• Home
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Our Mission
    • Testimonials
    • Service Areas
  • Services
    • Tax Services
    • Audit & Assurance
    • Accounting
    • Litigation Support
    • Valuation Advisory
    • Forensic Accounting
    • Business Consulting
  • Resources
    • Client Center
    • Online Tools
    • Important Sites
    • Timely Opportunities
  • MBA News
  • Careers
    • Senior Tax Accountant
    • Tax Manager
    • Bookkeeper / Accountant
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Savvy
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Our Mission
    • Testimonials
    • Service Areas
  • Services
    • Tax Services
    • Audit & Assurance
    • Accounting
    • Litigation Support
    • Valuation Advisory
    • Forensic Accounting
    • Business Consulting
  • Resources
    • Client Center
    • Online Tools
    • Important Sites
    • Timely Opportunities
  • MBA News
  • Careers
    • Senior Tax Accountant
    • Tax Manager
    • Bookkeeper / Accountant
  • Contact Us

Blog Post

Avoid Hiring Traps that Lead to Hiring Remorse

25 May 2016
Comment are off
MBA Site Administrator
Hiring in St Petersburg Florida

Surveys of job seekers — often performed by recruiting firms — reveal a variety of reasons why would-be applicants may decide to bypass your company. Some individuals may complete the application but through that process develop a negative preconception about your business. This is particularly true with younger job seekers.

High on the list of problems mentioned in these surveys was the length of applications. Some companies believe that a daunting application process will weed out applicants who aren’t serious about working for them. Current thinking, however, suggests that highly qualified job-seekers recognize the value of their time and will simply move on.

How long is too long? One survey compared completion rates of application forms consisting of 50 or more questions with those having 25 or fewer questions. The completion rates for the longer forms was only about half that of the shorter ones.

Do I Really Need This?

Some employers ask for information that, while nice to have, isn’t essential for the first round of elimination. It’s a good idea to review the questions on your application and ask yourself how important it is to have those answers at this stage of the process.

For example, if your application asks for references, consider whether you’re likely to contact references before you’ve had a chance to interview a candidate. If not, save the request for references until later, or simply say, “Applicants selected for interviews will be asked to provide references.”

Am I Giving Enough Detail?

Also take a look at the level of detail provided in the job description. Any description with fewer than 250 words may not provide enough detail to attract desirable candidates. Then again, given today’s shrinking attention spans, erring on the side of excess will also backfire. Using bullet points to highlight essential functions of the job might yield better results.

In addition to providing a clear description of the job, tell applicants enough about your organization to help them determine whether they will fit in well. An employee who might be right for a particular job might not be a suitable candidate based on your company’s culture and mission. You can save your time and theirs by being clear about these issues.

User-Friendly Job Sites

An online application that can be completed in 15 minutes will get a far higher completion rate than one taking 30 minutes or more. The best online systems:

  • Require minimal navigation steps,
  • Explain the steps in the hiring process,
  • Allow applicants to save information they have input, log out and resume the application process later without having to start from scratch,
  • Include engaging content like employee blogs and testimonials, photos and videos that highlight the most appealing features of your organization,
  • Don’t require applicants to cut and paste job history information that is already contained in uploaded resumes or LinkedIn files, and
  • Feature a unified log-in for your career site and the job application function.

Job application systems also need to be mobile-friendly. It’s not merely a matter of “responsive” pages. Mobile-friendly job sites make it easy for applicants to upload resumes via cloud-based storage sites like Dropbox and Google drive.

Staying in Touch

Even though job application systems generate automatic application acknowledgement responses, it’s easy for applicants to subsequently fall into a black hole. If job candidates don’t hear anything from you for many days while the hiring process is still active, they may draw the conclusion that they are no longer under consideration, and move on to another opportunity.

For qualified applicants who didn’t receive job offers from you, it’s important to keep them updated. Candidates whom you’d like to reapply at a later date for similar positions will be more likely to take you seriously if you have not left them hanging.

Soliciting feedback from actual job applicants — those who received offers, and, if possible, those who didn’t — can help ensure that your process is as user-friendly as it can be.

Find the Best Candidates

Whether jobs like those you need to fill are abundant or scarce in your labor market, a carefully designed recruiting and application process may help you find the best candidates available. It may also help avoid bad hiring decisions and a needlessly time-consuming hiring process.

About the Author
McClanathan, Burg & Associates, LLC. is a full service accounting firm. Our team members provide services including: Tax, Audit, Assurance and Accounting, Estate and Trust, Forensic Accounting, Litigation Support and Business Valuation.

Social Share

  • google-share

Search

RECENT NEWS

  • IRS Extends the Tax Filing and Paying Deadline for Individuals
  • Do you know the tax impact of your collectibles?
  • Making 2017 retirement plan contributions in 2018
  • When an elderly parent might qualify as your dependent
  • AMT Calculations: It’s Showtime

Categories

  • MBA Events
  • MBA News
  • Opinion & Editorial
  • Resources & Tips

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013

Social Media

Facebook
Linked In
SavvyCard
Twitter

“Best
Congratulations to this year's honored business!
Featured in the Tampa Bay Times.
Click here to view my profile >>

Categories

  • MBA Events
  • MBA News

Archives

Sign Up For Newsletter

First Name:
Last Name:
Email Address (required):
Company:
Phone Number:
© 2014 McClanathan, Burg & Associates, LLC | Website Design by ThinkTankConnect.com

Send to Mobile

Text or Email McClanathan, Burg & Associates online business card to your mobile device using the form below
From the card you will be able to:
  • Get turn by turn directions to the company's office
  • Access a visual company directory of employee cards
  • Call, email or text the company
  • Share/Refer the company to others
  • Save the card to your phone's home screen for future access