Solving Volume Recruitment Issues

Organisations are currently receiving high volumes of job applications for all jobs including previously difficult to fill roles. A spiralling increase in the workload of recruitment teams has been compounded by pressure to reduce costs and improve productivity. The cost of wading through thousands of applications is significant and the cost of getting the wrong person can be unquantifiable.

Job growth predicted for 2010
The difficulties of managing volume recruitment
SHL's volume recruitment solutions
Effective sifting tools for volume recruitment

Job growth predicted for 2010

Volume applications will continue to be a challenge for HR with recruitment predicted to increase globally in 2010:

The Manpower Employment Outlook September 2009 indicates global employer hiring expectations have improved in nearly two thirds of the countries and territories surveyed
The South African Graduate Recruiters (SAGRA) Survey 2009 found that five of the twelve industries tracked planned to increase graduate vacancies in 2010
In research from the Australia Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE), 200 large employers confirmed an increase in vacancies for university-leavers in 12 out of 14 key industries and business sectors.

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The difficulties of managing volume applications

Increases in job applications are due to a number of factors, not all related to the economy. Technological advances, such as job boards and social networks like LinkedIn, give greater exposure to vacancies, reach more people and provide easy application tools for submitting CVs. This can help recruiters reach the best candidates, but has also exposed them to large volumes of applications from unsuitable candidates.

CV overload can result in the wrong decisions being made. Employers should not rely solely on the accuracy of CVs when managing applications, SHL research has found that almost a quarter (24%) of potential job seekers say they are prepared to stretch the truth to secure a job.

SHL's volume recruitment solutions

An efficient process is required to ensure the most appropriate people are fairly selected.

SHL’s effective sifting process delivers:

Reduced time-to-hire
An online process
Fair and valid screening out of unsuitable candidates
Best candidates entering the formal assessment process
Decreased costs associated with selection errors
A positive candidate experience, maintaining the brand image.

Read how SHL helped National Australia Bank with volume recruitment

Effective sifting tools for volume recruitment

The most effective sifting solutions use a number of assessment tools, which when combined predict not just whether the candidate can do the job, but also whether they will thrive in the new organisation.

Typically these are embedded into an existing web based career portal or Human Resource Management (HRM) system. Once set-up, these efficient recruitment processes enable thousands of applications to be managed automatically with almost no manual input from recruitment teams until the face to face assessment stage.

The most cost effective solutions include combinations of sifting tools including:

Realistic job previews to encourage candidates to decide themselves whether the role is for them
Behavioural assessments often linked to the organisation’s competency framework
Ability tests to assess whether the candidate can do the job
Situation judgement tests – such as Talent Screener - to ensure a good fit with the role and organisational culture.

The combination of off-the-shelf assessments and bespoke tools ensures that you bring the best candidates through to interview in a cost effective, efficient and defensible way.

Find out more about Talent Screener