What has been done differently in the selection processes?

We are witnessing great changes in the labor and recruitment market. The way of recruiting, selecting and even working has changed, but what about the selection processes with so many changes?

Of course they would not be left out, and today we will tell you what companies have been doing differently recently.

We remind you that these are trends that we have observed by looking at the selection processes that our executive team runs together with our client companies and that are not necessarily exclusive to the active recruitment model.

Shorter selection processes

This is a trend that was already on the radar, but became established with the heat that the market gave this early 2019. Some companies have felt the urgency of needing to fill a vacancy "yesterday" and have invested in increasingly faster processes.

Those 10 or 15-step tracks are a thing of the past and today, companies are aware that a long selection process is not necessarily assertive: you can have five interviews and in the end the person does not perform as expected, it is not a test score that defines it!

Management in the first phase

In the past it was common for organizations to put the candidate to have a first chat with the HR person, but with the urgency this behavior has changed: for most companies, who does the first step is someone from the management area. Or this initial step is done together, HR and requester, so that the process is even more optimized.

This is because the idea is to accelerate the process and understand if there is a “match” between the candidate and the department leadership, in addition to the requirements, company culture, career plan, and benefits, since these are the people who will relate to each other on a daily basis.

Focus on conversations

Some companies have focused more and more on talking to talents, excluding test or case phases, because this does not guarantee the success of the process. Some even invest in longer conversations (escaping that standard 45min-1hr) to be sure of the choice, identify behavioral patterns, and understand more about the candidate on a personal and professional level. 

Some even opt to do cases or tests discussed and elaborated in real time, during the interview stage and together with people from the requesting area, which gives the company the opportunity to understand much more than just the solution presented, but also how the candidate arrived at that result.

Classic questions, which do not evaluate the classic

"Why are you evaluating the market today?; What caught your attention in our company?; What are your development points and what are your highlights?" are classics in chats during the selection process, but now the focus is different.

The idea here is not even to evaluate the quality of the answer people give during the process, but rather how they react. For example, the development question does not really want to know the "bad points" of this talent, it wants to understand how this person deals with feedback and if they are interested in developing themselves.

Other questions also serve to understand whether this talent is looking for something that the company can offer or will become frustrated in the short term and thus seek new opportunities. All the questions have the same objective: to understand if this agreement makes sense -or not for both parties, get it?

Candidates' experience

In addition to a humanized and transparent selection process, companies are also ensuring that the stages reflect the company's culture and values.

For this, it is necessary to invest a little more time and design a recruitment and selection process thinking about the interactions that will happen with the candidates, each one of them is important and can contribute to that person applying again or being open to be approached in a future opportunity.

It also strengthens your Employer Branding, because a satisfied candidate usually shares the good experience with their network.

A good tip here is to use more friendly and less formal communication. This brings you closer to the talents and removes that discomfort of being evaluated all the time.

Soft skills assessment

This topic has always been in the backstage of recruitment, but now it has taken all the spotlight and is something that should continue in the coming years. Companies are living a moment where they have realized that hard skills (or technical skills) can be trained, but for soft skills, it is necessary that the person is open to change and improvement.

If each team has at least one person who handles the day-to-day technical issues, it is possible to train the hard skills of a person who has just joined and will add much more to the team in the near future. But for this, this talent needs to be open and have well-defined soft skills, be it effective communication, flexibility, empathy, etc. For this reason, this assessment has become increasingly important in selection processes.

The recruitment and selection area is increasingly strategic in companies, because a well-done selection process can generate good results in the short, medium, and long term. The important thing is to adapt to the reality of your organization.

What we show here today are new approaches to techniques already known in classic recruitment, but that with this "revamp" can change the assertiveness of your selection process!

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