, using data in this instance can save you a ton of time and money when you need to hire new employees. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
7. To Discover If They Will Work Well With Your Current Team
There is a science to finding a good fit for a role and a team. Requiring all second-round recruits to take tests like CliftonStrengths or the Myers-Briggs assessment, you can accurately assess where their innate strengths are—beyond their personal opinion. In utilizing personality tests, you can essentially map out how they will work with your team and management. – Nic DeAngelo, We Buy Loans Fast
