recruiting-strategy

Why Do Your Job Postings Keep Attracting The Wrong Applicants?

Why Do Your Job Postings Keep Attracting The Wrong Applicants?
HireHive Team

HireHive Team

HireHive

The UK is experiencing a significant rise in candidate numbers for job postings right now. For employers, this is both good news and bad. Good, because it means that there’s a broad talent pool to choose from. Bad because finding the ideal hire out of so many people can feel like a near-impossible task. And things only get harder if the majority of those applicants aren’t up to the standard you were expecting when you developed the role. 

Poor or inappropriate applications can be part and parcel of any recruitment drive. But, if you’re continually struggling to secure top talent, or even appropriate potential, then your recruitment processes probably need some attention. 

Continually poor-performing recruitment drives can result in an inexperienced team, unsatisfied workers, and a reduction in quality operations. The question is, why do your job descriptions keep attracting the wrong candidates, and what can you do about it?

1. Posting in the Wrong Places

There are now more places to post job listings than ever before. This is, at least in part, the reason why there are now so many applicants for each role. If we were to operate on statistics alone, the best platforms for any job listing would be options like LinkedIn (used by 90% of job seekers), and Twitter (used by 57%).

But statistics aren’t the only things required to make a good choice, particularly when it comes to recruitment drives that keep going wrong. After all, these figures do nothing to reflect the quality of candidates that each platform attracts. 

Instead, posting in the right places requires you to consider your target market, and where you’re likely to find them. For instance, if you’re seeking highly qualified, experienced top talent, then a professional platform like LinkedIn may well be your best option. By comparison, if you’re looking for a trainable new prospect who will be loyal and devoted to your company, a platform like Facebook will probably be best. 

2. Vague Job Descriptions

Your job description is the creme de la creme of your recruitment drive. This is the thing that will help hires to know what you want, and ultimately, whether they fit that bill. Of course, you’ll always get people who discard things like the need for a certain qualification and apply anyway. But a solid job description that outlines everything you require for the role should see you largely receiving suitable options for hire. 

If that’s not the case, and hasn’t been so for a few recruitment drives, then make sure that your job description template isn’t too vague, and always covers essentials like – 

  • Required qualifications
  • The need for experience
  • Clearly outlined job roles
  • Potential for job advancement
  • Preferred skills
  • And so on

By returning to this basic outline, and making small tweaks for each job, you can eliminate grey areas. This ensures that at least the majority of people applying should have what it takes to fill the role. 

woman writing ipad and looking at laptop

3. Making it All About Pay

Almost half of all companies now prioritise pay transparency in their job postings. That’s an increase of 136% in the last three years, and it’s a positive step towards more trusting recruitment processes. 

However, there is a darker side to shouting too loudly about potential salaries. When you make a job posting all about money, the ‘wrong’ kinds of applicants are more likely to crawl out of the woodwork. But these are people who may not have even read the rest of your description. Salary-dependent applicants are also less likely to stay with your company in the long-run. 

This is by no means to say that you should scrap mentions of pay altogether. Remember – pay transparency is crucial right now. However, to make sure that applicants aren’t solely set on your offered salaries, it’s worth – 

  • Placing salary outlines at the bottom of your posting
  • Using salary brackets rather than set pay amounts
  • Highlighting the ongoing value of development within your company

4. Interview-Heavy Decisions

What if it isn’t the applicants that are at fault here, but your recruitment process itself? After all, odds are that at least one of your applicants will be suitable in some way. So, what is it about your recruitment drive that means you keep making the wrong hiring decisions? 

Interview-heavy decisions tend to be the main issue here. After all, you’ve got a load of CVs to sift through. By the time you reach second or third-stage interviews, you’ve probably forgotten all about what was on anyone’s CV. This is only to be expected, and it can even result in unlikely hires that don’t look great on paper. But this tactic clearly isn’t working for you. So, it’s time to change.

After all, it’s easy to lie in an interview. All you need is the gift of the gab and the ability to get the manager (you) on side. But a great personality doesn’t necessarily make a great candidate. Instead, your final decision should be based on a layered candidate profile that considers – 

  • Interview performance
  • References
  • Experience and qualifications
  • Etc.

The best way to avoid interview-heavy decisions is, therefore, to perfect how you handle your applicants. Better management, and a clear profile for each candidate’s journey, means that you’ll never make the mistake of interview-heavy decision again. 

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Attract the Right People With the Power of HireHive

Poor recruitment processes are the most common reason for continually attracting, or hiring, poor-quality candidates. For the sake of your company and your sanity, you must iron out those recruitment kinks. 

With HireHive, you can more easily manage everything from your job postings through to your applicant management and assessment processes. Automatic job postings on the right platforms, and complete candidate profiles are just two features that could transform your recruitment drives and your after-hire assessments. All of which can make sure that you attract the right people, and that you can easily identify the highest quality applications in the pile. 

Put poor quality applicants in your past at last by arranging your free demo of HireHive today.

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