The Truth Behind These Top Recruiting Myths

Recruitment is an essential part of any company — after all, bringing in new top talent is what keeps your business growing and moving forward. However, there are a lot of recruiting myths out there that may be hindering your hiring process.

Don’t worry — the 4 Corner Resources team has compiled the top ten recruiting myths and uncovered the truth behind them so you can overcome common recruitment challenges. Let’s get debunking!

10 Recruiting Myths Debunked

1. A well-written job description is all you need to find the best candidates

The truth? LinkedIn research found that while just 15% of employees are satisfied with their current job, only 25% actively want to make a switch. This means many people would be willing to make a career move if the right opportunity was presented; they just aren’t actively searching for it themselves. If they aren’t looking at job boards or the careers page of your website, posting even the most well-written job description won’t be enough — because it’s never going to be seen by these “passive candidates.” So, how can you reach them?

Social recruiting! This means using social media networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn, plus websites such as blogs and job boards like CareerBuilder, to attract and source candidates. This helps you place your job opening in front of passive job seekers who aren’t actively looking on job boards — but are actively scrolling through their social media accounts.

2. You should select a candidate based solely on their job skills and background

The truth to this recruiting myth? It is vital to ensure you’re selecting a candidate with the right skills and experience to succeed in their job role and complete their workload — but that’s not the only factor you should consider. It would be best to verify that they fit your company culture. This is important because bringing in even just one new hire who isn’t aligned with your culture can hurt your entire organization. It will also increase employee turnover, as lousy culture fits typically end up quitting soon after being hired or eventually need to be terminated.

There are numerous ways you can include cultural fit in your hiring strategy. It starts with clearly defining your culture and values and referencing them in any advertising for an open role to attract aligned candidates. Then, you can further discuss what being part of your company culture is like throughout the day and ask culture-fit questions in your interview process.

To gain insight into whether a candidate is truly a culture fit, you can also try getting to know them on a more personal level over a coffee chat or informal lunch, leveraging pre-employment assessments, and having them participate in a company social event to ensure they fit in with the team before hiring them.

3. The ‘perfect’ candidate exists

The truth? While there may be ‘unicorns’ out there who check every box on your candidate wish list, even these seemingly perfect candidates have downsides. If they’re ultra-talented, they may require you to get into a bidding war with another company to get an accepted offer, pushing you over budget. If they’re a high performer, they may expect to be promoted faster than your hierarchy allows, leading to frustration. 

Instead of searching for the elusive perfect candidate (and adding needless stress to an already challenging process), searching for an almost perfect one is better. This might be someone with all the necessary technical skills but needs more leadership experience; you can provide coaching to develop them as a leader. Or, you might find someone with a ton of practical experience but doesn’t have a degree; loosening your education requirements could keep you from missing out on a great employee. 

This almost-perfect approach allows you to meet your operational demands without incurring unnecessary expenses, delays, or heartache. 

4. Job boards are the best method to source candidates

The truth to this recruiting myth? Job boards, actually, aren’t all that great when it comes to producing successful hires. In fact, at least one global survey found them dead last regarding effective recruitment channels. 

It’s not that you can’t find great candidates using job boards. You might. The main problem is the accompanying noise. Because such large audiences visit job boards, they tend to produce many applications. Unfortunately, many people also abuse job boards by applying to every opening, regardless of their qualifications. For hiring managers, this means many unqualified candidates to weed through. It’s more work for less results. 

So, what’s a more effective way to source candidates? Referrals. Again and again, surveys of recruiters rank employee referrals as the hands-down best channel for delivering hires that perform well and stick around. 

Use strategic incentives to create a referral program employees want to participate in, then spread the word about it far and wide within the company. 

5. Gaps in a resume are a red flag

The truth? This is an antiquated belief. It stems from a time when most people worked at only one or two companies for the duration of their career, and when a traditional 9-to-5 was the primary way of making a living for most people. At that time, a gap in employment could be a sign a candidate had something to hide, like getting fired or having difficulty holding down a job.  

Today’s employment landscape is so much more diverse than it once was. Earning a living often looks radically different from one person to the next, and the same goes for career trajectory. It’s not uncommon for an ambitious young professional to have several short stints at different startups as they work their way up the ladder or for a parent to take a couple of years off to focus on their family before reentering the workforce. 

