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Innovative Strategies for High-Volume Recruitment

The world of recruitment continues to see significant changes, with job-seekers gaining more control over hiring and new technology changing the traditional methods of sourcing candidates. Recruiters are expected to respond to the very competitive labor market with innovative strategies to attract and hire candidates in high demand. Most traditional recruitment strategies are time-consuming and can only handle one or several positions at once. For high-volume recruitment, HR leaders need to take a unique approach to source high-volume candidates. According to the Aptitude Research report, more than 6 in 10 companies have high-volume recruitment needs, but 48% say they are struggling to attract quality talent and prevent candidate drop off. 

High-volume recruiters are constantly under pressure to fill multiple roles and meet tight deadlines and strategic recruitment goals. Luckily, there are ways to make high-volume hiring efficient and less stressful. In this article, we will talk about some innovative strategies to optimize high-volume recruitment. 

What is High-Volume Recruitment?

As the name suggests, high-volume recruitment describes the practice of hiring a large number of open positions in a limited period. There are two scenarios for high-volume recruitment: In the first scenario, a company decides to fill a large number of positions for its growing business; in the second one, the company receives a higher-than-average number of applications for the job. Sometimes, high-volume hiring can be a mix of both. 

While there is no precise number for high-volume recruitment, the average job ad receives 59 applicants, whereas a high-volume recruiting position receives over 250 applicants, to put it into perspective. 

High-volume hiring differs from traditional recruiting in many ways. The traditional process is efficient only if you are filling a few roles because it involves narrowing down the pool of applicants and then interviewing each of them. It is usually a lengthy process with several rounds of interviews. In contrast, a high-volume hiring process often requires you to hire many people within a short period, which cannot happen manually. You need to quickly and efficiently source and screen candidates, but it cannot just be any candidates. 

All of that may sound overwhelming, but you can easily manage your high-volume recruitment process with the right strategies.

Challenges with High-Volume Recruitment

High-volume recruitment has never been easy. It is much more challenging than simply filling in a few positions. When hiring at scale, there are multiple obstacles that can significantly impact organizational success.

Here are the top high-volume recruiting challenges that make it difficult to fill different positions:

Time Limitations

For hiring managers who have to review lots of applications, the amount of time lost is the primary challenge. A typical job opening involves a bulk of applications, so imagine having to deal with numerous positions like that. As a result, a recruiter struggles to fill the positions because screening CVs and conducting interviews slows down the entire hiring process.  It is especially relevant when there is a tight deadline and recruiters need to find the right hires within that time frame. To stay ahead of the game, HR leaders cannot rely on manual processes to find the best talent to stay ahead of the game.

"Unlike traditional corporate recruitment, high volume hiring needs are extremely time-sensitive, and speed defines success. Companies need to simplify, optimize and automate as much of the candidate journey as possible to decrease time-to-hire. Businesses that are unable to scale their hiring to meet demand risk negative business outcomes."

Sean Behr, CEO of Fountain

Inefficient Methods of Candidate Sourcing

Companies that rely on outdated recruitment techniques, such as relying on walk-in applicants, have difficulty scaling without increasing the number of recruiters. Candidate sourcing is a complicated and sometimes lengthy process. Recruiters need to understand the job position and the ideal candidate profile before they can start sourcing. For high-volume hiring, HR staff have to be able to handle a lot more applicants than usual, so there needs to be an efficient way of sourcing and communicating with potential candidates.

Unable to Provide Good Candidate Experience

Every organization should prioritize its candidate experience. According to research conducted by Resource Solutions, 94% of candidates said recruiting experience impacts their decision to accept the role. One of the most common challenges of high-volume hiring is that it becomes very difficult to ensure that every candidate is handled with care. Slow processes, poor communication, or simply the failure to market yourself as an employer can result in missing out on great candidates.

Strategies for High-Volume Recruitment

Use High-Volume Recruiting Tools

The best way to overcome the challenges of high-volume hiring is by utilizing recruitment technology. Resume screening is a tiresome process to accomplish manually and is ineffective when recruiting at scale. On average, 75% of the applications a typical high-volume job posting receives are considered unqualified.

Recruitment tools can help you identify irrelevant resumes and make screening faster and more efficient. They filter through a much larger number of resumes faster than humans, so when properly programmed, they can be irreplaceable when it comes to high-volume hiring. Many AI-powered recruitment tools can schedule interviews, send replies, and generally create a positive candidate experience.  By automating manual hiring tasks, companies can reduce their time to hire by 75%.

Optimize Your Content

When advertising high-volume positions, it is essential to optimize your content strategy to attract and engage as many qualified candidates as possible within the given timeframe. To minimize the risks of having too many unqualified candidates applying for an open position, recruiters should clearly list the qualifications and requirements for each job.

Job descriptions also need to be informative but concise — consider them a personal interaction that the employer is having with each candidate. Moreover, job ads and descriptions should be more inclusive and mindful of biased language.

The company’s website should also be optimized to handle increased traffic during high-volume recruitments. This may include a mobile-friendly site and an intuitive design built for large and sudden traffic volumes. Recruiters should also make sure that their SEO is on point to ensure that as many candidates as possible can see the job ads.

Use Recruiting Metrics to Evaluate the Process

Recruiting metrics help recruiters evaluate the hiring process and determine what needs improvement.  Being able to see where issues arise is one of the most useful strategies since recruiters are then able to identify and fix the problem. Taking those metrics into account is especially important during mass hiring as it allows you to look at the full picture and consider the limitations of the current recruitment process.

Here are the key recruitment metrics that every organization should be tracking:

  • Time to hire — the time it takes for someone to move through the hiring process. This metric is especially helpful in prioritizing and managing roles.
  • Cost per hire — the costs associated with the process of hiring a new employee. Costs to hire can be dramatically reduced using the right recruitment tools. 
  • Offer acceptance rate — compares the number of candidates who accepted a job offer with the number of candidates who received one. This metric helps evaluate your hiring process and the candidate experience.
  • Source of hire — sources that attract new hires to the organization. This metric helps keep track of the effectiveness of different recruiting sources such as job boards, the company’s career page, and social media.

How Can Employa Assist You with High-Volume Recruitment?

Employa is an AI-driven research assistant that makes high-volume recruitment more efficient with the use of advanced sourcing tools. In addition to candidate sourcing, Employa helps efficiently communicate with candidates and deliver a better candidate experience. Employa’s candidate portal can be used to communicate with candidates, schedule emails, send follow-ups, and stay tuned for updates. If you are thinking of optimizing your high-volume recruitment, contact Employa!

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