Is Binomial Recruiting the Solution to a Better Quality Hire? Part Two

By Jessica Miller-Merrell 

Binomial recruiting may seem like the roulette of the talent acquisition world, but it’s actually much more of a game of strategy than sheer luck. This talent acquisition method is used by many companies that believe a larger number of applicants will increase the chance of finding the perfect candidate, but it presents both challenges and advantages. In part one of this series, I talked about why it makes sense to believe that probability has a place in recruiting, but I also mentioned that the way most people think of using binomial recruiting isn’t practical.

The problem

While binomial recruiting sounds like a great idea in theory, most recruiters and talent acquisition leaders who are managing multiple job requisitions for their company don’t have time to handle an increased number of resumes for each position. From requiring an enormous time commitment to the frustration of weeding through unqualified applicants, binomial recruiting in its purest form just isn’t practical. You may see an increased probability of finding “the one” when you receive 200 applications instead of 20, but if you do that with every position, you’ll be overworked and unimpressed by this method.

The solution

However, by changing the way we think about and use binomial recruiting, we can make the most of this method and use it to our advantage. Forget about it being a numbers game. Binomial recruiting should be a game of strategy. Put it to work for you by using these four solutions as part of your binomial recruiting:

1. Assess the situation

If you’re going to increase your recruiting, save yourself a headache and increase your assessments as well. Increased assessments, qualifying questionnaires and automated selection processes cut down on the manual labor necessary to weed out those who don’t meet the minimum qualifications. An important thing to keep in mind, however, is that the average application already takes 45 minutes to complete. Making the hiring process more involved might decrease the number of unqualified candidates but there is no guarantee it will increase candidate quality. Only use assessments that really get the job done.

2. Say what you need

While some candidates are guilty of not fully reading a job description, we have to believe that the majority will and provide them with more detailed job postings and specific descriptions. Say what you need and want in a candidate and trust that the description will be one of the tools they use to assess skills, qualifications and even abstract aspects like culture and work styles.

3. Empower your candidates

In order to improve my own candidate quality, I used to show candidates a seven-minute day-in-the-life video as they waited in the interview room to meet with the hiring manager. Candidates saw a realistic preview and as a result, a few realized the position wasn’t right for them and asked to no longer be considered, thus increasing my candidate quality. By providing your candidates with resources to evaluate the organization and job, you’re empowering and enabling them to make the call of whether or not it’s a good fit.

4. Get them in the group

One of the most powerful tools you can use to juggle a large number of candidates in a way that makes them feel important and considered is a talent network like Talent Circles. A talent network is platform owned exclusively by your organization where you can provide candidates with an opportunity to learn more about the organization while recruiters also learn about candidates. More importantly, the system offers CRM capability, ensuring that recruiters can input notes so that all recruiters can learn more about the interested job seeker party.

TalentCircles is the most comprehensive candidate engagement platform on the market. Take a product tour or request a live demo today. 

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology anthropologist specializing in HR and recruiting. She's the Chief Blogger and Founder of Blogging4Jobs and author of The HR Technology Field Guide. You can follow her on Twitter at @jmillermerell.