One of the biggest candidate gripes when job hunting is the duration of the hiring process, which can often take months for permanent roles. And in today’s ultra-competitive market for top language talent, internal recruiters and hiring managers must move quickly to snap up top linguists or risk losing out. This means having a slick process in place, from the initial job ad posting through the interview stage to making that all-important offer, which you hope will get accepted.
Here we look at SEVEN ways that will accelerate your recruitment activity:
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Use HR tech to create job descriptions
The importance of job descriptions can never be understated. AI and machine learning can play a pivotal role in freeing up the time of hiring managers by studying previous successful job ads, picking up on relevant keywords while checking for diversity and biases. As well as including salary (why wouldn’t you?), you want to present a compelling case to the candidate for joining your company.
Top takeaway: AI can help you save time (but make sure a human does a final check!)
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Don’t raise the bar too high or you’ll put people off
Job descriptions can often be a long, drawn-out list of requirements. No one is saying that you shouldn’t include your key pre-requisites but are so many actually essential for the role? Could you not perhaps offer training in some areas instead to broaden your talent pool? Always review the text and see if you can focus more on benefits and culture to make your language role more appealing to a wider group of diverse applicants.
Top takeaway: don’t be over-demanding – remove some of those excess bullet points!
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Boost the outreach of your language jobs
To receive higher quality applications, your jobs must be found and seen. You might want to use an integrated approach that involves publishing jobs on your website as well as relevant social media platforms. Industry specific job boards are another avenue to attract candidates. Just make sure you respond quickly and have a plan to communicate with all candidates, not just the successful ones.
Top takeaway: consider all available channels to increase diversity and application numbers
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Internal advocates can elevate your brand
Who better to promote your jobs than your own employees? A robust internal communication strategy will boost loyalty and retention and people that feel valued will want others to know what a great company they’re working for and will be more likely to share your language jobs with their networks. There are also personal branding tools that can do the work for you given time constraints.
Top takeaway: encourage your own employees to increase the visibility of your jobs
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Hiring for attitude can reduce bad hires
While each job will require different levels of experience - and in some cases these can be non-negotiable - you have to take into account technical and soft skills as well. Knowing that you can train them up to give them the skills they need can be a better option than opting for an experienced person who will not fit in with existing team members and may be more likely to leave after a short time.
Top takeaway: hiring for future potential can be a great long-term investment!
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Learn from past hiring mistakes
Over the years, you will have gained a lot of data from previous incumbents in the role – from staff appraisals, exit interviews and feedback for example – which should help you when hiring again for the same position. You’ll have a pretty good idea as to the type of language profile that will succeed in the job, the competencies that proved invaluable and those that were counter-productive.
Top takeaway: previous post holder information will help you make better hiring decisions
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Partner with a specialist
Your internal HR team may already be stretched and so you may want to engage with a reputable recruiter established in their industry or a specialist hiring platform like Top Language Jobs. Although there is a cost involved, their market knowledge and insights can be priceless, not only saving you time in sourcing but guaranteeing a shortlist of highly relevant candidates. You can start your interviews confident in the quality of candidates you’ll meet.
Top takeaway: the right partners will provide a strong shortlist of language professionals
Whether using game-changing HR tech to help create job descriptions, promoting your jobs widely on relevant platforms with the help of your own employees, applying the lessons from previous hires or opting for the knowledge of a specialist partner, there are a number of things you can do to attract better quality candidates for your language jobs in a much shorter timeframe.
Just make sure you don’t go overboard on requirements and never rule out someone with potential, as you can’t teach attitude!
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