Recruiting should feel rewarding, not like an endless game of trial and error. You put in your best foot forward, follow up religiously, personalize every word of communication, and make sure you make the candidate feel like a VIP, and before you know it, they’re out the door. Frustrating? Absolutely.
Is hiring broken? No. It just needs a fresh approach. With competition heating up, the rise of freelancing, and companies constantly on the lookout for talent, the old ways of recruiting aren’t cutting it anymore. A talent shortage is making it more difficult to attract and retain employees.
The key? Knowing how to spot all kinds of great talent, both the obvious high-flyers and the hidden gems who just need the right opportunity to shine.
Small shifts in your strategy can make a huge difference in both hiring and retention. Let’s dive into how you can tweak your approach and start seeing better results, without all the headaches.
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Special instance |
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When Dreamworks SKG went public, investors drove the value of the company to $2B. Only a film studio, with no actual studio, film, or even a star. It was just a star-studded founder cast – Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Davin Geffen. |
The best teams have a long-term vision of what they need from a position. They understand what the person in the role will do in the next 5 years. It can be an executive-level position or a simple lower-level position. However, visualizing the career trajectory and internalizing it comes in handy throughout the recruitment process. You’re not throwing jargon or playing around with ambiguous language when candidates ask you about the role.
Great hiring teams know about the hiring speed and quality tradeoffs. They use smart tools to screen candidates efficiently, structure interviews to focus on what really matters, and build strong talent pipelines so they’re never starting from scratch.
They have a rock-solid hiring tech stack – including Gen AI wherever required, recruitment software, and Candidate Relationship Management completely customized to their needs.
These phases, when meticulously followed, can bring you self-motivated, perfect fit for the job roles you need to fill. When that happens, you bring on board people who are highly self-aware, and accountable, and their career is safe and fulfilling, which saves you a lot of time. If you can find and place these kinds of hires for every job opening, you will develop a reputation as a team builder and people developer.
Setting the talent strategy will create an understanding of both the quality and quantity of talent that’s needed to deliver the business strategy, or create new business opportunities.
This ensures that hiring efforts align with business needs, leveraging both internal and external talent effectively. When putting together a solid recruitment plan, one of the smartest things you can do is take a step back and really look at your workforce. Who’s already on board? Who do you need to bring in?
Striking the right balance between internal talent and new hires isn’t just about filling roles. It’s about making sure your hiring strategy supports your business goals in the long run.
Maybe someone on your sales team has leadership potential, or a junior developer could be upskilled to take on a more complex project. Promoting from within saves time and money. No need for lengthy recruitment processes or onboarding. It keeps employees engaged because they see growth opportunities right where they are. You already know what these people bring to the table, so there’s less risk involved.
Sometimes, you need fresh ideas, specialized skills, or a completely new perspective. That’s where external hiring comes in. Maybe your company is expanding into a new market and needs people with experience in that region. Or perhaps your digital transformation efforts require tech skills that don’t exist in-house. However external hiring doesn’t always mean traditional full-time roles.
Many companies are mixing things up with:
This flexible people mix lets you scale up or down as business needs change, ensuring you have the right talent at the right time.
Before you start hiring, you need to build a solid foundation: one that ensures efficiency, consistency, and a great experience for both candidates and hiring teams. The first pillar is people.
Recruitment isn’t just an HR responsibility. It involves multiple stakeholders. Recruiters drive the recruitment process, of sourcing and screening candidates while ensuring a smooth experience. Hiring managers play a crucial role in defining what they need and evaluating applicants based on skills, experience, and cultural fit.
Interview panels, consisting of potential colleagues, leaders, or subject matter experts, add multiple perspectives to ensure well-rounded hiring decisions. The HR team oversees the entire journey, from compliance and contracts to onboarding and retention.
This is what supercharges the entire hiring function. An applicant tracking system (ATS) keeps everything organized, from resumes to interview feedback, ensuring a structured workflow. AI-powered sourcing tools help identify great candidates faster, while assessments provide data-driven insights into skills and potential. AI-enabled sourcing and screening capabilities and candidate relationship management platforms have the most potential to aid recruiting operational excellence.
