By Ian Coffey, Vice President – Strategic Accounts
Employers often want the perfect candidate – and believe a lengthy, thorough interview process will net that. The reality: most companies have an 80% candidate drop-off rate.
Candidate dropout isn’t unique to any sector or role, but it’s especially prevalent for hourly positions in retail and manufacturing. What sets companies securing the best hourly talent apart from the rest? A seamless and speedy hiring experience from application to onboarding.
Imagine a candidate experience so streamlined and efficient that application and hiring happen on the same day. With the right talent acquisition solutions in place, you can accomplish this.
Automation of certain recruitment tasks opens the door for these strategic improvements. Using this technology will help TA leaders better engage candidates to fill roles faster, decrease costs, and lower attrition. A win-win situation for candidates and hiring managers.
Here are three key areas you can automate to reduce candidate dropout for hourly roles:
- Screening candidates
One of the most time-consuming aspects of the talent acquisition process is screening. Pre-screening and resume screening can take days, risking losing the talent’s interest to other potential employers that are also seeking to fill hourly roles.
Activate automated online pre-screening questionnaires or text-based surveys to gather must-have information like salary expectations and location. Enable AI-powered resume screening to ensure applicants have the experience and skills required for the job. - Scheduling interviews
Recruiters spend lots of time coordinating interviews. The quicker conversations can be scheduled, the better – hourly candidates prefer a swift process.
Use self-scheduling technology so job seekers can take the lead and line up an interview from their phone or computer. Instead of days, you’ll have candidates scheduling an interview minutes after their application.
Bright example: Automation helped a global organization lower its dropout rate from up to 60% to just 7%. Some applicants are now even receiving interviews and offers on the same day as submitting their applications.
- Communicating with candidates
On average, Cielo data has shown that 22% of hourly candidates who accept your offer won’t show up for the first day. Maintaining communication is critical to keeping them engaged, but many companies often fall short here.
Use automation to deliver important messages via chatbots or texts. This allows you to provide updates on the application process, the benefits of working at your company, and, most importantly, an easy way for candidates to ask questions.
Creating a more efficient hiring process starts by speeding up the most time-consuming stages while actively engaging candidates. You can achieve this by using AI to automate conversations, implementing a tech-forward process, and utilizing bots to further streamline tasks wherever possible. The more qualified candidates you can get through each stage of the hiring process, the higher your chances of landing talent that’ll meaningfully contribute to your company.
Not all automation technology is the same. And implementing the wrong one can inadvertently cause the same delays you’re trying to avoid. If you’re unsure about how to make this technology work for you, a trusted talent acquisition partner that has experience enhancing the recruitment process with tech can help you choose the right solutions to meet your hourly hiring needs.
