10 Ways to Improve the Quality of Your Candidate Pool

It’s easy to find a candidate to fill an open job position, but are you sure that they can live up to their applications and interviews? You see, you can have a seamless recruitment process whereby a candidate checks all the boxes from qualifications, experiences, and even handling themselves with poise during interviews. But, as soon as they start working with you, they do not deliver as per your expectations. Something is definitely wrong, and it all begins with job listings and recruitment procedures. To attract top candidates who are fully competent, it is crucial that you understand various ways to improve the quality of your candidate pool. Luckily, we list the best ten below.

Candidate Pool Meaning

A candidate pool is a list of candidates or job applicants shortlisted to meet specific job criteria. They undergo the candidate screening and onboarding processes, thus hiring the best ones. Other good candidates who do not qualify have their information saved in a talent pool for future opportunities. As an employer, it is also crucial that you also learn what talent pool management is to improve the quality of candidates they hire and hiring costs.

How do I Improve my Candidate Pool?

1. Create a More Detailed Job Description

Hiring unqualified candidates is mainly due to a poorly written job description. Don’t just focus on the educational levels, skills, and experiences. Instead, make your job description more detailed by including the company’s values and culture. In addition, let them know the kind of personality you are looking for and the roles they are expected to perform once hired. This way, the most suitable candidates won’t pass you by, thus attracting individuals looking for more than just a job. 

2. Market Your Brand

Employer brand marketing is crucial in maintaining your presence in society as a whole. Therefore, use social media or advertising platforms for marketing your business. This also means that you should treat your employees well and make them feel lucky working with you. As a result, they will automatically become your brand ambassadors, and you will be able to attract top talent looking to become part of your team.

3. Take Advantage of Employee Referrals

It is advisable that you do not only rely on applications to source the best candidates. Take advantage of your existing employees since they know much better about the quality of candidate you are looking for. Tell them the position you plan to hire and trust that they will source the most qualified candidates.  Of course, they are not specialized in hiring, and for this reason, you still need to filter their applications, thus finding high-quality candidates.

4. Filter Applications

Always filter incomplete applications since it only proves that a candidate did not take the job application seriously and won’t be able to deliver at work. Ensure they follow all instructions in your job posting, including requirements, personality, experience, meeting application deadlines, etc. However, some candidates may not be qualified for the job position but take the process very seriously. In this case, keep their resumes around to increase the pool of job candidates. You never know when you might need them in the near future.

5. Conduct Background Checks

It is crucial that you know the type of candidate you are hiring to keep your business and existing workers safe. By conducting background checks on candidates, you get to know their backgrounds, including criminal records, employment history, educational levels, and more. As a result, you will filter out the most suitable ones you feel will fit into your company’s values and culture.

6. Test Them

Have you wondered why some employers put their newly hired employees on probation? Well, this is a recruitment strategy that helps them test and observe the character and ability of a candidate in a role. You can also take advantage of this period to see how they work under pressure and their ability to handle work challenges. This way, you get to learn more about a candidate than what is written in their resumes and make the best hiring decisions.

7. Screen Your Candidates

When you carefully go through job applicants’ resumes, you will notice that some have taken the necessary steps to grow their careers while others are still at the same level even with years of work experience. You need to look into their work history, compare them and consider candidates that have shown career growth and ambition. Note that some information on a candidate’s resume may not be accurate, so take advantage of referral contacts to verify them.

8. Automate Your Recruitment

The recruitment process can sometimes be overwhelming and time-consuming, especially if you have many resumes to analyze. This can sometimes lead to hiring the wrong candidate, especially if you did not complete all the processes that needed to be done to find the best talent. Automating your hiring procedures can help improve efficiency and recruit a pool of qualified candidates. Additionally, you get to save time and money.

9. Avoid Being Bias

Being biased in recruiting can make you miss out on the best talent that you have been seeking for a long time. For example, you can decide to conduct blind interviews, thus avoiding considering candidates based on their looks, gender, race, etc. Be open to all applicants and give them equal opportunities to prove their worth.

10. Expand Your Selection Committee

Conducting the recruitment process on your own can lead to you making decisions based on emotions. Therefore, create a recruitment and interview committee that will be sharing their views and opinions regarding a candidate. This helps reduce biased decisions and improve the quality of the candidates you hire.

Conclusion

In today’s changing technology world, finding the best candidate is key to improving organizational performance. You need a candidate that can adapt to new changes and quickly learn new things. Additionally, a candidate should be ambitious and try their best to grow their careers. As a result, it will be easier for you to fill senior positions by promoting them rather than going through the overwhelming recruitment processes again. That being said, include the above methods to improve the quality of your candidate pool in your hiring process and attract top talent.