5 Outdated Hiring Practices You Need to Stop Doing Now — or Risk Losing Your Next Best Employee

Mar 13, 2025 10:00 PM - 2 days ago 3664

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Technology has travel a agelong way. Instead of applicants showing up successful personification successful your office, they nonstop their resumes via email. Instead of looking for jobs successful newspaper ads, group are astir apt to cheque occupation platforms.

Many hiring and exertion strategies person changed successful this integer and data-driven world. Some are moreover nonexistent, for illustration faxing your resumes. However, location are immoderate outdated methods that group still usage to this day, moreover erstwhile they don't make immoderate sense.

Here are immoderate old-school hiring strategies that you request to extremity doing now.

1. Requesting screen letters

The intent of cover letters is for candidates to present themselves to the hiring manager. In this accusation age, a speedy Google hunt aliases a speedy position of someone's LinkedIn floor plan tin show you conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic a screen letter.

Nowadays, only 38% of applicants taxable a screen letter, moreover erstwhile the occupation station requires it — and that number will proceed to spell down. If you make the screen missive conception required successful your web form, past a batch of imaginable applicants will astir apt conscionable take not to use and adjacent the window. And pinch the advent of ChatGPT, astir screen letters will not moreover accurately bespeak applicants' ain personalities and penning styles.

Instead of relying connected screen letters, see much modern ways to measure your candidate's personality and skills, specified arsenic introductory video submissions, skills assessments aliases a elemental reply to a mobility applicable to the position.

Related: AI Is Changing How Businesses Recruit for Open Roles — and How Candidates Are Gaming the System

2. Asking for a resume erstwhile you person a web form

Don't make it difficult for your applicants and person redundant stages successful your hiring process. Having a lengthier process whitethorn besides make the process much analyzable and uninviting, starring to much barriers for your applicants.

Although having a web shape tin make it easier for you to parse accusation to your ATS erstwhile resumes person different formats, advocator for a simpler process — applicants will convey you for it. If you request a circumstantial format aliases accusation successful your applicant's resume truthful they tin beryllium publication by your ATS much easily, past bespeak that successful your occupation post.

If only a fewer followed your instructions, past great. You only request those kinds of candidates anyway.

3. Having much than 3 rounds of interviews

If you weren't impressed capable aliases didn't study capable astir an applicant during the first aliases 2nd interview, possibly you're conscionable bad astatine interviewing. When mounting up your interview process, make judge it's streamlined — meaning each shape should person circumstantial goals.

Before immoderate interviews, you tin nonstop a trial to shortlisted candidates to measure their problem-solving ability, skills and basal qualifications. Then, the first question and reply tin attraction connected taste fit, activity acquisition and expectations.

The adjacent interview, if necessary, tin beryllium reserved for last decision-making. If you person different question and reply stages aft that, past make judge they're not redundant… but why would you?

4. Caring astir years of acquisition alternatively of existent skills

About 20 years ago, master expertise was assessed based connected their occupation title and linear moves up the firm ladder. Now, master expertise is assessed based connected their original ideas and actual work that tin beryllium seen online.

The quality of activity itself has changed pursuing the emergence of integer platforms, the gig system and more. With today's skills-first attack to hiring, portfolios, lawsuit studies and moreover societal media beingness tin show a amended communicative than a candidate's resume.

On my occupation platform, OysterLink, I've seen galore edifice managers commencement retired without acquisition and activity their measurement up by building their skills pinch hands-on learning. With the changing workforce dynamic, you're amended disconnected focusing connected people's accomplishment sets and imaginable alternatively than the magnitude of their resumes.

Related: Why Prioritizing Soft Skills successful Hiring is Crucial to the Modern Workplace

5. Offering one-size-fits-all benefits

Only a group of flexible benefits tin activity for a modern, divers workforce. You are hiring for a position that would astir apt pull applicants of each ages astatine different stages of their lives. Because of this, a one-size-fits-all attack whitethorn not … fresh all.

Younger labor mightiness beryllium looking for student indebtedness assistance aliases master improvement programs. Those pinch children mightiness attraction connected getting wellness security plans, while others readying for the agelong word mightiness prioritize status contributions aliases savings programs.

You want to make your labor consciousness safe and unafraid successful their institution — capable that they deliberation that your institution really cares. And erstwhile you care, they're much apt to attraction astir their work.

By improving your hiring practices, you besides amended the value of your candidates and caller hires. You'd beryllium much apt to prosecute talent pinch not conscionable the skills but the mindset you're looking for. With a modern, streamlined process, you tin trim turnover, prevention time, accommodate and build a squad that tin turn pinch your business.

More