10 Recruitment Bottlenecks and How to Solve Them

10 Recruitment Bottlenecks and How to Solve Them

Roadblocks in the hiring process can land any company into a mess. These obstacles or “bottlenecks” put a dead stop to all the efficiency and momentum that took you years to integrate into the human resources department.

The most dangerous thing about bottlenecks in talent recruitment management is that they may feel as if the problems have existed and leeched into your system since the beginning. However, it is vital to understand that you cannot consider these bottlenecks to be a part of your company standard operating procedure.

10 Recruitment Bottlenecks and How to Solve Them

In light of this, here are 10 of the most common bottlenecks in recruitment you can identify and eliminate for good:

1.  Potential Candidates Saying No to the Job

According to HR and Operations Executive Maria Goldsholl, this is a rampant occurrence. It is common for potential candidates to say no to a job after they have been selected and washed through the entire recruitment process. Think about how much time and effort the hiring manager has wasted.

Talented recruiters are always a step ahead to ensure that there are no surprises to catch them off-guard until the candidate that is selected says “yes” at the end of the process. The best way to do that is to have a long meeting with them at the very beginning of the process, responding to their concerns and asking them all the right questions to uncover additional hesitations.

2.  That Egregious Storm of Applicants

One of the worst things that can happen to recruiters is when a swarm of unqualified applicants hits them. This is a truism when you have a big requisition load. Always sit down with the hiring manager and be crystal clear about what it is they are specifically looking for.

Then when you make the job posting, ensure you mention all the specifications of the skills and type of talent your company is looking for. Plus, it is also wise to incorporate an applicant tracking system to get rid of candidates that do not fit the bill.

3.  Not Being Ready for Excellent Candidates

Tardiness in hiring the right people (especially when you have a lot of them in the funnel) due a discrepancy-filled or unclear process can become a big problem. The best thing you can do here is to streamline the acquisition process and duly notify the candidates of your timeline.

4.  Waiting for Candidate References

Waiting for the right talent to send their references or to timely respond to your inquiries can become a bottleneck nightmare. The correct way to avoid this complication is allowing references to get in touch with you through different channels. Ask them to leave you an email or voicemail in case they are busy and inform your candidates to follow up with their references.

5.  Too Many Heads in One Basket

According to entrepreneur and recruiter Barbara J. Bruno, when there are a lot of people involved in the process, it can cause a lot of delays. This does not reflect well with the candidate. They might begin to vacillate, possibly rejecting the offer at the end of the recruitment process. You can tackle this issue by creating a transparent and easy recruitment process. Narrow the list of the people vital to offer recruitment feedback, and only involve them when you first contact a good candidate.

6.  No Compromise in Compensation

Inflexible compensation packages or benefits plans will always deter the right  people you have selected. Moreover, if the approval process is stringent and slow, you will most likely lose talented candidates to your competitors. To mitigate this risk, it is always better to streamline the details of the salary package and compensation data during the recruitment process. Apart from salaries, it is also important to discuss benefits and to make sure recruiters have all the data from each potential candidate.

7.  Being too Generic in Terms of Posting Job Descriptions

A blanket description in the job post can lead to many complications when it comes to attracting talented candidates and people you believe have the right skill sets. Using generic terms such as we are looking for “candidates that have outstanding communications abilities” or “focused individuals” or “detail-oriented” will attract all sorts of applicants. The worst part is the best people for the position may not be interested in applying for the job.

8.  No Clear Mention of Job Duties

As per blogger Bridgette Wilder on the Forbes Human Resource Council, you have to understand that there is a difference between job description and job duties. While the former explains why that particular designation exists, the latter explains all the duties that need to be performed to fill that designation.

This is a truism because over time the needed duties to perform the job may have changed and the job description might not be updated. A bottleneck creeps in when you start hiring without clearly validating the position you need filled.

9.  Hunting for the Perfect Employee

Another problem that hiring managers often create for themselves is when they start a wild goose chase for perfect candidates, also known as “unicorn candidates”. You have to understand that extremely talented candidates are a rarity. Wasting time finding one instead of creating an effective list of what the company considers as “good to have,” or “we better have him/her onboard” will help eliminate this problem.

10.  Hesitant Recruitment or Over-the-Top Critical Hiring Supervisors

Being unsure of whom to hire all the time and being over-critical can be an epidemic when it comes to recruitment bottlenecks. The human resource department must always positively intervene and get rid of delays in hiring. If the hiring manager is being indecisive, he must be supported and encouraged to make a good choice. If the manager is being choosey, simply and politely mention they are wasting a lot of time and money.

All in all, while talent recruitment may seem as a daunting undertaking, which it can sometimes be, you now know of several bottlenecks that will make the process more complicated. Identify these problems beforehand and integrate all the correct solutions for a smoother and transparent process.

Fatima Mansoor is a writer at Aepiphanni, a Business Consultancy that provides Management Consulting, Managed, and Implementation Services to business leaders and entrepreneurs seeking to improve or expand operations. She specializes in business & entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and health & fitness. Her focus is on creating compelling web content for small and medium businesses form diverse industries. She mostly writes for entrepreneurs and marketing agencies across the US, Australia and UK.

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