OVERCOMINGHIRING

Almost 58% of candidates expect to hear back from companies in one week or less regarding their initial application, according to Greenhouse's candidate experience report, but many companies are failing to keep up with these expectations with more than 75% of job seekers reporting that they have been ghosted after an interview.

“Most people have a job right now," St. John points out. “You should reach out to an applicant no more than 24 hours after somebody applies. Absolutely use a text message. Have someone high up in the organization drop them an email as well. You are competing against everybody in your community, as well as people across the country, so be creative and intentional about keeping people engaged."

Once Powers receives an application, “the first step in my screening process is a quick, five-minute phone call," Davis says. “I ask two or three questions really it's identifying if this person has a pulse and they're really interested in interviewing.

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In this step, I'm just trying to figure out if I want to work with this person based on their handful of responses."

At Specialty Risk Insurance, staff are often on the road visiting their agricultural clients, so their philosophy is: “If we wouldn't mind having them in the truck with us the whole day, then they've passed hurdle No. 1," Morgan says.

“If that initial call goes well, then I offer them an interview," Davis says. “Our first interview is always via Zoom at this point; we've found that's more efficient."

If the applicant pool is on the small side, Kinney recommends holding off on any screening assessments until after the first interview at least. “If you have an application that someone spends 25 minutes filling out and then they realize they have to sit there for another 45 minutes taking an assessment, that's where we see candidates disengage and drop out of the process," he says. “If you're able to put an interview ahead of the assessment, you can set the expectations."

Powers, Specialty Risk Insurance and Cavignac each start the assessment portion of their screening process with an emphasis on figuring out what makes the candidate tick from a behavioral test in Powers' case or a cognitive test at Specialty Risk to a professional development system that Cavignac developed for use at the agency before focusing on technical skills or knowledge further down the hiring funnel.

In today's tough hiring market where more agencies are considering hires from outside the industry, that emphasis on a candidate's soft skills is more important than ever. “Maybe now is the time to recruit a broader applicant pool and give some people a chance that have shown potential," Kinney says. “If I'm going to take a chance on a candidate, I'm going to take the chance based on conscientiousness, attention to detail, work ethic, intellectual curiosity, because those things explain much more about how people perform on jobs over time."