Unlocking the secrets of human behavior can help us make better decisions and improve our lives. The same holds true for recruitment – understanding the psychology behind the hiring process can lead to more effective and efficient recruitment strategies. By studying the psychology of recruitment, companies can eliminate hiring biases and gain insight into what candidates truly desire from a job and workplace. In this article, we’ll explore how companies can use psychological tactics during the hiring process, and how recruitment management software, such as HireME, can provide valuable insights through its ATS system and analytics. We’ll also delve into the initial psychological occurrence that takes place during the interview process. Let’s uncover the psychology of recruitment and see how it can lead to better hiring outcomes.
The Psychology of First Impressions
The power of first impressions, also known as “thin slicing,” cannot be denied. In the initial moments of meeting a candidate, recruiters gather snippets of information such as grooming, body language, clothing, etc. to form an initial impression. But these first impressions can be deceiving, and it’s important not to let them cloud our judgment. By moving beyond first impressions and taking the time to carefully evaluate a candidate, recruiters can make more informed decisions and avoid missing out on valuable hires.
How Companies Should Use Psychology Tactics while Hiring?
Not all companies understand the importance of applying psychological techniques in hiring, those who are missing out do not understand that it can make a significant difference in finding the right candidate for their business. From carefully devised interview techniques to cognitive ability tests, these methods can help companies make more informed and conscientious decisions. Even if a company doesn’t want to adopt a set methodology, they can still learn from those who are already making a difference and incorporate psychological strategies in their hiring process. Companies can also develop their own psychological strategies to find the right candidate for the job.
As it is a crucial part of making effective hiring, let’s understand more about it.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness means the quality of committing to one’s work and successfully delivering it. Candidates should be judged based on conscientiousness. If they seem like a dedicated individual who is focused on work completion within the given time frame, they must be hired. Such individuals are an asset to the company and are likely to bring more to the company with their conscientiousness.
Psychological Testing Techniques
Test the candidate’s cognitive abilities through behavioral and structured interviews. Structured interviews are a set of pre-determined questions that are asked in a similar order to all candidates. Structured interviews although the least interactive help in eliminating recruiter bias. You can tweak the structured interviews by adding some behavioral and situational touches to them.
This will ensure a better candidate experience as behavioral questions will help judge performance and situational questions will decide the interviewees’ problem-solving skills. You can also make the candidates take pre-interview psychometric testing. These are deep ways of evaluating a candidate. Some of these tests are personality tests, intelligence aptitude tests, and skill tests.
Assuring Growth and Learning
Since a job is something that gives a sense of purpose to people, some vital factors regarding job needs to be addressed like salary, learning, growth, work environment, contract & agreement terms, and job incentives. You must make efforts to ensure the candidate’s growth in the current job role. Highlighting the necessities make candidate feel that their company cares for them.
Enjoying Interview Sessions
Interview sessions should not be grueling sessions in a somber atmosphere where the candidate is all clammy and tensed. Instead, it should be something that makes the candidate feel at ease so that they can give their best shot. A good interview session should be a formal as well as an enjoyable affair. It should be more like a conversation rather than an interrogation.
Understanding the psychology behind interview sessions and working towards that can make it completely non-dreadful. You can also allow the interviewee to ask any questions at the beginning of the interview to familiarize themselves with those aspects that they are unaware of.
Emphasizing Employee Recognition Programs
Your company has everything to offer to a candidate who is seeking a good salary, a great working environment, and proper equipment. These facilities are provided by nearly every company. So, how does your hiring management team stand out from the rest?
Talking about employee recognition programs is what attracts candidates the more. When a candidate is assured that there is growth and advancement in their career, they are bound to be motivated in the workplace. Candidates must know that they will be nurtured and valued by the company they are choosing. This applies to large, medium, and small companies.
Insights from ATS and Recruitment Management Software Data
Having insights into your recruitment process is very essential as it helps you understand how a recruitment process works. Analyzing data from your recruitment process can help you effectively manage it and make improvements where needed. An Applicant Tracking System in a recruitment management software can provide you such insights that will help you to source good candidates and retain them.
Insights Regarding Unqualified Candidates
Every hiring management team aims to source good candidates but sometimes despite efforts, they make a wrong choice and hire unsuitable candidates. To solve such a problem, an ATS system of a talent management software can be utilized.
An ATS system will help you to remove candidates that are not the right fit for your company. Candidates can be sorted and removed from the talent pool easily with an ATS system. Doing this saves additional time and effort for the recruiter.
Tracking and Helping Hiring Managers
An ATS system helps you and your hiring management team stay on the same page and track candidates to see if they have the necessary qualities. You also get an overview of the progress levels that your hiring managers are currently at that will help you to offer help if required.
A new recruiting manager will find it difficult to manage tasks that can be eased out with an ATS system. An ATS system automates processes that save a lot of time and effort making it convenient for new hiring managers to tackle the hiring process.
Additionally, senior recruiters do not have to explain to the newbies right from scratch. The latter may acknowledge the issues that new managers are facing and try to troubleshoot them.
Tracking Feedback from Candidates
It is important to collect feedback from new hires to make your recruitment process more effective and efficient. Both constructive and negative feedback does wonders. While positive feedback will help you to track the progress of your recruitment processes, negative feedback will help you to acknowledge the obstacles and find ways to overcome them.
An ATS system in a recruitment management software will provide you with insight into the pitfalls of the recruitment process. You will have a better understanding of what isn’t working in the hiring process. If there is an issue with a particular manager, you will have recruitment management software data to back up your claims while discussing the matter.
Focus on your Best Sources for Hires
You must check out those sources that are bringing in more candidates. For example, if your Twitter and Facebook handles are bringing in a lot of candidates, then you must prioritize them. On the other hand, the sourcing agencies that are not contributing much to the talent pool should be less focused on.
Often recruiters ignore optimizing the “sourcing” part of a recruitment process which leads to several issues. It is important to refine your sources so that you bring home good candidates. The strengths and weaknesses of your organization can be figured out with an ATS solution.
Final Thought!
By following the psychological tactics given above, a recruiter may eliminate hiring biases and streamline the recruitment process. Even tests can be conducted to determine the candidate’s cognitive ability and structured and behavioral interviews organized to test their problem-solving and decision-making skills. Another way to make your recruitment process more effective is the use of recruitment management software like HireMe that will fetch in more quality candidates streamlining your hiring experience as well.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the psychology of recruitment?
The psychology behind recruitment is to avoid hiring biases and ensure an individual’s long-term job satisfaction.
What are the three types of hiring?
The three types of hiring are:
Direct method: Recruiters directly contact a candidate through various educational and training institutes.
Indirect method: Recruiters advertise job vacancies through newspapers, magazines, TV, etc.
Third-party method: Third-party methods may include hiring through referrals or other companies.
What is the purpose of an Applicant Tracking System or ATS software?
An ATS system tracks a candidate’s progress in the hiring pipeline that makes recruitment simpler.
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