Validating candidate requirements in recruitment – is it really that simple?

The development of candidate requirements is a crucial part of every recruitment exercise. It should normally be one of the first steps before the final approval of the position. It is possible to make mistakes when drafting requirements and, worst of all, these mistakes can lead to a failed recruitment project and frustration with the labour market. Here are the 5 most common mistakes employers make when approving the final list of requirements for candidates:

1.Too narrow requirements

It is a very common mistake when the hiring manager is not a recruiter and does not involve an HR specialist to advise the hiring manager when approving the requirements for the candidates. Without knowing what the labour market has to offer, the hiring manager may narrow down the candidate requirements for the position to such an extent that there may be only a few suitable candidates left in the market. In this case, when the selection process starts, the recruiter is disappointed after a while, but the mistake has already been made before the selection process started. Because of this common mistake, it is advisable to consult a recruitment company that can provide preliminary longlists based on the requirements before confirming them. If the list cannot be drawn up, or if only a few candidates are shortlisted, then the requirements need to be modified.

2.Exclusion of essential and desirable requirements

Requirements may be both necessary and desirable, but not excluding these categories of requirements in the job advertisement both makes it unclear to the candidates whether they are suitable and makes it difficult for the recruiter to establish a long list of candidates. It is important to discuss the minimum requirements with the hiring manager before the recruitment process begins and to mark the desirable ones separately.

3.The hiring manager and the recruiter do not have the same understanding of the requirements

If the requirements for the candidates in the advertisement and the hiring manager’s actual requirements are different, the recruiter may present the wrong candidates and the hiring manager may simply be disappointed with the job market. To avoid this mistake, it is important to familiarise the hiring manager with the final job advertisement before the recruitment process. The hiring manager needs to confirm that the requirements are correct and that he/she accepts them.

4.Requirements are changed during the recruitment project

Often, once the recruitment process has started, additional requirements are brought to mind which change the direction of the recruitment process. This confuses the candidates themselves by changing expectations, the recruitment project manager has to rebuild the long list of candidates, and the employer’s image is also affected as the changing requirements are seen and evaluated by labour market participants. To avoid this error, written confirmation from all hiring managers on the final list of requirements for the position should be obtained.

5.Candidate requirements too broad

A very common mistake, particularly in recruitment for lower level positions, is to have no specific requirements or to have a particularly broad candidate market. In this case, it becomes impossible to draw up a long list and the candidates presented to the hiring manager are so different that it becomes difficult to compare them with each other. Thus, it is better to have a specific, narrower list of requirements than requirements that are too broad.

If the above mistakes can be avoided, a recruitment project can certainly be implemented quickly and efficiently. Almost all of these mistakes occur in the preparation phase of the recruitment exercise, which only goes to show that the preparation phase is just as important as the headhunting exercise or the regular recruitment exercise itself.