Part 3: Hiring Manager Roadblocks, Avoiding Panic

This blog post is the third in a series of five posts based on our webinar with Greenhouse, 10 Hiring Manager Recruiter Roadblocks and How to Overcome Them. The job description is the first impression most candidates see of your company. Candidates are analyzing your job descriptions to determine not only whether or not they're qualified, but also whether they're interested in working for you. Presenting your company well through your job descriptions will make you stand apart and improve your overall hiring process. But what happens when hiring managers panic when you don't instantly receive tons of applications within the first few days? Many hiring managers report that there aren't enough people applying to their posts and worry that their job postings aren't reaching their target audience. Oftentimes, the blame for these issues falls on the recruiter. It can be a struggle juggling hiring manager expectations, especially when it comes to candidate volume, but there are a few solutions to fix this common problem. Here are five tips to manage your hiring manager's expectations and ensure that you receive immediate applicants that meet their standards: Assess advertising channels Take a good, hard look at where you're currently advertising and where candidates are actually researching your company. Keep your target candidates in mind when you're determining where to publicize your open positions. Additionally, search for niche job boards and sites that allow you to target candidates to keep your messaging specific and ensure you hit your ideal market. On Glassdoor, you can see who is researching you, their experience level and top job titles they're clicking on. Assess the competition Before you get started, research your competitors and what they're doing. What does your competition name their job titles? Are you using the latest vernacular? In today's ever-changing recruiting landscape, what was the norm yesterday is rarely "in" today. Keeping up with hiring trends and your candidate's needs will allow you to run a more effective hiring process. Assess the description Odds are, you probably need to up your job descriptions game. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Are your title and description SEO optimized?
• Is the description written in your company's brand voice? Make it unique to your company!
• Is it quick and easy?
• Are you using key words potential candidates are searching for?
• Are you tying in your company's mission statement and tailoring it to each job role?
• Use bulleted lists to make your job postings easy to skim.

Ensuring that your job descriptions are updated, optimized and easy to read will make your job descriptions stand out in a sea of other opportunities. Communicate your strategy Ensuring that everyone is on board with your recruiting game plan is essential to a successful hire. Communicate your strategy with teammates and the hiring manager. Make sure your strategy is visible and provide daily, weekly or bi-monthly updates. A rule of thumb here is to over-communicate - most would rather be bogged down by more communication than be totally out of the loop. Another tip: set realistic response rates. Generally, around 15-30% of passive candidates respond, so if you're reaching out to 20 people in the first few days of your search, expect that only three (or maybe four) candidates will respond. Setting these realistic expectations and communicating this to the wider team ensures you avoid communication blunders. Candidates want to be woo'ed Let's just be honest: the best candidates are not waiting with baited breath to apply to your jobs. Unless you're Google, you probably have to actually go out and woo candidates to convince them why they should come work for you. Make sure that your managers and teammates know this and know they might have to go above and beyond to target the best of the best. At Glassdoor, we want to make your recruiting and branding efforts as smooth as possible. Take a look at our webinar, 10 Hiring Manager Roadblocks and How to Overcome Theme to learn more about common challenges recruiters and hiring managers face and tips for success.