How to Solve Common Recruiting Problems: 5 Common Challenges

With the U.S. economy reaching “the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years,” filling open positions with the best qualified candidate has become a major challenge.

Additionally, 77% of CEOs are concerned that skills shortages could hinder their organization’s growth.

Here are several novel solutions for five of the most common challenges facing today’s recruiter.

Challenge 1: Limited talent pool

Situation

The Internet has made it easier for recruiters to find people with a strong digital footprint online, using LinkedIn, social media and traditional job boards.

Still, a whopping 60 million Americans either lack internet access or choose not to use the internet, making countless workers inaccessible online.

Solution

Consider offline sourcing to find pools of untapped talent. Offline sourcing involves researching events online and then attending in person with the hiring team.

Use Meetup, Eventbrite and 10Times to discover local events of relevance to attend.

Continue your offline search by partnering with community based organizations and alumni career centers to effectively expand both your professional network and your candidate pool.

Challenge 2: Getting ghosted by candidates

Situation

Ghosting is when someone unexpectedly, without explanation goes silent or disappears.

As Jim Stroud notes, “ghosting is highly unprofessional and ultimately costs both employers and job seekers.”

Solution

To improve no‑show rates, consider an automated scheduling tool like Calendly. Calendly allows you to set up appointments and send email or text reminders.

Glen Cathey’s recruiting funnel calculator can help recruiters determine how many people will need to be identified to result in one hire.

Having knowledge of this data will help ensure that if the perfect candidate suddenly disappears, there will be ample options in the pipeline.

Challenge 3: Nonresponsive hiring managers

Situation

Slow hiring, especially due to nonresponsive hiring managers, can cause recruiters to lose high-quality, in-demand candidates.

Hiring managers who fail to provide prompt feedback negatively impact the candidate experience, frustrate recruiters and hinder their own team’s progress.

Solution

During the kickoff meeting, set deadlines and expectations to hold both recruiter and hiring managers accountable throughout the process.

Take note of any planned vacation and ask for a backup interviewer who can serve as a contact in the hiring manager’s absence. Be sure to calendar the next weekly check-in before your kickoff meeting ends.

When delivering weekly updates, go beyond the standard text email and deliver digestible data with tools like Tableau Public, Talent Wall and Canva.

Create a private Slack channel for key roles and add relevant stakeholders for visibility and collaboration.

Use Zoom or Appear.In to regularly review resumes with your hiring manager in real time.

Challenge 4: No time to source

Situation

A day in the life of a recruiter involves attending meetings with internal stakeholders, enforcing HR policies, and handling everything from interviews to negotiating offers. This leaves little time for sourcing passive candidates.

Shally Steckerl defines sourcing as the specialized discipline of proactively identifying and engaging with talent not found via traditional means.

Solution

To get the most return on your sourcing investment, optimize your time with proven productivity hacks like The Pomodoro Technique or time blocking.

Explore Toggl and Tomato Timer to optimize your time.

Use TextExpander to create shortcuts for your most frequently used Boolean strings, target companies or skills.

Challenge 5: Engaging sourced prospects

Situation

With an average LinkedIn InMail response rate of 28%, engaging prospects has become as difficult as identifying them in a tight market.

Solution

To increase your email and InMail response rates, consider using a tool like Send Check It to A/B test your subject lines or Perry Marshall to measure message readability.

Getting inspiration from a tried and true InMail template can give you head start.

It’s also useful to look to other industries for inspiration for your toughest challenges.

Marketing, for example, offers impactful insights applicable to engaging sourced prospects. Agile software development principles can help refresh a stagnant hiring process.

Finally, using a tool like TextRecruit allows you to leverage text messaging, live online chat and artificial intelligence to hire better people, faster.

Your Recruiting Obstacles

What is your biggest recruiting challenge? Let us know in our Facebook group or on Twitter.