We’ve made it to the last segment of our “Show me the Money” blog series. We’ve shared with you a list ofour favorite free tools for recruiters and also discussed how to cut back on agency spending. In our third part today, we are going to be talking about how to streamline processes to ensure time and money is being spent where it should be.

Among the many buzzwords in HR, streamlining processes is one of the most popular. However, despite being an often hot topic, recruiting and HR professionals fail to practice it. We should also clarify that it’s not so much a failure, but more that professionals in the industry are just so busy that they are unable to spend time reviewing the big picture and improving on current processes

In order to streamline any process, one must understand each step and live and breath it as the person the process is intended to serve. How do you do this? Well, we really like what Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler have done at CareerXroads. In order to understand the application process of 100 different companies, they created a fake person and submitted a fake resume to each of F.... Living the process was the only way for them to truly document what happens from a candidate’s perspective. Make sure to check out that article as they make some interesting points.

How can you do the same thing for your company? Well, the way we see it, there are a couple options.

Option 1: The Director or Recruiting Managers creates a fake resume and submits to document the process.

Option 2: One person or group of people who don’t work for the company are provided fake resumes and are asked to submit those resumes into the system for the same job. They could be friends of the recruiting staff or possibly even interns at the company. They are asked to document the process from start to finish.

Here’s a list of what needs to be documented:

 - Was it easy to find the career page? Was information helpful on the career page?
 - Was the application process quick and easy or did it drag on?
 - After submitting a resume and application was there a confirmation that it was received? Were any automatic emails received?
 - How long did it take for the company to get back to them for the next step in the process?
If rejected, what did that process look like?
 - What was frustrating? What were the positives?
 - Would they want to apply for another position?

Once the information has been documented, the recruiting team can sit down and take a look at the notes. What are the hold ups in the process? Is there something that is either keeping candidates away or holding them up? Understanding this will allow them to make changes and improve the speed and quality of the process, which means they can move quality candidates through and quickly move the unqualified candidates out.

This is just one example. The same process can be utilized for other functions of recruiting and HR. Here are some other examples:

 - Perform a mock interview with interns to review, analyze, and streamline the company interviewing methodology
 - Submit a requisition to HR to review, analyze, and streamline the requisition process.
 - Have the company benefits administrator explain the program to a group of people and ask them to sign up for the program. Using their notes, the company can review, analyze, and streamline the benefits program. 


---- Originally posted at www.asyncinterview.com/blog ----