Improving Transparency in the Hiring Process

A 2018 Glassdoor survey found that the biggest grievance amongst job seekers is lack of information about key details of a role, like compensation and benefits. A lack of transparency can lead to a number of issues in the recruitment process, such as negative candidate experience, high drop-out rates and a number of declined offers. Recruiting should be about trust and credibility between an organisation and a candidate, and one of the best ways to achieve that is to be more transparent.

Clear communication and honesty with candidates allows you to set realistic expectations for roles and keep candidates more engaged in your process. When there’s a lack of transparency, it can lead to misconceptions about the organisation and the role, which can lead to higher employee turnover when those employees realise their new job isn’t what was promised.

Most interview processes will reveal little information about what it’s actually like to work for an organisation – but it’s time to start changing that to help us to attract and retain top talent. After all, employee turnover is expensive, and transparency can help us to solve that issue. Being honest about all realities of the role is more likely to stop candidates accepting an offer if they know they wont be suited, and the most well-matched candidates won’t be put off. We’ve identified some of the key points in improving transparency in your hiring process:

1. Clear job descriptions

Pretty much all job descriptions are guilty of overselling the good, and either glazing over or not mentioning the bad. It’s no secret that every job will have its stressful moments, and requirements that we aren’t quite as fond of as others. But when you write job descriptions that oversell the positives, you’re creating the impression that the role is all benefits and no tough going.

If you know there’s something about the role you’re advertising that isn’t great, or something that doesn’t sound as great as others, you need to mention it regardless. Be clear about exactly what the role entails, and that way there’ll be no surprise expectations on your new employees.

2. Create and stick to a timeline

We all know how stressful hunting for a new job can be, especially when there’s radio silence from different employers between varying stages of the recruitment process.

If your candidates know when they can expect to hear back from you, those periods between stages in the process become a lot less stressful for candidates and have less of a negative impact on candidate experience.

It’s understandable that even when there’s a set timeline in place, different things pop up that require attention or things might not go as smoothly as planned – delaying that timeline. If there are any major delays in the decision making process, then simply let your candidates know that responses will be later than the expected date. This doesn’t have to be a time consuming task, as a simple template email can be used for each candidate or it can be sent out in bulk. It’s important to maintain communication throughout the entire process.

3. Include a salary range

One of the biggest motivators of a job hunt is salary – every candidate has expectations about what they want to earn based on what they currently earn and how much more than that they’d like from their new employer. Failing to provide a salary range with your job listings means you could be excluding the most qualified candidates before they even apply. For those who get to a certain stage in the recruitment process before realising that the salary does not align with their expectations, that’s time wasted for both the candidate and the recruiter. Every organisation should know it’s budget for a role, and it’s part of the transparency that needs to be instilled. Whether this is a fixed amount or is negotiable within a certain range, including this in your job listings will help you attract the most qualified candidates.

4. Brief your candidates

You’ll get a much clearer picture on a candidate’s personality and skills in an interview when they’re more relaxed and feel comfortable. But how do we make candidates feel comfortable in an interview, when it’s a generally daunting experience?

One way to do so is to be transparent about what will happen in the interview. Briefing your candidates about issues like what types of questions will be asked and any advice on what to prepare will go a long way in helping them to relax. It shows that you have a genuine interest in your candidates doing well during the process, and therefore makes them feel more supported (and again, improving the candidate experience).

5. Give feedback

This is the one bugbear that all candidates can relate to. How many of us in the past have not been successful at the interview stage and therefore asked for feedback, only to receive nothing?

We need to be maintaining positive relationships with our candidates. Just because they may not be suited to your current role, doesn’t mean they may be the perfect candidate for something else in the future. You need to provide an experience where, even if they’re unsuccessful, they feel comfortable applying for a different role at a later date.

One way to certainly stop candidates from feeling welcome to re-apply, is going silent when feedback is requested. Giving your candidates constructive feedback about what went well and what they could improve on, means they know what their areas of weakness are and therefore how to improve – meaning they can develop and look for opportunities with your organisation in the future.

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Issues with transparency all come down to, mainly, what happens post-hire. Lack of honesty and communication can lead to a number of different issues which can, simply put, end up costing your organisation unnecessary expenses. Whether that’s from turnover, lack of productivity, or impacts on morale, transparency in the hiring process can help us tackle all of these issues. It’s such a simple solution, but one that goes a long way.