Employers should embrace the nuance this brings to the candidate pool. Instead of instantly throwing out a resume with employment gaps, it’s an opportunity to take a closer look at a candidate who might uniquely add value, like a recent graduate who took time off to get an advanced degree or a person who’s coming back to work with a new perspective after spending time as a caregiver. 

6. Employers have all the power in the hiring process

The truth? You may think you hold all the power in the recruitment process as an employer. With an unemployment rate under 4%, it has become a candidate-driven market. This shift in power means that applicants can exercise more leverage in the labor market, which presents a unique set of recruitment challenges to employers.

When employers are trying to fill more open positions with a smaller pool of talent, they’ll need to be more flexible and ready to move quickly to make an offer once they find the right candidate. When battling against your competition to attract and retain top talent, you’ll also need to be prepared to offer higher salaries aligned with market standards in your area and competitive benefits that will incentivize candidates to make a career move. While this may increase your overall cost of hiring a new employee, it will be worth it in the long run when you have the most talented individuals on your team!

7. No one wants to work anymore

The truth? Talented people are no longer willing to work themselves to death for companies that treat them as a disposable resource. 

Today’s top candidates know their worth and demand that it be recognized through fair wages and benefits that support a high quality of life. They want safe, clean workplaces that are free from discrimination and harassment. They want bosses who care about their well-being, not just their bottom line. 

If any of these demands sound excessive to you, it may be time to take a hard look at your company culture and assess whether it aligns with the realities of the current talent market. 

8. Artificial intelligence will soon completely replace recruiters

The truth? In today’s technology-driven age, professionals in nearly every industry may have concerns about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation coming for their jobs. With AI concepts and automated software becoming more common in the recruitment process of many companies, HR professionals are certainly not immune to this fear. But don’t worry too much — the reality of AI completely replacing recruiters is near impossible.

Effective communication and emotional intelligence will always be essential to the recruitment process. While automated tools can handle many time-consuming front-end tasks, such as sourcing and evaluating candidates, finding the perfect candidate requires more than data or resume-screening software. These tools shouldn’t be used instead of a person — but rather as a way to free up time for HR professionals and recruiters to focus on those tasks that require a human touch.

9. You have to handle recruiting all on your own

The truth? The recruitment process can be incredibly overwhelming to take on alone. In-house HR professionals have many other job duties to worry about besides just recruiting and interviewing — which can make it challenging to dedicate the proper amount of time and resources to hiring. This is one of the biggest recruitment challenges that companies face, but there’s a simple solution: professional staffing agencies!

There are many benefits of staffing agencies, but one of the greatest is the weight their experience, expertise, and resources can take off the shoulders of your internal team. Your HR professionals and staffing agency partner can work together to determine an effective hiring strategy, streamline the interview process, and place the best candidates in the right roles the first time around. This will lower your employee turnover rate by ensuring you bring in the best talent while removing many of the stresses of common recruitment challenges from your employees.

10. You should only recruit when you have open jobs

The truth? If you’re only recruiting when you have an opening, you’re making the process much longer, harder, and more expensive than it needs to be. The best way to optimize your recruiting efficiency is to adopt a talent pipeline approach. In this strategy, you consistently fill your “pipeline” with skilled professionals and build relationships with them so that when an opening does become available, the connection is there and ready to capitalize on. 

Building a talent pipeline takes work; there’s no doubt about that. It’s easier (on the surface, at least) to put hiring out of your mind until you have an open job to fill. But this means you not only have to start from scratch to source candidates; it means you have to do this every single time you have a new opening in the future. 

With a talent pipeline, you’re constantly bringing new people into your company’s orbit, educating them about your value proposition, and building recognition of your employer brand. As a result, your workload is more predictable, sourcing activities can be automated, and hiring is faster and more accessible when the time comes. 

Overcome These Common Recruiting Myths by Partnering with a Staffing Firm

The hiring process can be filled with recruiting myths and uncertainties that prevent you from effectively bringing in the needed talent. Working with professional recruiters can help you overcome these recruitment challenges and gain peace of mind.

But not all professional staffing agencies are the same — the key to success here is to work with the one who is the right fit for your business. That’s why at 4 Corner Resources, we’re passionate about recruiting and dedicated to taking the time and effort to understand your business and its needs.

Thanks to this client-centric approach, we’re continually ranked among the top Orlando staffing agencies. As a nationally renowned professional staffing agency that works with businesses of all sizes across the United States, we’re ready to help you bust these recruiting myths — reach out to one of our staffing experts today to get started!