Recruitment is one the most challenging tasks faced by many Human Resources (HR) teams. In the 2019 State of HR in the Philippines report released by Sprout Solutions, recruitment ranked second to labor relations as the biggest pain point of HR professionals.

This only proves that the hiring process is no easy feat. Gone are the days when vacant job posts are automatically filled. While there are a lot of people actively looking for a job, it can still be challenging to find a candidate with a profile that matches what your company is looking for because of many different factors. Let’s dig deeper on each of the most common recruitment challenges today.

5 Common Recruitment Challenges

1. High turn-over rate

What most HR professionals fail to realize is that most recruitment challenges start on the day an employee hands over their resignation letter. This problem is most commonly seen in workplaces dominated by millennial employees. It is said that 4 out of 10 Filipino millennial workers resign within only two years of employment. Millennial employees will soon occupy the majority of the workforce population as baby boomers retire, and what retention techniques that used to be effective might have to be reviewed sooner than later.

What We Can Do About This: Improve your Rewards and Incentives Package.

Technology has made it easier to access a plethora of job vacancies in a few taps. The challenge for recruiters is to make staying more attractive than the idea of job-hopping for this new breed of employees. Otherwise, they will have to search for candidates for the same positions more frequently than necessary.

2. Failure to attract the right candidates

One of the most common recruiting mistakes is picking the ‘most qualified’ candidate from a pile of unqualified talent. Many headhunters and recruiters find themselves moving forward with candidates who are not exactly the best fit for the job for the lack of better options. They consequently fail to find the candidates they are looking for because they've been targeting the general population of job seekers instead of identifying their niche talent, a smaller, more specified and targeted group more likely composed of high-quality talents.

What We Can Do About This: Build a strong employer brand

Create a story about your brand and make sure your message comes across right to your target candidates. This enables recruiters to attract high-quality talents who think they can fit into the culture a company has. Many BPO companies now invest in employer branding to help them ease the struggle of talent acquisition over the years. Having a strong employer brand at the forefront of recruitment is a good strategy in breaking the call center stereotypes and encouraging the right kind of people to choose your company.

3. Long time-to-hire period

A slow hiring process may probably just be a byproduct of the shortage of qualified talents, but it’s still a challenge many recruiters face nowadays. It is a struggle to find the most suitable candidate in a short period of time. This, plus the multiple interview stages a candidate must surpass before getting the job offer, results in a longer time-to-hire period that often drives away potential talents.

What We Can Do About This: Cut down unnecessary process in recruitment

Many problems in the recruitment process can be solved just by making sure that there is an efficient screening process. Recruiters must be in constant coordination with the hiring managers who know exactly the skill set they're looking for in a candidate. Once potential candidates were scheduled for an interview, set timeline expectations as early as the initial stage. Candidates appreciate it when recruiters let them know about how long they will be waiting for feedback.

4. Lack of recruitment data analytics

Data-driven recruiting is an innovation to HR managers in the Philippines. It is important for HR managers to learn how to effectively use the data from the tools they are using. However, only 7% of the global population of HR professionals are capable of optimize their usage of their people analytics. There’s a long way to go when it comes to making sure that hiring managers don’t go back to manual work.

What We Can Do About This: Invest in Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Having an ATS can streamline the hiring process and help recruiters make better decisions. A great ATS allows the recruitment team to collaborate and keep all candidate data in one place. It’s a tool that makes the hiring process organize and efficient, especially in storing data and exporting reports.

5. Poor candidate experience

Candidates nowadays evaluate their job offers based on their experience during the hiring stage. If recruiters provide a poor candidate experience—from beginning until end, it creates a bad impact on the corporate branding of the organization. Employers must keep in mind that even if they are planning to reject a candidate, it is important to end the hiring process properly, nonetheless.

What We Can Do About This: Implement an applicant journey that reflects your company values

Most recruiters often overlook the importance of good candidate experience, not knowing that this impacts their employer brand greatly. Treating candidates fairly and properly during the recruitment stage sends the message that you treat all your employees like that as well.

Recruiters can already adjust a few of their recruitment practices by merely looking at the candidate experience data above. Taking time to review, develop, and implement a great applicant journey can make or break the cycle of recruitment challenges every recruiter experience. Exert extra effort in putting yourself in your candidates' shoes to better understand their needs. Map out the stages they have to go through, eliminate the redundant phases, and identify the touchpoints. This way, candidates experience memorable interaction with your employer brand.

Final Thoughts

Many recruitment challenges depend on the size of the company or the type of roles a recruiter is looking for. HR managers should keep in mind that recruitment has never been about the number of applicants more than it is about the quality of the candidates you attract. There should be a balance in the speed and quality of hire, and quality must never be compromised. There will always be challenges encountered along the way but in the world of Human Resources, efficiency is key.