In an organization, traditional recruitment approaches have seen, in nearly all cases, the similar issues occurring in today’s fast-paced workforces around the globe. Due to lack of diverse methods and tooling , a reliance on subjectivity acted as a base and a key mantra for candidate selection, costs involved and time for the process. The agile methodology was developed by the software industry as a project management tool that focuses on collaboration, lean work teams and workflows, as well as continuous incrementing release. HR professionals have studied the methodology and applied it around the globe to organize cross-functional work teams, promote self-accountability, daily ‘scrum’ meetings to review progress and provide feedback, as well as ensure fast and proactive approaches to project management across nearly every industry.
Ever given a thought as to, “Why do the HR departments encounter so many recurring challenges in enhancing the experience of candidates who are applying for technical roles?” The deep-rooted answer to these similar problems will come out as – the HR department focusing on the traditional approach towards recruiting and screening the candidates. In order to overcome the traditional approach of recruiting candidates, organizations should think of an Agile approach towards recruitment.
One should follow four simple steps using an agile approach when hiring tech candidates for the team. But before that, “What is Agile methodology and Agile Recruiting?”
What is an agile methodology?
The agile methodology is a software development strategy and management approach initially used in software development. It serves as a strategy to emphasize and facilitate team collaboration and encourage & ensure frequent product releases. Recruitment teams have successfully adopted this methodology over time in their domain as well.
If you’re a technical recruiter, you’ve probably heard of sprints in agile methodology. However, if you’re new to technical recruitment, sprints refer to the bite-size sections that the recruitment process is divided into.
There are several different examples of agile methodology, notably below in practice :
- Scrum
- Lean software development
- Adaptive software development
What is agile recruiting?
Organizations opt for an Agile recruiting method to hire tech talent, such as software engineers and developers. Every company or talent acquisition team can choose to implement the agile principles in their own way, but usually it ends up looking a little like below:
- Define your hiring requirements
- Assemble the right team
- Set up metrics and implement technology
- Break down recruitment process into smaller tasks
- Visualize your progress and have daily/weekly Scrum meetings. …
- Keep reviewing and modifying your process.
What are the advantages of agile recruitment?
Agile recruiting, when executed properly and regularly, can have advantages for efficiency, quality of hire, candidate experience, and team alignment.
Here are some advantages of agile recruiting:
- It continuously improves your overall recruiting strategy by creating a culture of reflection, refinement, and data-driven decision-making.
- It overcomes common problems that cause inefficiencies by identifying and removing barriers in the hiring process.
- It can lower the cost per hire
- It provides a better candidate experience by making the process faster, more cohesive, and fairer.
- It enables greater flexibility in how you hire candidates
- It provides greater transparency by enabling regular visibility and two-way communication around the progress, goals, outcomes, and processes used to hire new candidates.
- It unlocks deeper collaboration by enabling regular, real-time feedback and a culture of open communication
How can you implement an agile recruitment process?
● Use “sprints” when creating your agile recruiting strategy:
An agile recruiting sprint is usually a week-by-week process to get or to track the progress. It is a very effective method to adopt since they let you structure each week into recruitment goals. You might set up your recruitment goals in 4 or 5-week sprint cycles. Here’s an example of a “sprint” cycle approach in agile recruitment for talent acquisition:
1. Focus on candidate sourcing in the first week
2. Carry out an initial phone screening in the second week
3. Request candidates to complete skills assessments in the third week.
4. Conduct interviews in the fourth week
● Use key performance indicators to track agile recruitment efforts :
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential metrics for determining the effectiveness of your agile recruitment. Some of the crucial key performance indicators you should employ include:
1. Source of hires
2. Time to hire
3. Cost per hire
4. Total number of candidates interviewed compared to the number of employment offers extended
5. The percentage of candidates who accept your job offer
● Review the metrics required to evaluate your efforts:
Because metrics are so important for implementing an agile recruitment strategy, assess the metrics and evaluate your HR team’s performance at the end of your sprint cycle. Select a method for sharing these recruitment metrics with your team. For example, you might choose to email with a progress report, display the data in a presentation, or update your team using a spreadsheet.
● Use a Kanban board to track your efforts visually :
A kanban board is an agile project management tool designed to help visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize efficiency (or flow). It can help both agile and DevOps teams establish order in their daily work. A digital Kanban board is ideal for this because:
1. Every in-office member of the team can view progress on the board.
2. Remote employees also have easy access and visibility of the board as well.
3. Kanban boards help boost the productivity and efficiency of teams in their hiring projects.
4. With a Kanban board, task prioritization and meeting deadlines are made straightforward and effective.
An agile recruitment approach helps organizations to make the right choice the first time around. So explore an Agile recruitment strategy and make hiring decisions better, faster, and bias-free.
Flexi Ventures is one of the fastest growing IT staffing companies in India. Connect with our expert recruiters to help you with your IT staffing needs. Visit www.flexiventures.in for more information on staffing and recruitment.
