7 Challenges Recruiters Face Attracting Top Talent (And How You Can Avoid Them)

In today's world, almost every organization is constantly looking for talented and upskilled candidates.

The quality of candidates hired builds where your organization will stand in the future, which is only possible when you have a good recruitment process. 

Successful recruitment indeed reflects the company's authenticity and professionalism.

However, we know that recruitment is not an easy process with its own set of challenges. 

For example, some recruiters face communication challenges, while some fail to find the right talent, and so on.

So, we will discuss the seven most common challenges recruiters face while attracting top talent and how to overcome them. 

😟 A lack of skills

The majority of companies (87%) are aware that they either have or will have a skills gap within a few years, according to McKinsey & Company. 

And with so much competition in the job market, employers always look for people with relevant skills. 

You need to attract the best in the market to stay the best in the market. 

Then there are industries like software development, engineering, etc., where recruiters must look for people who have certain qualifications and skills needed to perform the job.

💡Solution: Remember not to settle for an unskilled employee simply because it is tough to discover top talent. 

Continue to be picky in who you interview, and use skill tests to differentiate candidates. 

Tip #1: Don't forget to do a background check to ensure that the people you're considering hiring are as competent as they claim to be.

Tip #2: If you are willing to recruit freshers, then ensure you have the proper training programs to help them develop the skills required for your company's growth.

💡 Check out 15 best practices for training your new employees effectively.

🌍 Working location

Talented individuals, particularly new graduates, prefer to travel to cities for high-paying work with well-known companies. Businesses in less appealing places naturally draw a smaller number of applications. 

Location is perhaps the single most significant hindrance to obtaining top talent for organizations.

💡Solution: Allow staff to work remotely. Encouraging workers to telecommute allows you to bring in world-class talent from afar. To enable global recruitment, consider collaborating with an employer of record. They will handle tax filings and payroll without you having to open legal entities all over the globe. 

Tip #1: Remote employees save money on office space, equipment, and other expenses.

Tip #2: Remote working is no longer a nice to have. Work flexibility has become a key deciding factor for employees looking for new jobs. 

🚨 Check out 14 extra hybrid and remote work trends you can no longer afford to ignore. 

🗣️ Disorganized interview process

A disorganized interview process will hamper the application experience and push talented individuals out the door. 

From confusing job descriptions to hiring managers who can't answer basic inquiries regarding the position will have a wrong impression on your candidates.

💡Solution: Plan a consistent interviewing procedure for each post you fill. Sit down and thoroughly sketch the tasks and essential abilities for your new job openings. 

Tip: The more you plan and remain consistent from one hiring procedure to the next, the more professional your company will appear.

HR professionals also started utilizing different tools to organize interview processes, such as recruitment management systems, applicant tracking systems, all-in-one task management platforms, onboarding tools, CRM tools, etc. 

 To have an organized interview process:

1. Determine the number of candidates you'll be interviewing in a day.
2. Prepare a questionnaire with all role requirements.
3. Provide candidates with the interview dates.
4. Introduce recruiting automation to get things more streamlined and save time.

⌛ Strict hiring deadlines

To complete the hiring process immediately, some recruiters hire candidates who do not fully meet the skills or qualifications for the role.

💡Solution: To avoid this challenge, the recruiter must pay attention to the entire interview and do a background check. 

Tip: Don't hurry in any interview process and select candidates that might not suit the role properly. 

The one selected should have the proper skills and qualifications needed for that position.

⚖️ Keeping track of performance 

"What doesn't get measured, doesn't get improved," as the saying goes. 

Unfortunately, many businesses fail to keep track of their hiring process and which techniques effectively attract the right candidates. 

💡Solution: A recruitment management system is the easiest way to tackle this challenge. 

Tip: Keeping track of performance will help in having a detailed record and making necessary improvements or upgrading hiring methods where needed.

🌈 Hiring fairly

While hiring new employees, many recruiters struggle to recruit fairly and objectively to give all applicants an equal chance. Although the recruitment and selection process starts with the best intentions, personal bias can unintentionally creep into the decision-making stage.

If this is the case, other candidates who are actively applying to your organization will lose interest, and the trust connection will be damaged before it ever begins.

So you must ensure that your recruitment process is non-discriminatory and grounded in objective predetermined criteria.

💡Solution: Firstly, always identify the critical factors for success in the role. This means gathering all of the key stakeholders and clearly defining what success in the role looks like.

Secondly, you can use a psychometric test to determine whether the candidates possess the desired characteristics before meeting them. 

Tip: Psychometric tests are a fairer, more objective, and a more valid method of identifying your top contenders for the role. 

🤼 Fierce competition 

Organizations worldwide are on a hunt to attract top talents to work with them. 

As the competition for job seekers increases, so does the competition for recruiters.

There is no shortage of opportunities for those with exceptional skills. 

💡Solution: Standing out from the crowd is essential for job seekers and recruiters. 

Tip: If you don't want to risk losing talented candidates, then:

1. Develop an employer value proposition that attracts top talent.

2. Establish an employee referral program.

3. Focus on asking the right set of questions.

4. Offer an excellent candidate experience from the beginning.

5. Don't ignore your company's employer branding on social media.

➡️ Don't stop at the recruitment phase. Ensure positive onboarding experiences with Zavvy

Finding the right candidate for the exact position at the right time takes a lot of work.

Following the best practices and employing the right tools will streamline your recruitment process and attract the right talent for your organization.

So there you are—ready to tackle all your recruiting challenges and hire the best!

But that's only the start. Convincing the best talents to join your company does not automatically mean guaranteed new hire success. 

You will need to invest in an effective onboarding process to:

• inspire; 
• motivate;  
• teach your new hire the ins and out of their new role; 
• make sure they connect with their new team and your company's strategy. 

If you're looking for an effective and engaging onboarding solution, check out Zavvy.

We'll be happy to help you run the onboarding system of your dreams - and so much more. So schedule a free demo today.

Author Bio   

Shyamal Parikh is the Founder of SmartTask, an online work management/automation software that helps teams streamline their processes, whether sales, hiring, customer success, or projects. 

He shares strategies and techniques that improve a team's productivity.