As mining recruitment is picking up, it's timely to look at 5 common recruitment mistakes and how to avoid them.
Mistakes can happen in any job and recruitment is no exception. It’s possible to fall into bad habits, get too comfortable, or lose some passion every now and again. We understand.
But if there was ever a time to work on quashing these negative moments and becoming more nimble, it is now.
With more and more mining jobs opening up and fewer and fewer candidates to choose from, everyone in the industry could use a refresher on where we often fall short and how to bring that back up to our A game in time for the fierce competition ahead.
Here are five common mistakes to try to avoid:
1) Juggling too much
Of course, it is impossible to avoid juggling many plates when the mining industry is picking up across the board and you have a long list of candidates that need to be hired.
You probably can’t change the workload, but if you’re forgetting to call people back or dropping the ball due to this workload, it’s time to look at how you can export your brain into a software system (or outsource some of your work). This way, you keep juggling, but your brain isn’t so overloaded.
RELATED: The hardest jobs to fill in mining right now
2) Judging too quickly
It’s all too easy to look at a CV or meet a person for a brief moment and make a call based on what’s on paper or how they come across in the first instant. Everyone does it, but we should all know better.
Particularly as mining is coming into a -short market, you can’t afford to make quick judgements when some people aren’t great at designing CVs and others take some time to warm up.
Investing the time is essential to making sure no superstar candidate is overlooked.
3) Becoming complacent
This is a big one for long-term staff members. Maybe your form of complacency is that you leverage your network and haven’t needed to proactively go searching for new talent in a while?
Wherever you’ve become complacent of late, now is the time to get ahead of the game, get back onto LinkedIn, and put some more jobs online to grow your pipeline of candidates. You’re going to need it.
4) Acting superior
Yes, you want to make sure that candidates don’t walk all over you and you maintain some control over the process, but you cannot afford to come across too cocky, or as though you think you’re superior, when they know there is an entire industry also vying for their employment.
Be firm in your processes but be careful to treat everyone with respect and leave them with respect for you and the organisation you represent.
5) Lack of direction
Having organisations run them around in circles, unsure of when they’re looking to act, is a big turnoff for candidates. It may or may not be within your control, but if it is, make sure you have set processes that you will follow and set dates that you want to hire by. Then communicate these to the candidate.
If you aren’t sure because the business isn’t sure, tell the candidate the expected processes and turnaround times and update them as these change. Nothing says you don’t care about someone more than interviewing them, telling them you’ll call in a week and then not updating them for a month.
RELATED: How to streamline your recruitment process
MPi is not only a mining recruitment specialist, we also help mining companies with HR consulting to make sure they’re best equipped to handle the current candidate landscape. Whether you need help sourcing or consulting, we will be by your side as mining employment competition increases.
Mining People International has more than 23 years’ specialist experience helping the mining industry in Australia to find the best candidates across every job category. Find out more here or get in touch today.