Collaboration tools allow hiring teams to share feedback instantly, reducing back-and-forth and speeding up decisions. Once a candidate is hired, HR tech platforms make onboarding smooth by automating paperwork, training, and engagement. The right tools transform recruitment from a manual, time-consuming hiring process into a streamlined, intelligent system.
Managing human capital always requires a deep understanding of the work people do. Job analysis helps you with just that, and the result of the analysis is the job description.
With the level of changes happening everywhere in the world, changing requirements are always ongoing and have an enormous impact on competency requests for hiring. It’s incredibly useful for developing behavioral interviewing protocols for candidate screening. It also helps set pay levels.
Now you can do this in a variety of ways.
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Way of conducting job analysis |
Significance |
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Self-reports |
Employees provide firsthand insights into their roles, tasks, and responsibilities. Captures real experiences |
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Direct observation |
Watch employees perform their jobs in real-time. This method provides objective data on tasks, workflows, and work conditions but may not capture the cognitive aspects of the job. |
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Interviews |
One-on-one or group discussions with employees and supervisors help gather detailed qualitative data about job roles, expectations, and challenges. |
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Document reviews |
Examining job descriptions, SOPs, performance reports, and training materials helps understand job expectations and responsibilities. |
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Questionnaires and surveys |
Structured forms collect standardized data from multiple employees efficiently. They provide quantifiable insights but may lack depth if respondents don’t provide detailed responses. |
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Shadowing |
Follow employees during their workday to observe tasks and interactions. This provides a comprehensive, real-world view but can be intrusive and time-intensive. |
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Subject matter experts |
Consulting experienced professionals who deeply understand the role ensures a well-rounded and expert-driven job analysis. |
When you choose the method for job analysis, capture the following details religiously:
Now that you know what you want precisely, it’s time to find the right channels to tell the world you’re looking for rainmakers. Proactive sourcing is the way to do that, and will certainly slash your hiring costs. 62% of HRs state their recruitment efforts are rather successful when they recruit from a more diverse and underutilized talent pool.
The best way to build a preliminary list and find out the best channels for you is to answer the following questions:
Once you’ve completed answering the above questions, it’s time to choose your channels. If you’re only posting job ads and waiting for applications to roll in, you’re missing out on top-tier candidates. The best hiring teams take a proactive approach, tapping into multiple sources:
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Channels |
Significance |
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Employee Referrals |
Your existing team knows what it takes to succeed in your company. Encourage them to refer like-minded professionals. |
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Social Media & LinkedIn |
Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Reddit can connect you with top talent in your industry. Scout for people with personal brands, those who have opinions about the trends going on in their field of work. Make it a point to reach out to at least 10 people every week on social media and build relationships. |
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Industry Events & Conferences |
The best professionals are often networking, speaking, or learning at events, meet them where they are. |
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Freelance & Gig Platforms |
Sometimes, starting with contractors or gig workers helps identify long-term fits for your team. |
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University & Alumni Networks |
Tapping into fresh talent and alumni communities can uncover hidden gems. |
Why would anyone want to come, and invest a crucial part of their career, and life stage with you, if they have no idea what their time with you will look like? That’s why you need to give them a glimpse of who you are before you promote yourself as an employer. That’s where employer branding comes in.
Create an online avatar of your company, and give a day-in-the-life-of walkthrough of what working in your company will look like. Have your employees post about what they love about working with you. Candidates are generally more attracted to the organization than to the job, and that’s why laying equal importance on the culture will do you good.
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Pro tip 💡 |
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Create a recruitment brochure for every position. It’s a document that goes along with your job description and contains your company history, mission, vision, your headcount, locations, customers served, market niche, hiring process the candidate can expect, whether you conduct BGV, documents required, when will they start performance reviews, and value of the benefit programs you offer. |
This is the initial phase of screening, a preliminary filtering process where you rule out primary misfits, and hone in on potential candidates and qualified candidates who sound promising and competent for the role. This saves a lot of time in terms of personal introductions, small talk, and formal interviewing, and gives a positive candidate experience. It takes only 10 minutes for every screening call, and you only cover the basics.
