​Summertime Recruitment Madness – What Lana Del Rey’s Song Should Have Said! My Guide to staying on top of your recruitment during the crazy summer months.

Who doesn’t love the summertime? A time to kick back and relax: Enjoy the weather, long evenings on the beach and (for lots of us) the annual summer holiday. However, in the education sector September is one of the busiest times of the year and getting your talent ready for next academic year is critical.

The demand to hire the best people doesn’t stop over the summer, and neither the clients nor candidates are willing to let the ice creams and sun loungers get in the way. Did you know that 70% of all job seekers start looking for a new job when returning from holidays? This means that being in touch is vital for your recruitment plans. Here are a few points to make sure your summer recruitment plans don’t get sunburnt and are manageable while your out of office is on.

1. Perception

Be present for summer recruitment and prepare your (online) visibility.

Post the adverts for jobs that need candidates. By displaying the available jobs online, you will make sure that candidates find these roles.

Schedule your social media: Using social media planning tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite, etc. you can stay relevant in your network without having to physically post your updates. By regularly posting about the vacancies you have, you and your jobs will remain at the forefront with your audience.

2 . Automate your process

After candidates apply you will need to stay in touch, even during the summer recruitment period. This does not necessarily have to be in person; there are ways to automate communications.

Use knock-out questions. By asking candidates to answer a list filled with the must-haves for the role you can make sure you won’t send a candidate who cannot comply through to the next round. For example: If working weekends is part of the job requirements, you can knock out candidates who can’t work weekends.

Send your candidate an automated notification that you have received the application and use that email to outline the process. This way, you manage expectations upfront.

Send all candidates that managed to pass your knock-out question round an invitation for a digital interview. This can be along the lines of gamification, a video interview or a small type of e-assessment. By implementing this step, you have the opportunity to introduce your company culture in a more extended way than you could in the initial job-advert. Also, you keep the candidate engaged in a step of the process where you are able to assess which candidates to invite when you are back in the office.

3. Scheduling

Here’s the part that does need some of your attention, because to start inviting candidates for interviews you will need to screen them.

As you’ve already read the candidate’s cv and seen their online assessment and/or video interview, you have made the reviewing quite easy for yourself.

The next step is to send the candidate a link to self-schedule their face-to-face interview in your calendar. Just think of your calendar being filled with interviews of great candidates to come back to.

By planning your summer period and using the right tools, even if you manage a successful recruitment process directly or via support from Coyne Recruitment you will be able to take your well-deserved holiday without losing out on great candidates.

Right, which way to the beach?