We shall discuss the challenge at hand by focusing on following salient points:

1. Costs Involved
2. Reasons
3. Action

Costs Involved:

1. Sum total of time, effort and resources involved in
   1. Sourcing
   2. Short-listing
   3. Selecting
   4. On-Boarding
2. The biggest one – Candidate’s refusal to join post selection – Start all over again.

Reasons:

1. Lack of perennial Talent pool or shared Talent pool amongst subsidiaries – Technology not optimally utilized.
2. Internal referral sources not optimally tapped.
3. Lack of clarity on Job Role and associated Success Parameters for closure.
4. Expectations not clearly set with the candidate at the beginning.
5. Delay in decision making or process delay leading to prolonged hiring time and duration.
6. On-Boarding missed.

Doing what is Right:

1. Look within:
   1. Internal Sources reduce hiring costs through referrals.
   2. Succession planning pool where appropriate.
2. Technology is a great enabler:
   1. Robust Profile Management System to adore your Careers Section. Proprietary or third party eg Taleo. Use SaaS (software as a service) based systems for cost-effectiveness. Get a perennial flow of profiles throughout the year. Maintain the database.
   2. Leverage Social Media Networks – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, G+, etc. Route traffic to your Profile Management System. Share talent pool across subsidiaries if exist.
   3. Utilize technology at each stage to cut costs – Tele conferencing, telephonic interviews, video chat, Google Hangout, Skype, etc.
3. Have a clearly defined success profile to know what KST (knowledge, skills and traits) are desired.
4. Set Expectations Right before you begin: A lot of drops happen over salary negotiations. Know the motivations of the candidate and take a call on whether to move ahead with the procedure or drop the candidate at that stage.
5. No Haste, No Delay & Communicate with the candidates on the progress.
6. Realistic Job Preview: For offline or distant candidates, get your employee videos and a walk-thru the job, duties, office, events on the web to give a realistic picture of the job and work culture to the candidate. For locals, plan a walk-thru as a part of on-boarding process. Keep the candidates interested and involve them.

Pawan Alamchandani is the Founder-Consultant at ©May-I Consultants. You can follow him on Twitter @pawanalam