Automatic Data Processing Has
New Solutions Making Screening and
Hiring Top Talent Easier Than Ever
By: Anabis Acevedo
ADP Vice President for the Caribbean

In good times as well as bad, hiring well is one of the toughest skills for many organizations to master.  Regardless of your company size or industry focus, the challenge of finding just the right candidate can be daunting-and expensive if you choose less than wisely.

Over the past several years, the issue for most recruiters and HR departments has been plucking the right hires from a rather thin pool of applicants.  With unemployment so low, job seekers had the advantage when it came to the recruiting process.

Today, the employment picture has changed completely.  The recent economic slide has increased the talent depth in that pool, which may sound like a bonanza if you are the hiring manager.  But finding yourself swamped by a large wave of possible candidates makes it even more time consuming to find the perfect hire.

In Search of the Perfect Process

The costs of a poor hire are quantifiable and they add up fast, according to Geoff Smart and Randy Street, authors of “Who,” a new book that outlines effective hiring methods and common mistakes.  In fact, by their calculations, the average hiring blunder can cost as much as 15 times an employee’s base salary in both hard cost and lost productivity.  In an already difficult economic climate, that’s an expensive mistake- and one most businesses cannot afford to make.

Why exactly is hiring such a difficult process? Beyond the sheer volume of responses you may receive to a job posting, Smart and Street point to several other pitfalls not usually addressed by the typical hiring manager.

• Defining your needs ahead of time; what will this person need to accomplish?
• Using proven tools and sources to attract a steady stream of “A” candidates
• Structuring the interview process to uncover the information needed to make a confident decision

Obviously finding the group “A” candidates is not the biggest issue right now, but picking the one from the crowd can be.  And with HR and recruiting staffs trimmed to the bone, fewer skilled interviewers and decision-makers are often involved in the process.  That’s most likely the reason that nearly half the mid sized companies polled for a recent study were less than satisfied with the effectiveness of their screening process.

Tools for Home Run Hires
So, how are today’s employers coping with the hiring situation?  Beyond standardizing interview procedures and conducting more thorough needs assessments, the introduction of technology tools have made a difference in streamlining the screening process.

Using software programs to screen and track applicants is fast becoming the norm, even among smaller organizations.  These programs can remove the burden of many routine elements – from processing applications to ranking respondent’s resumes – from an already over-taxed HR staff.

These early stage screening tasks often take the bulk of a hiring manager’s time and attention.  In a 2007 study, The Current State of Recruitment Technology: Technology’s Emerging role in The War for Talent”, respondents reported that processing new hires was among their top three-consuming tasks.  By automating administrative functions via technology, businesses can make great strides in removing some unnecessary man-hours from the hiring process.

The opportunities for streamlining your recruitment process do not end there.  End to end technology solutions for integrating recruitment software with other systems make it easy to share data and eliminate duplication of manual functions like data entry across multiple applications.

Growing businesses can also partner with outside vendors to oversee any aspects of the hiring process.  These pre-employment services extend beyond simply applicant management, addressing the compliance and liability pieces of the hiring puzzle as well.

Mitigating Risk and Maximizing Tax Savings

Lack of thorough screening can expose your company to legal liability, loss of productivity, and damage to valuable customer relationships if you do not have the right people in place.  Background screening services with compliance support reduce both risk and time-consuming processes.

Look for a screening service that performs Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliant pre employment background checks.  These generally include the following:

• Identity validation
• Criminal court record search
• Worker’s compensation records
• Driving and credit records
• Government registries
• Reference verification
• Substance abuse testing

When comparing screening and selection services, be sure to ask about access to HR documents libraries and other valuable resources.  Some vendors provide customers with sample compliance forms, employee handbook, policy forms, and offer letters that you can customize for your own needs.

These services can often deliver faster-than- expected ROI through their specialized knowledge of federal, state and local employment based tax credits and economic incentives.

• Job creation
• Federal empowerment zones

With government programs changing almost weekly, it pays to have access to a pro who can identify the geographic, demographic, and hiring tax incentives that might be available to your organization.

Making the Most of Market Conditions

The economics of today’s marketplace may not be ideal, but if you are in a position to hire you can certainly appreciate its upside – an embarrassment of riches when it comes to stellar candidates.

Organizations that act quickly and aggressively to attract and hire the best talent are always a step ahead when it comes to taking advantage of new market opportunities, beating the competition to the punch, and meeting ambitious goals for growth and profitability.

And with the right screening tools, it becomes a snap to build exactly the kind of workplace you need to succeed.