Here’s how Tinder works, in case you haven’t had the pleasure. The app shows you pics of people who are nearby and you have a choice – to touch the screen and swipe right or to swipe left. Swiping right means giving that person’s profile a ‘yes’ while swiping left means a ‘no’. If someone you like gives you a ‘yes’, you’re a match – and the conversation begins.
Tinder, Amazon and Netflix have taught us all that one swipe, or one click will refresh the screen and offer more choices. Technology brings the world to us, and all we have to do is swipe right.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) make screening and tracking applicants efficient and easy. But they also put technology between the humans at the heart of the process. It’s tempting to swipe left and wait for the screen refresh to bring you a new group of applicants. And in this red hot economy, companies need to move fast on the available talent. Our team says that some recruiters are allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good.
Samantha Snyder, Business Development Manager of CSI Professional, reminds clients that you can’t judge a book by its cover letter. “We see hiring managers who are stuck on a specific skills set, like 11,000 keystrokes a minute. They won’t consider a candidate with 10,000, even though they come with a great work ethic and other positive qualities.” Snyder says she trusts her recruiting team when they have a strong feeling about a candidate. She’ll advocate for someone who has most of what the client needs and is willing to learn. The gap can be closed with training, and a perfect candidate may not be coming along in this tight labor market.
CSI Professional’s Vice President of Operations and Jacksonville Business Journals 2018 Top 40 Under 40 Honoree, Liz Mercado, says speedy processes are essential to winning the war for talent. “We are very motivated to fill the company’s positions,” she says. “We move as quickly as possible to find the right matches for the job req. We assume the company is equally ready to make a decision and get the candidate on board.” But when company staff delays interviews or decisions, they can’t realistically expect great talent to wait patiently for them to get down to business.
“We had a hiring manager who was out of town for a month,” Mercado says. “The candidate had had one interview and then no communication for over a month. When the client asked if he was still available, we were astonished. In this market? You move fast or the candidate moves on. They’re getting several offers a week if they’re really good.”
Snyder and Mercado agree that companies who are open to changing processes and taking a chance on a motivated candidate with most of what they need will be glad they did.
How fast on the draw is your company? Here’s what Oleeo.com says about the need for speed: “In the candidate-driven environment we see today, speed is more important than ever when it comes to snagging the best talent. Does your recruitment team hire faster than the competition? If not, what’s holding you back from doing so?”
Take Oleeo’s quiz to find out what it takes to be a top recruiter and how you and your team can improve to bring in the best talent faster.
