4 STEPS TO HIRE BETTER ENTRY-LEVEL EMPLOYEES
Hiring entry-level or graduate trainee candidates is a different kettle of fish from recruiting for experienced roles. For entry-level or no experience positions, you have very little to base your recruitment efforts on, unlike when you need to find a candidate with some years of experience.
We know lots of companies (big and small) hire a lot of roles that require non-costly graduate employees with little experience. What is the best way to hire the right candidates?
Here are 4 strategies you can implement for great success;
- Cast the Net Wide But Have a Sieve
For entry-level jobs you want to reach as many potential candidates as possible. So spread the word about the role (be clear about the job vacancy details – we will write more on this very soon). Use talentsandskills.net to post the job, then share on social media, send out emails and WhatsApp broadcasts (You never know where suitable candidates are, your candidates lives online – on various platforms).
However in order not to get deluged with thousands of useless applications/candidates you need a sieve. If you have your own career page direct candidates to apply there and make sure they have to fill a form/answer a few questions. Or better still use TalentsandSkills.net Pre-screening Questions tool to sieve out sub-par applications.
- The Two-Layer Sieve
The two-layer sieve is a process that creates a two-layer loop that candidates will have to pass before their application gets to you. This minimizes greatly the time-wastage involved in entry-level recruitment. You can use the written test questions and application form formula for this.
The candidate will get to see 3 – 5 questions they must answer to be able to fill and send in their application. Only candidates that get a certain percentage of the questions correct and filled their application gets to be viewed by the recruiter. Your job becomes easier as you review the smaller number of more serious candidates.
- Shortlist Only the Best Should To Come for the Interview
So at the stage of reviewing and shortlisting applications, you make sure only the very best (in terms of their CVs and cover letters) are penned down for the interview. Still, you should run phone interviews first before arriving at a final shortlist to invite for a Face to face interview. This ensures your physical interviews will not be a waste of time.
- Identify the key things you need and look for them (Loyalty, Intelligence, Creativity, Hard work, Skillfulness, etc)
For entry-level roles, there are key qualities each role needs. Make sure you note them down and those are what you should be looking for in every review/interview.
Since you don’t have much to base on (eg relevant experience) it is important to get candidates that align with the major qualities the role require.
E.g if the role is finance-related etc you are looking for key qualities such as Trust, Loyalty, etc. Identifying at least 3 key qualities needed for each role will help in shaping the sort of questions and background research you do on the candidates.
Why Waste Valuable Time Looking for Entry Level Candidates? Post your jobs on TalentsandSkills.Net and start reviewing quality applications within a few hours of posting onwww.talentsandskills.net.
