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If you’re a leader in a charitable organization, then you understand that nonprofit recruiting and retention are challenges. Most nonprofits operate with small budgets that significantly hinder their abilities to amass resources. And unfortunately, many groups operate hand to mouth. The lack of resources is one of the causes nonprofit teams work long hours, for considerably less pay. Of course, this situation is unsustainable and eventually causes resentment. And that leads to a revolving door and turn-over.

Unfortunately, the situation is like running on a hamster wheel. Essentially it perpetuates the cycle of going through the time and expense of hiring only to lose quality team members who then move onto other work opportunities. The continual added time and financial costs for recruiting make it tough to focus on development and growth. When that happens, it makes it much harder to expand the mission and work.

While I’ll tackle in future articles the ways your nonprofit can improve retention, today let’s focus on recruiting. Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence to make the hiring process easier. In short, the time you spend in recruiting can be better spent. Also, you can hire people better matched to your job openings with the use of AI.

AI has permeated every aspect of our lives. And nonprofit recruitment is one of the areas where your organization can benefit from its abilities.

Use of HigherMe in Recruitment

On our team, our vice president for operations implemented the use of HigherMe.com. However, although this is the tool we use, there are other platforms on the market. Most intend to make the hiring process more straightforward. So, you have to do your due diligence, but some of those tools include SmartRecruiters, JobScore, and Jibe.

For our team, HigherMe allows us to provide a score to the people who apply for our open positions. As our VP for operations, Yvonne, explains,

“This program ‘scores’ the applicants for me.  Example: I may get an applicant that scores 85%, and that tells me how far the applicant is away from our facility; their availability to work with the scheduled hours and how well they answered a set of questions that are relevant to the position for which we are recruiting.”

Some of the bells and whistles of the platform include the following:

  • The entire continuum of the hiring process from tracking to hiring is all put through the platform.
  • Applicants can apply for job openings at their convenience and in easy ways, such as by the use of Text-to-Apply.
  • Interview scheduling is done automatically, which means my team can focus on other priorities. Applicants can choose timeslots that work for them and our hiring managers, eliminating the need for wasteful telephone calls and emails.
  • Our job advertisements are optimized on the top job search platforms, including Indeed and Glassdoor.
  • Although we don’t use it at the moment, we can video screen applicants.
  • We score candidates using their FitScore technology, which helps us prioritize which applicants we want to see first.

Human Oversight for Teams

HigherMe has been great for our team because it’s made the recruiting process much simpler, and that is something that could be of great benefit to nonprofits. But, there’s a caveat that is always important. We still have human oversight in the entire process. Yvonne and the hiring managers on our team make it a point to take a pass at every applicant, so there’s always a human who is wholly responsible for the entirety of the process.

However, because HigherMe scores and prioritizes the applicants, it’s easier for our team to no longer sort through hundreds of resumes and spend valuable time seeing which candidates they want to meet with first. A lot of that intensive work has disappeared, and it’s brought immeasurable efficiencies to our social enterprises.

Efficiency Brings More Recruiting Resources

As a nonprofit manager, you might dismiss using an AI platform for your recruiting, but you have to weigh that initial instinct with the benefits that come from tools that can help you hire with greater efficiencies and ease. Tools such as Higherme can be used by nonprofit associations, chapter organizations, or larger groups that have more than a handful of people. The investment in money should be weighed against the increase in productivity and focus on other priorities that would otherwise be taken up with the intensity of the traditional nonprofit recruiting process.

 

Author of “Not Your Father’s Charity: Grip & Rip Leadership for Social Impact” (Free Digital Download)

 

© 2019 Wayne Elsey and Not Your Father’s Charity. All Rights Reserved