Make sure you ask the following questions in the screening call itself, so there are no surprises later on:
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Pro tip 💡 |
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If candidates are unwilling to tell you about their current salary or future compensation expectations, it may mean two things – they may be underpaid currently, or way above the market average salary. You may need to take a call on how to move forward with it. |
After you make the initial screening calls and rule out those unfit, let’s make the list shorter and more targeted.
Consider 4 key metrics to make the shortlist:
If the candidate sounds promising, but you gather that they are simply fishing for a counteroffer at their current company, or expecting to be promoted in the next 6 months but want to interview with you, it might be a clear red flag. You may want to steer clear of them.
That said, here are a few green flags about a candidate’s reason for leaving their current role. Those who want:
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Gil Winch, psychologist and social entrepreneur says, “If you want to assess a candidate’s true potential, see how they function at their best, not at their worst. That’s why a good interview process is where people are most confident discussing things about which they are passionate before beginning with technical questions. It is also one that provides familiar contexts, lowers anxiety, and provides hints to questions to see how candidates adapt and learn.” |
Most interviews are high-pressure interrogations that make even the best candidates nervous, and sweaty. It’s hard for anyone to deliver their best or tap into their potential when they feel they are put into the spotlight.
That’s why taking a coaching approach – turning the I-need-all-the-info-about-you into a true, value-based conversation about the needs and aspirations of the candidate. Get them to talk about their long-term career planning goals.
This isn’t a contest for them to prove themselves to you and get the prize – the job. Instead, turn it around into a chance to make them think about their own priorities, and long-term career goals, and finally arrive at if and why this job is the missing piece in the puzzle. When you switch from the interrogatory mode to a value-sharing mode, you immediately build rapport and goodwill and give them a chance to find out if they’re compatible with you.
When you ask questions relating to the core competencies of the role you’re looking to fill and sprinkle in behavioral questions. When you club both, you identify candidates who demonstrate a heightened awareness of strengths and weaknesses.
To determine the best fit who will stay with you, add to your culture, develop your team, and be a real asset, check for the following. These can’t be taught easily, so you need someone who is already high up on the following principles:
This is where you hone in on finish-line negotiations. Once you select the candidate and convey it to them, the power dynamic shifts. You rely on them to make a favorable move. Ensure the likelihood that a candidate will say yes within the same timeframe you are ready to extend the offer. One of the best ways to do that is by creating an irresistible offer. Ensure you check the following points to develop a winning offer:
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Pro tip 💡 |
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Ensure no one gets an offer until they pass the following offer drill |
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Questions to ask |
What to infer? |
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1. Has anything changed since the last time we spoke? |
Is there a sudden increase in their responsibilities? Do they have a job offer from another organization? Discuss new developments, and ascertain if they would put the job on hold |
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2. Where do you stand in terms of the possibility of accepting/rejecting it? |
Shows if they are clearly into your job, or are still looking out |
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3. When will you be able to start? |
Shows if they have a pre-planned vacation coming up that you should know about |
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4. How much notice should you give your employer? |
Will their resignation be accepted and the notice period begins immediately? How likely are they to be let go before the notice period ends? |
Preboarding is the period between offer acceptance and the new hire’s first day. It’s that awkward in-between time where candidates are excited but also a little nervous. A well-planned preboarding experience reassures them that they made the right choice and gets them pumped for their new role. Your new hire is still in a transition phase, and if you don’t keep them engaged, they might start second-guessing their decision.
Here are a few ways you can make this period pretty exciting for your new hires:
An efficient recruitment process is only complete after a new hire settles down in the job. You have 44 days to make or break your onboarding experience. You’d also be surprised to know that 70% of new hires decide if their role is a good fit within just one month.
