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Sometimes it seems that good employees are hard to find in the US and Western Europe. This is often true, especially when the market is saturated with vacancies.
However, there are countries where the dynamics are different. You probably know India or the Philippines, but there is also Eastern Europe, where there are usually more good candidates than jobs.
This market is full of employees who want to learn and work within a competitive budget, people who are interested and try their best.
My video editing company has over 100 employees in Eastern Europe and we are more than happy. So how do we hire in this market? I’d like to share with you our approach that will be particularly effective when hiring line staff.
Step 1: Invest time in preparation
First, we need to determine what type of personality we would like to hire for a specific position.
According to the Competency-Loyalty Framework, each employee can be placed on a scale and classified into one of four categories:
- High competence and high loyalty
- Low competence and loyalty
- High competence and low loyalty
- High loyalty and competence
It is important for us to find and train highly loyal employees, even if they are a little less competent. Everything we do during this recruitment process is focused on finding potential.
Our system is designed to help people improve and grow over time. It is important to mention that this system only works if you have a strong department head who can mentor your employees.
After we decide on the desired qualities, we describe the candidate, outline their responsibilities and write a compelling job description. We publish it on both paid and free channels and move on to the next stages.
Related: Here’s what to expect from a job interview in today’s job market
Step 2: Collect the right number of applications
We have specific expectations for each recruitment situation. For example, we know that out of 70 applicants, only one video editor will be suitable. When hiring a manager, we typically need to consider 100 candidates. This helps us estimate how many applications we need to collect.
These proportions have proven to be consistent, with only minor fluctuations, allowing us to plan for the scaling of our team. We’ve found that hiring as many people as we need from fewer applications simply doesn’t get us the results we want.
We are ready to continue as soon as we reach the target number of applications.
Related: How Long Should a Cover Letter Be in 2023?
Step 3: Conduct two interviews
Because we usually receive so many applications, it would take weeks to conduct more than a hundred interviews.
That’s why we introduced a more effective approach – group interviews. We usually invite 10-15 candidates to these sessions. We assess candidates’ experiences for alignment with our position and company values, and monitor how they interact in a competitive environment.
This method also saves us a lot of time when introducing the company. Instead of doing it 10-15 times, we do it once per group.
After the group sessions, our hiring manager will discuss the candidates with the head of the relevant department. Together, they identify the people who made the biggest impression on them and schedule one-on-one interviews.
These are more traditional: we talk about the candidate’s ambitions, discuss how our company can support his career growth, and ask in detail about his previous work experience.
Step 4: Enter test jobs
The next step in our recruitment funnel is an actual testing task for candidates who have made it this far. We give them a few days to make sure the task reflects the actual work they would be doing with us.
Over the past year, we’ve had to redesign all of our test cases to make them AI-proof. As candidates are assisted by artificial intelligence, it is increasingly difficult to assess their true skill level.
As assignments are submitted, I review each assignment for customer-specific positions. For technical roles, the head of our video editing department takes over.
We provide detailed feedback to each candidate whether they are a good fit or not. We highlight what stood out, areas for improvement and tips for their job search. In this way, we ensure that everyone who invests their time gets something valuable in return. Plus, it leaves the door open for future employees.
Related: 5 Personality Traits Hiring Managers Should Look For in Candidates
Step 5: Internship
After this review, we invite the best candidates to join us for a two-week paid internship, a serious upskilling opportunity. This experience allows them to learn more about our work environment and demonstrate their skills.
During this period, top candidates work on real tasks under the supervision of a manager to put their knowledge into practice.
It’s a win for everyone. Candidates get a taste of what it’s like to work with us and we get to see how they perform in the real world.
It’s not just about hard skills. We give them a mentor who provides guidance and observes how well candidates can listen, take feedback and adapt – in other words, whether they fit our company culture.
If so, that’s a strong indicator that they have the potential to grow and succeed on our team, and it’s also a major green flag for us.
In the end, we stay with the candidates who can do it best. That’s how we got from 100 candidates to 2.
In the world of recruiting, both sides have to put in a lot of effort. It’s not just a matter of time, it’s also an emotional investment. However, the energy we get from a successful rental is multiplied many times over. Once we nail down our process and tweak our approach, there’s no going back.
We lose far more than we save if we skip any step in our recruiting funnel. However, if we do it all, the return at the end is well worth the effort and our investment will return fantastically.