No matter how economic conditions ebb and flow, companies are always seeking an increased supply of job candidates. In fact, it’s at the top of most talent acquisition minds. Finding ways to turn the cost of hiring into a future investment is crucial for long-term success.
The truth is that job candidates are a great source of value to your company. Still, many companies don’t maximize the full potential of this value. Achieving maximum value requires thinking differently about the talent acquisition process. Let’s explore further.
Does the Quantity of Candidates Matter?
Think about this question—what would you do with more job candidates? You may feel a little more comfortable and secure in filling your open roles, and you might even get some recognition for a job well done.
But given that the objective is to make a quality hire for the business, do those extra candidates really add value to the stack of applications you already have?
It’s indisputable that a steady flow of qualified candidates is an asset for any company, but is an overload of candidates an asset? With my finance background, I evaluate the return on company assets by starting with the cost of hiring. To assess the return, you must first understand this cost.
The Cost of Acquire Job Candidates
It’s expensive to acquire a job candidate. We recently wrote about this in an article titled, The Dirty Little Secrets Job Boards Don’t Want You to Know. In that article, we documented that the cost of a job candidate obtained through a public job board costs a minimum of $300 per applicant (on average, it’s likely much more).
For the sake of argument, let’s say the cost of a job candidate (just a candidate and not a hire) is $500. Take a journey with me to follow a fictional candidate through the process. Let’s see if we get a reasonable return on that $500 investment.
A case study: An applicant named Jean
Meet our applicant. Her name is Jean. Jean is one of many applicants who have applied for our open sales associate position in one of our retail stores. She is officially in our ATS and ready to be evaluated.
From here, one of the following things will likely happen:
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Thanks, but no thanks. Based on our qualifications, Jean was disqualified for the position. It’s possible that she indicated she could not work weekends, is unavailable during the necessary hours, lacks reliable transportation, is not legally authorized to work in the U.S., or does not meet other qualifications. You sent Jean a polite response stating that there are currently no positions available for her but to try again in the future.
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The invisible candidate. Jean met all the qualifications, but she was one of a hundred other applicants. The reality is that our recruiters or hiring managers just couldn’t review her application. We’re glad she applied, but it’s not realistic for us to properly consider everyone.
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Possibly, but then again, no. After considering Jean’s qualifications and experience, our hiring team has decided to move forward in the hiring process. However, after her interview, we decided to move on to another candidate.
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You’re hired. Everyone thought Jean was great. She passed her background check and drug screen, and you extended an offer. She accepted.
It costs $500 to attract and hire Jean out of every ten candidates, totaling $500 to hire Jean and $4,500 for the other nine candidates.
Is there any value in the other candidates, or do you have to get a return on the entire $5,000 based on Jean’s employment? That would be a heavy lift for Jean! She would need to stay on the job for a very long time and perform really well to provide a return on that investment.
What to Do with the Great Candidates You Didn’t Hire
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What can we do with the other nine? A couple of ideas come to mind:
Applicant Pooling
Many retailers have multiple locations in a relatively close geographic area. An applicant pooling feature allows managers at nearby locations to take advantage of excess candidates.
What if one or more of those other nine applicants would be a good fit in a different location? It would be a bad thing to leave good candidates on the table with today’s labor shortage.
After a certain time, applicant pooling allows nearby managers to consider all candidates who have applied to work for the company regardless of location. Ensure your ATS can maximize the available applicants across multiple locations and reduce candidate rejections with applicant pooling.
Consider the candidate for other open positions
You have other open positions in your retail business besides sales associates. You also need stock personnel, warehouse workers, cashiers, customer service reps, store managers, assistant store managers, and maybe more.
One or more of those nine candidates may be a good fit for a position other than a sales associate. You may say, “But they applied for the sales associate position.” So what? They may well be interested in a different position if you engage with them.
I can already hear you. “I can’t even evaluate all the applications I receive for any particular position, and now you suggest that I evaluate every applicant for every position. That’s not possible.”
But it is possible. To make it possible, you need a machine learning decision support system that automatically analyzes and identifies the top candidates for each position in your company.
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Next Step: Candidate Data Models and Machine Learning
Armed with a candidate data model, a machine learning algorithm can analyze all your candidates in seconds and make recommendations on which candidates will make the best employees in each job.
You may be wondering, “What is a candidate data model, anyway?”
A candidate data model is a set of characteristics that your best employees possess on a position-by-position basis. These could include proximity of residence to job location, education, work history, personality traits, situational judgment, or any number of non-discriminatory factors.
You can use a candidate data model to match candidates against the criteria that predict a good employee and know, for certain, which candidates are worth your time. You can do this for all candidates and for every job.
Even better, reviewers consistently evaluate all candidates in a manner free from bias to select one who will be a great employee and feel a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in their job.
Final Thoughts
Don’t give up on a candidate just because they didn’t perfectly fit the job for which they applied. It costs a lot to acquire those candidates.
When a person applies for a job at your company, use all the tools available to you to get the absolute most out of your investment. The candidate made an investment as well—they invested their time and effort to apply, impacting the cost of hiring. Maximizing this investment ensures both parties benefit.
Use machine learning to maximize the return on both parties’ investment. Jean will thank you for not making her shoulder the entire load.
You may be interested in our article, “The Real Cost of Employee Turnover.”
