Recruiting is no longer just posting a job online and waiting for applications to roll in while sitting in a beach chair; it’s a pre-recruitment, post-recruitment and everything-in-between.

We’ve put together four ways to avoid unnecessary recruiting challenges:

Failing to Prepare

Continuously recruit by creating a plan to maintain the online presence of the organization. Use LinkedIn and other social media platforms to present your organizations’ performance expectations, values, expected behaviors, and insight into the organizational culture.

Tip – Use your companies social media platforms to showcase and support your current employees’ achievements. This shows that you value your employees and can showcase you as a preferred employer. You can also show support for any philanthropic endeavors that you may support.

Choosing the Wrong Candidates to Interview

Reading resumes can feel like wading through a jungle but it’s a task that eventually gives us a pool of great or not-so-great candidates to choose from. Take your time and trust your instinct as you read; experience in recruitment can prompt you even before you’ve finished reading a particular sentence. Create your own criteria for the position to enable an efficient resume review.

Tip – Ask potential candidates to answer the same selection questions as part of the application process which helps you compare more efficiently rather than relying only on the resumes.

Choosing the Wrong Candidate

So often a candidate presents a great fit at the interview, but they and do not respond. The organization incurs significant time and resource costs in both scenarios.

I’ve talked about this in a recent article, Identifying Candidates who align with your organization’s work culture, but the main point is to look not only at skills and experience but to also assess for behavioral and motivational competencies. Ensure that you clearly outline the position’s requirements, as well as the behavioral competencies.

Tip – One strategy is to ask the candidate to suggest how their references might answer a question about them. As the candidate knows that you’ll be talking to their references, this can either help the candidate feel secure in their answer or create concern if they are not being completely honest. Look for body language clues here too.

Failing to Provide a Positive Candidate Experience

It might be a little like which came first, the chicken or egg, but just as the candidate is responsible for their behavior throughout the process, the recruiter, interviewer and the employer all have a shared responsibility to give potential candidates a positive experience.  Ensuring that communication is helpful and timely and that responses are positive promotes the profile of the organization as one that cares for their employees presenting it as an employer of choice.

Tip – Ensure that there is a procedure for letting candidates know when their application hasn’t progressed to the next level. Getting a response, even if it’s a ‘no’ is still relationship building.