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Anita Grantham, HR Head of a popular HR tech brand says, “People are coming based on the employee value proposition that they thought they have purchased. When they come in for 44 days, they are seeing if you are returning what you sold them. This is the time they are seeing whether what they thought is being delivered.” |
If you aren’t careful, onboarding can feel super transactional. What do you do to make it feel personal?
This is the perfect time to create true believers and sell your company’s story. It’s also the time to:
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Pro tip 💡 |
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30-day check-in |
60-day check-in |
90-day check-in |
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What surprises did they find, what do they like about the role? Is it going well? |
What needs to improve wrt job satisfaction? |
Who helped them the most? Have they had any uncomfortable asking? How’s the role compared to their original expectations? |
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Mike Wolford, Author of The AI Recruiter, builder of The AI Recruiter GPT says, “You have to cope with massive application volumes, and dealing with increasing competitors as a recruiter. That’s where AI can save you. AI operators can go through your ATS, build out your list in the ATS, look at resumes of people who apply, go through Sales Navigator if you use one, find email IDs, cross-reference them, and put them in a spreadsheet. |
Now go back and read the entire quote again.
Yes, you’re right.
Every bit of grunt work you (as a solo recruiter), or the mid-level recruiters in your team do every day is easily going to be replaced by AI. And guess what? This doesn’t just happen one by one. AI can do the same for thousands of profiles you have in an instant. Imagine the time and cost savings. It can source, screen, and get ready 3,000 candidates by the time you do 30.
It’s time to move from being a reactive, responsive recruiter to a labor market expert and value expert, which is exactly at the core of what your role entails.
The only way you can get there is by allowing AI to free up time, schedule, and do phone interview process, which is what the future of the role is. In the near future, your management will expect you to come to the table, with data of what the labor supply and demand looks like, how the market is working, and how much you can expect to pay. Along with it, you’ll take to the table the short list of candidates from your top 3 sources of hire, what they are making, and ask if the hiring manager would like to interview them.
That’s the level you’re going to play at if you use the right tech stack for your company’s recruitment process.
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Time-to-Hire |
Measure how long it takes to fill a position from job posting to offer acceptance. A slow process may indicate inefficiencies or bottlenecks. |
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Quality of Hire |
Assess new hires' performance, retention, and overall impact on the business. High turnover or poor performance may signal gaps in screening or selection. |
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Candidate Experience |
Gather feedback from candidates about their experience. A frustrating or lengthy process can hurt your employer's brand. |
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Hiring Manager Satisfaction |
Check if hiring managers feel they are getting the right candidates efficiently. Misalignment can indicate issues with sourcing or screening. |
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Applicant Drop-Off Rates |
Analyze at what stage candidates are dropping out. |
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Offer Acceptance Rate |
If candidates frequently reject your offers, it could be due to compensation mismatches, slow decision-making, or poor engagement. |
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Interview Process Efficiency |
Ensure interviews are structured, consistent, and relevant. Too many rounds or unorganized interviews can drive away top talent. |
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Cost per Hire |
Monitor the total cost of hiring, including job posting, recruiter fees, recruitment process outsourcing (if you do) and time spent. |
Darwinbox takes the headache out of hiring and makes recruitment smooth, fast, and way more efficient. First off, we have a powerful applicant tracking system (ATS) that keeps everything in one place. No more digging through emails or spreadsheets to find that one resume. You can post jobs, track applications, schedule interviews, and manage feedback, all in a few clicks.
Instead of manually going through stacks of resumes, Darwinbox’s AI-powered sourcing features help you filter out the best candidates based on what actually matters. The tool pulls talent from job portals, social media, and even employee referral programs, so you're always casting the widest (and smartest) net.
It also syncs with calendars automates reminders, and even provides structured interview templates so hiring managers can give better feedback. With this tool, you can keep applicants engaged with real-time updates, automated emails, and even a mobile-friendly experience that lets them stay connected without the hassle.
On top of all that, you get real-time analytics that tells you what’s working and what’s not, so you can tweak your strategy, cut down hiring time, and get better results with every hire.
Contact us today, to make get a thorough walkthrough of the tool, and see how you can make your hiring far better.