How to Build an Agile Recruitment Process with Kanban

Optimizing your productivity is the main purpose of implementing agile. According to a recent project management survey, 71% of organizations report that they use agile approaches to handle their projects. And when it comes to results, agile projects are 28% more successful than traditional ones. Considering these numbers, recruitment teams can become more efficient with their hiring processes. By implementing an agile recruitment process, your company’s human resource team can optimize their recruitment efforts, adapt quickly to changes in the talent market, and find the right candidates to employ in your company. 

To do this, it’s important to use a tool that will help improve your recruitment team’s agility, and Kanban may just be the perfect tool to use. Here are some best practices for you to build an agile recruitment process with Kanban.

1. Set up an explicit process

To make your recruitment process smooth and uncomplicated for your team, it’s important to define your needs and the steps it will take to accomplish them. This is why creating an explicit process should be a priority. Everyone involved in the recruitment should become familiar with the processes. It will also help your recruiters explain to applicants what steps will be taken to complete a hiring process altogether. A straightforward recruitment process will also make report generation easier, which will help managers keep track of the progress of any open position that they need filled.

2. Build the right team

For an agile team to work, the right set of people should be involved. As a business owner, you should see to it that the people you hire to handle your recruitment understands what it takes to comply with an agile recruitment approach. Your recruitment team should be made up of people with cross-functional skills and a project manager. They should know the importance of continuous planning, as well as a predictive and talent-focused hiring process. Your team should also be familiar with different agile tools that they can use, such as Kanban, that can help them keep better track of each recruitment task that they need to accomplish.

3. Identify clear and measurable performance metrics

Apart from creating a clear-cut process, you should also have clear performance metrics that are easy to measure and analyze. Keeping track of your progress can help you understand how your agile approach is helping you fill up important positions in the company. To build clear performance metrics, you should see to it that the metrics are helping you identify if your recruitment team is maximizing their productivity, minimizing operational costs, committing minimal mistakes and meeting hiring deadlines. Keep in mind that the goal of setting these metrics is to help you streamline your agile recruitment process.

4. Take advantage of tools and technology

Nowadays, many online tools and processes have made it easier for recruitment teams to improve their hiring process. Take LinkedIn, for example. LinkedIn, as a social media platform, has made professional networking and recruiting a whole lot easier for various businesses worldwide. Many agile recruitment tools and software are now available for recruiters to monitor and accomplish their recruitment goals. Talent acquisition software can help recruiters design screen candidates, assess skills, schedule interviews, check backgrounds, onboard new hires, and many more. Put Kanban in the mix and you’ll be able to streamline your recruitment and become a more agile team.

5. Visualize workflow with a Kanban board

Building a Kanban board for recruitment may be one of the best methods your agile HR recruitment team can use. It is a simple yet effective strategy to help you monitor the progress of each hiring process. You can easily identify which positions are open, what step in the process a specific applicant is already in, and who among your recruitment team is in charge of a certain hiring procedure. An online Kanban board can make it easy for everyone in the team, even remote workers, to keep track of the workflow. It also makes it easy to attach files and links on the board, such as resumes and LinkedIn profile URLs. It can also help the team monitor urgent hiring tasks and see to it that deadlines are met.

6. Schedule regular meetings

Another important practice that you should include in your agile recruitment process is to set up meetings regularly. Some agile teams schedule daily standup meetings that last around 15 minutes. These meetings are important to make sure that everyone is updated with the current processes and that everyone is following through with their tasks. You should also take advantage of these standup meetings to cascade any changes that everyone should be made aware of.

7. Build your company’s online presence

With a staggering 4.8 billion users worldwide, social media has become an omnipresent force, shaping the way individuals connect, share, and engage in the digital era. Creating a reputable online presence is important for every business. It is also an important aspect for your recruitment team as it makes it easier for them to find talented applicants who are interested in working for organizations such as yours. You should see to it that your brand is well-represented across various social media platforms such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, and most importantly, LinkedIn. This way, you get to use your influence across these platforms to find the right candidates for your open positions. Agile marketing is a process that you should also explore to to better promote your company online 

8. Use sprints to complete recruitment tasks

Your agile recruitment process should follow the agile principle of delivering outputs frequently. This is where a sprint can come in handy. Sprints can help your time complete recruitment tasks through incremental iterations. To complete a particular sprint, a person assigned to it should complete a specific work within a set period of time. For every sprint that you complete, you get to help accomplish a part of the project, get feedback and be ready for the next sprint. Sprints are also designed to help your recruitment team adapt to changes and stay on track with your processes. Your recruitment Kanban board can help you easily keep track of your hiring progress.

Adopting an agile recruitment process is not a shortcut to success. It is a principle that can help your team accomplish recruitment goals in a more efficient manner. By pairing Kanban with your recruitment process, your team can get more hiring done in a shorter span of time. And with better efficiency, your team can be more productive and accomplish more recruitment goals for the company.