Back in the day, most skilled workers didn’t need a resume to apply for a new job position. But today, countless organizations require resumes, complex online applications, and other hoops for blue-collar talent to jump through before they can hit the Submit button and get in front of potential employers.
Not only do resumes create more obstacles for interested job candidates, but they can also be time-consuming for recruiters. Sure, a resume is an opportunity for job seekers to make a strong first impression with your company, but do they really matter when you’re searching for new hires?
Let’s take a look at the numbers. According to recruitment statistics, recruiters spend just six to eight seconds looking at resumes. At the same time, less than one in 10 resumes reach the hiring manager of advertised jobs. Your candidates dedicate blood, sweat, and tears to building the perfect resume—but their efforts often go unnoticed.
So, what information do you really need to hire qualified candidates? And how can you go beyond the resume? Here’s how to build your dream team and optimize the candidate experience with a simplified application process.
What Should Recruiters Consider During the Hiring Process?
Resumes can signify a person’s polished professional experience, but what does their career journey look like without a few rounds of revisions? To find the right job candidates for your company, you need to go beyond the traditional resume—and that means considering other factors during the hiring process. Here’s how to get started.
Candidate Potential
Maybe they don’t have the exact experience you’re looking for, but what about their potential? When you’re reading through job resumes, consider what kind of impact the applicant would have on your team and company culture. Would they bring enthusiasm to the job? Do they have innovative ideas that could grow your business? Do they have the potential to take on upskilling opportunities?
Whether you’re hiring manufacturing workers or caregivers, these factors are essential during the hiring process. Even if they’re missing resume-oriented qualities, prioritize leadership qualities and other soft skills (think: communication skills and teamwork capabilities) to find the best matches for your company culture.
Candidate Personality
Most resumes won’t give you a full glimpse into your job candidate’s personality. And if you’re like most recruiters, you’ve probably hired countless candidates who looked picture-perfect on their resumes but just couldn’t acclimate to your company culture. Before you make any hiring decisions, you need to dive deeper to assess the applicant’s personality, attitude, and cultural fit with your organization.
So, where do you start? Take the time to review your applicants’ social media profiles and their previous interactions with your company. Of course, taking a deep dive into each applicant’s personality isn’t always an option when you’re recruiting for a job position with hundreds of candidates, but it’s critical to get to know your shortlisted candidates on a deeper level before the initial interview.
Candidate Ambition
An applicant’s ambition plays a key role in their transition from candidate to new hire. After all, your main goal is to hire motivated, engaged, productive employees that will make significant contributions to your company. If you’re not hiring job candidates who are excited about their new position, you’re going to have a hard time sparking their interest.
Beyond their initial excitement for the position, consider their long-term ambitions. This way, you’ll be able to understand how long they’re planning to stay with your company. Recruiting and hiring qualified candidates requires valuable time, money, and resources—and you want to hire employees who will stay committed for an extended period. If your candidate expresses passion for your business and its growth, there’s a good chance they’ll stay around for the long haul.
How to Go Beyond the Resume
In the years you’ve spent attracting, recruiting, and hiring candidates, how many resumes have your team reviewed? Hundreds? Thousands? When your team screens a resume, they’re probably searching for qualified candidates with the right skills and qualifications to match your hiring needs. They might also scan the resume for key details like training, experience, and certifications. But at the end of the day, you’re choosing your new employee based on a static document.
To take a modern approach to recruitment, HR leaders need to recognize that resumes can only tell you so much about a job candidate. Sure, they might seem like a tried-and-true approach to hiring, but relying on resumes can limit your ability to find the perfect candidate. So, how can you take a smarter approach to hiring?
Prioritize Soft Skills
In today’s fierce recruitment landscape, soft skills are more important than ever. Why? It’s simple: Job candidates with great soft skills have amazing potential to grow into loyal, long-term employees. And even if you’ve found a job candidate that checks all the boxes in terms of hard skills, you’re still risking a poor fit for your company culture.
When a job candidate doesn’t have the skills needed for their position, you need to look at their behaviors to see if they have what it takes to develop new skills. Start by compiling a list of soft skills that are necessary for the role. For instance, if you’re hiring for an available sales role, you might prioritize candidates who are outgoing and personable. Most new hires can be taught to follow a process, but it’s much harder to teach someone how to be patient with customers.
Maybe someone has never provided professional caregiving services before, but they’re passionate about taking care of their own family members. In turn, this ] interest might allow them to motivate other members of your team.
Most soft skills can be evaluated beyond the resume during a short phone screening. To assess an applicant’s soft skills, ask what they like best and least about their current role. This way, you’ll be able to pinpoint what drives them to perform to their full potential.
Analyze Career Trajectory
Sometimes, an applicant might be interested in a new career path or industry. Although they don’t have experience with similar positions, you can still gain valuable insights from their previous jobs. Take the time to learn about their trajectory in other roles and industries for a sneak peek at how they’ll perform at your company.
Did they maintain the same day-to-day responsibilities for five years or did they take on new tasks? What did they do when new opportunities arose? Whether they have relevant experience or they’re breaking into a new industry, you want to make sure your job candidates have shown initiative and the ability to learn quickly.
While resumes can highlight promotions and other key career achievements, interviews and screenings can help you take a deep dive into your candidates’ accomplishments. During your initial interview, you can analyze a candidate’s career trajectory with open-ended questions like:
- Tell me about a time you went above your manager’s expectations to get the job done.
- When did you take on new responsibilities in your last role? What initiated this change?
Evaluate Motivation
When you’re searching for your top picks, you want candidates who bring a growth-oriented mindset to every project. Why? According to 2016 research by Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, some people believe their talents are innate (fixed mindset). Meanwhile, others believe their candidates believe their talents can be developed (growth mindset).
In other words, your goal is to hire people who believe that hard work pays off in the long run. You want to hire candidates who can actively grow their skills and work toward their goals. After all, your people are your number-one asset—and better people can make your business better, too.
To identify a candidate’s mindset, try asking behavior-based interview questions. Ask your top picks what motivates them and how they’ve dealt with failure. Ask how they’ve responded to feedback from leadership. Ultimately, the answers to these behavioral questions can give you more insight than a resume, and they can even help you uncover talent with an incredible potential for growth.
Take a Fresh Approach to Recruitment
Resumes used to be the best way for job candidates to get noticed by prospective employers, but are they still relevant? With so many companies competing for high-caliber candidates, you need to take a different approach to find the best matches for your company.
Ready to revamp your recruitment process? Looking to improve your interviews? If you have any questions about the hiring process, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. Set up a discovery call today to fuel your organization with a modern recruitment strategy.
