Boosting Hiring Transparency: 4 Tips for Recruiters

Whether your organization is in the healthcare space or the financial sector, effective hiring empowers you to connect with the talented people who will shape your future. That’s why you need to pull out all the stops to ensure you find the best fits for your roles.

By centering transparency in your recruitment efforts, you can give candidates a positive experience with your organization and pinpoint the most qualified prospects for your needs. In this guide, we’ll review how to do just that to create a better hiring experience all around and improve your employer brand.

1. Define and Standardize Key Job Information

From a candidate’s perspective, most of the hiring process involves research—both into your company and the job opening itself. If your candidates receive conflicting information, they might feel confused and pursue employment with a different organization. That’s why your information about a position must be clear, accurate, and standardized.

 When it’s time to comb through your existing recruitment resources (especially your job postings, as this could be the first interaction candidates have with your organization), ensure you cover the following information:

• Daily role expectations. Break down daily activities to give candidates a full picture of what exactly they’re applying for. You might do this by assigning percentages to an average day’s activities; for instance, a copywriter’s day might consist of 80% writing, 10% research, and 10% editing.
• Pay and benefits. Recent studies show that 85% of Gen Z job seekers overlook job descriptions without clear pay information, and job descriptions with this information get more online traffic. Not only does clear payment information win you more attention, but it also might be legally required, as 40% of states have pay transparency laws. 
• Benefits besides pay. Increasingly, job seekers are looking for additional benefits outside of their salary. Highlight additional perks of working with your organization, such as flexible work environments, employee giving opportunities, upward mobility, paid time off, and health insurance.

To maximize your organization’s recruiting results, you likely use many channels to find and engage with prospects. Once you’ve nailed down the important job details, standardize your messaging across all your recruitment marketing channels to prevent confusion and reach the most qualified prospects.

2. Be Open About the Hiring Process

Candidates should have a clear understanding of the hiring process itself as well as your organization as a whole. According to Lever, some organizations lose qualified applicants’ interest simply because their hiring processes are too convoluted or they don’t follow up promptly.

Explain the following details to candidates (either as part of your job descriptions or after you’ve prescreened resumes):

• Timelines, both for material due dates and for hearing back from your recruitment team.
• Who’s involved in reviewing your materials or participating in interviews.
• How data will be used and how you’ll keep it secure throughout the process.
• Communication expectations, including channels your team is reachable by and when candidates can expect a response to questions.
• Hiring criteria and practices, such as your blind hiring policies.

A key aspect of transparency is effective communication. If applicants or active candidates have questions along the way, respond as quickly as you can, and if you can’t answer something, explain why. If you have a large recruitment team, you might assign one recruiter to monitor your candidate inbox so nothing slips through the cracks.

3. Allow Candidates to Access Their Application Status

Too often, ideal candidates drop out of the application process due to a lack of insight into the hiring timeline. Remember, candidates are likely part of numerous recruitment processes at once; respecting their time and providing the best possible experience goes a long way in convincing them to join your organization.  

An easy way to provide this insight without having to monitor and reply to candidates is by providing an application status tool. Usually, this will be in the form of a candidate-facing portal, where those involved with your hiring process can check to see how far along your review has advanced. For instance, you might provide status updates like:

• Application received
• Under review
• Interview pending
• Interview scheduled
• Final review 
• Decision ready

However, having a technological recruitment infrastructure is essential to ensure that no details get lost in the shuffle. Most applicant tracking systems (ATS) have candidate-facing components, such as application status portals. Invest in a comprehensive hiring platform and act on candidate feedback to ensure you provide them with the most user-friendly experience.

4. Officially Verify Candidate Credentials

For a truly effective hiring process, transparency has to go both ways, and too often, it doesn’t—studies show that a majority of job-seekers have lied about their qualifications or experiences in the hiring process before. By officially verifying credentials, you can stay on the same page with your candidates and only advance the truly qualified individuals through your hiring funnel.

Verifying credentials can be cumbersome and time-consuming. However, if you work with a provider that can conduct the outreach to issuing institutions (e.g., universities and other workplaces), you can dramatically reduce the time and effort required, yielding an efficient and effective hiring process.

Online credential verification is the best way to prevent fraud and ensure an equitable hiring process for everyone. Look for a platform that can store, authenticate, and date candidate qualifications. 

Once you’ve bolstered your tech stack, verified hiring credentials, analyzed interviews, and crunched recruitment data with your team, it’s time to make a hiring decision—and transparency shouldn’t stop there. Clearly explain your hiring decisions to all candidates regardless of their success applying. You could even provide constructive feedback to candidates if they ask for it; this dedication to transparency and candidate growth can further improve your employer brand.

About the Author

Stephanie Sparks, Director of Content Marketing at Employ

As Director of Content Marketing & Social at Employ, Stephanie leverages 17 years of marketing and communications experience, and her master’s degree in marketing, communication studies, and advertising, to craft compelling content across the JazzHR, Lever, Jobvite, and NXTThing RPO brands. She is a thought leader for the HR technology and talent acquisition space.