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Conducting your hiring process online is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s easier than ever before to get plenty of applicants for your job, so that you have plenty to choose from. On the other hand, you could get too many applications. And a lot of those applicants will not be right for the job, using up your valuable time. But luckily there are a few simple changes you can make. You can boost your online hiring process, in other words, and make it an effective strategy.
Optimize Your Website for Search Engines
When you’re doing your hiring online, you need people to find your job listing online. Therefore, if you have the job description listed on your website, you’ll want to make it easy for people to find this page through search engines.
Search engines are a common way that people find new job listings. So you’ll want yours to appear at the top of the results. To do this, however, you’ll want to use SEO strategies across your website, and not just on the job listing page. A few things you’ll want to look into are:
- Adding relevant keywords to your pages
- Linking to other authority websites
- Speeding up your website
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Provide a Detailed Job Description for Your Online Hiring
Sometimes businesses get too many applicants when they’re hiring online because they are not clear about what they’re looking for.
In short, if your job description is vague, whether it’s in the requirements for the job, the daily activities one would do in the job, the compensation or something else, more people will feel like they fit the description.
So when you’re creating your job description for online hiring, be as specific as you can. Let your applicants know what things you absolutely require. Then list those things you’re flexible about, the schedule they’ll work, the company’s internal culture, and anything else you can think of. This way, when someone applies to the job, it’s more likely they’ll be a good fit.
Share on Relevant Job Boards for More Effective Online Hiring
The other major way people find jobs online is through job boards. Once you have your job page up and running, you should share the link on any relevant job boards to gain more exposure.
Sites like Indeed, Monster, and Craigslist are all great places to start for online hiring. Additionally, when posting your job to these sites, be sure to write an eye-catching title. Then give the link back to your website and include some keywords.
Require Applicants to Create an Online Hiring Account
Between optimizing your website for search engines and posting the job opening on popular job boards, you should now have plenty of people flooding into your site. To make the number of applicants a little more manageable, one thing you can do is have them create an account on your site.
Requiring candidates to create an account with information like their name, address, and contact information does two things. First, it eliminates anyone from your online hiring process who isn’t willing to put in a few extra minutes to apply. Second, you’ll be able to create a database of applicants. Then you can then search through that database later on if another job opens up.
To add a “Create an Account” feature to your online hiring process, you’ll need a few things. To start, you’ll want a form on your jobs page asking for applicant information. This should connect to a database that stores all the information for each candidate.
Finally, you may want some form of authentication to ensure no spam applicants find their way into your online hiring system. Do this by sending out an email confirmation. Better yet, look into an SMS API to send the confirmation to their phone.
Screen Candidates with Tests
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Even with a detailed job description for your online hiring and requiring applicants to create an account, you might still get more applicants than you can handle. So another way to whittle down the pack is through online screening tests.
For example, you could create a quick multiple-choice question test about how they would handle certain situations they’re likely to face in this job. Or if your job requires fast typing, have them take an online typing test and submit the results to you. You can then use these test results to eliminate anyone who performed poorly.
When designing these tests, don’t make them too difficult. You don’t want to miss out on a great candidate simply because they didn’t understand one of the questions. The point of the tests is to see who is clearly not ready for the job and to make managing the number of applicants just a little easier. To get started, there are plenty of pre-employment testing software options that will make the process of designing an online hiring test easy.
Make Your Business an Attractive Place to Work
When creating your online hiring process, it’s important to remember that the best candidates likely have other options besides you. This means you need to do everything you can to make your business an attractive place to work. You can do this through some of the standard ways, such as offering a competitive salary or benefits package.
However, you can also think outside the box to boost your online hiring process. For instance, if your business is known for something special or does something better than anyone else, you can use this when promoting your open position.
For example, the company Pixelz was recently invited to join in a project promoting sustainability in Vietnam. Remarkably, they were one of only 10 companies that were selected to do so. Engaging in a sustainability project shows that they are a forward-thinking business. And the exclusivity of it shows that they are an in-demand company. Think about what your own business can brag about. Then use this whenever you’re conducting an online hiring search to bring in the best candidates.
Keep Things Simple
Finally, even with all the steps mentioned above, you should still aim to keep your application process simple. While you want to weed out those people who aren’t willing to spend a few minutes on their application, you don’t want to make it so complicated that no one applies. Just because someone is looking for a job doesn’t mean they have all day to fill out your application and go through your process. Keep your application process as short as possible, while still effectively eliminating those people who are not qualified for the job.
Start Boosting Your Online Hiring Process
Posting your job opening online can bring in a lot of applicants—often too many. By using the strategies mentioned above, you can not only ensure that your job opening gets in front of as many eyes as possible, but that those not suitable for the job are removed from contention early on. This will help you to find the best candidates so that when it comes time to start conducting interviews, you have the strongest possible field in front of you.
