The ecommerce recruitment process: defining your vacancy

What makes a great ecommerce recruitment process? When you have a vacancy in your team or business that you’re eager to fill, the answer to this question is surely ‘amazing ecommerce candidates’ right?

However, ecommerce talent is in high demand and they know it. In fact, 43% of ecommerce professionals expect the ecommerce job search process – from applying to receiving an offer – to take 4 weeks or less. (As answered by the 640 respondents of our 2018 ecommerce salary survey questionnaire.)

To make sure the process runs efficiently, you must invest some time at the very start of the search – before any advertisement of the role is even public. Here are some things to consider…

Who will be involved in this ecommerce recruitment process?

Communication is key when it comes to the ecommerce recruitment process. The new employee will play a big part in the ecommerce team and the company overall. For that reason, it’s important that everyone involved in the process plays a part in crafting the specification of the vacancy – from responsibilities to salary expectations.

So, whether a person is heavily involved in the process or playing a background role, having solid communication will help create a vacancy that will speak to the ideal candidate.

• The team manager: What exact requirements do you need from your new team member? What role will they play and what are the day to day duties? This will help your process run smoothly and will help craft a detailed job advert when you’re ready to advertise.
• Business owners/Directors: Candidates like transparency, especially when they can see exactly what their role will contribute towards in terms of overall company plans. Ask business owners or department directors what they want from the new employee to inspire potential candidates.
• Salary, benefits and culture: Whether it is HR or the finance team, salary brackets work best when they are clear cut with no sudden movement. Make sure the advertised salary is final by discussing this with the relevant people. The same goes for benefits and culture; make sure this is well communicated to potential candidates so there are no surprises when the new employee joins!

This will give you a perfect understanding of the role that you can then relay to the candidates – this will appeal massively to them as a well organised and knowledgeable hiring team is a big draw for ecommerce candidates!

A well-planned ecommerce recruitment process equals success!

An important part of defining your vacancy is to lay out the interview process from the start. How many stages do you need and what will each stage determine about the candidates?

This is a key part in defining your role as a seamless process will really engage the right candidates. If proper planning is not done, you might have a slow ecommerce recruitment process that goes on too long, or a quick interview process that only ensures the vacancy is filled fast. Both scenarios will put candidates off, so ensure you are getting what you want from the candidates and that they’re getting to know every detail they need.

Things to avoid

• Sometimes there might be unavoidable changes, but if there is a sudden change to the role specification, this needs to be addressed with all those in the process immediately. Communicating at the start of the process, as mentioned, should help avoid this scenario but if handled well, candidates will understand.
• Withholding key information from any candidate is a risky move. There must be complete definition of the role at the very start or you could find that candidates pull out of the process if they feel they were misled about the role overall.
• If using a recruiter for your hiring needs, the same rules above all apply. The recruitment agency will be communicating frequently with your potential new employee, so make sure they know everything about the role. They want to represent their candidates well and don’t want any unexpected surprises for them when they attend an interview.

Perfect your ecommerce recruitment process to attract the perfect employee!

We hope you’ve taken some useful tips from our ecommerce recruitment process focus! Are you currently looking for your next ecommerce superstar? We can help…contact cranberry panda today or find out about how our ecommerce recruitment experience can help you!