As per MPG estimates, 75% of employers report difficulty in filling various job roles. The growing scarcity of qualified candidates and evolving expectations from employers have brought out even more unique challenges for TA teams. 

So, how do you overcome these roadblocks and get the right people in your team? 

To help you navigate the roadblocks, we have compiled a list of the most significant recruitment challenges you may face in your talent acquisition journey.  

13 Most common talent acquisition challenges 

Here are some recruitment challenges you must address promptly: 

1. Recruiter bias

For effective talent acquisition, ensure every candidate receives an equitable and fair shot at getting the job. Only then you can get the best person for the position.  

However, humans have internal biases, which makes purely objective recruitment one of the biggest challenges in talent acquisition. This recruiter bias can hamper candidate experience, limit access to a diverse talent pool, and impact your employer brand negatively. Discriminatory practices, however unintentional, can also land you in legal trouble.

Solution: To prevent this bias, use advanced ATS features like AI-powered candidate matching.

For example, the all-in-one recruitment automation tool Kula ATS offers an automated candidate scoring feature where you can set up predefined criteria and evaluate and screen candidates accordingly. Since it is AI-driven, the evaluation is objective and moves only the most qualified candidates forward.

2. Skills shortages

Another glaring challenge recruiters face is the lack of qualified candidates. The global talent shortage has undergone more than a two-fold jump since 2014. This extends time-to-hire and forces recruiters to settle with sub-par candidates for the role, leading to poor business results and higher attrition.

Solution: Post on multiple job boards and share them on your socials to maximize reach. To help you track them all, Kula ATS lets you manage all applications in a single platform. This keeps your recruitment process organized so you don’t overlook a single promising candidate. 

3. Competition for top talent

Have you lost a promising candidate to your competitor right when you were about to hire them? You’re not alone.  

Due to the immense skill shortage, the current labor market is cutthroat. Every top company is doing their best to secure the best talent for their organization. That’s why serious competition is one of the top recruitment challenges today. 

The root causes of losing candidates are lengthy hiring processes, lack of communication in between, poor candidate experiences, or a better compensation package from the competitor. 

Solution: To solve this problem- 

• Proactively communicate with the candidate across every interview stage.
• Keep your communication channels open so they can reach out during the selection process. 
• A short and effective application process will also impress your candidates.
• Run regular competitor analyses and match their offerings to the best of your abilities. 

Kula ATS empowers seamless collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers with its built-in communication tools. Rate, reject, and share candidate profiles, notes, and feedback – all within the platform for faster, more informed decision-making.

4. Poor employer branding

Are you failing to attract top talents even with a seamless recruitment process? The problem may be in your employer's branding. 

For today’s socially aware professionals, working for a reputable employer who cares about their workers is just as essential as a hefty paycheck. 

Reports state that 96% of employees may apply to an organization with a good employer brand. 87% even say that negative reviews from employees would stop them from applying.

A strong employer brand makes you stand out in a highly competitive job market. Besides driving the best talent to your pipeline, it also makes your passive candidate sourcing more impactful. A strong employer brand keeps you top-of-mind, even for candidates not actively job-seeking.

Solution: Focus on building a solid employer brand by: 

• Showcasing what makes your company an excellent workplace. Talk about training opportunities and upward mobility your employees enjoy. 
• Post pictures of happy employees at work and showcase employee testimonials on your career page and social media. 

Kula ATS empowers you to create a consistent and impactful brand experience throughout the hiring process.  Effortlessly craft localized and branded job ads, career pages, event pages, candidate portals, email templates, and offer letters – all without coding or external support.

5. Disconnected interview process

With multiple moving pieces in place, keeping your talent acquisition process organized isn’t easy. You may find it difficult to schedule interviews according to your recruiter’s and the candidate’s availability. Mistakes may result in frequent rescheduling and lead the candidate to drop off. 

With error-prone manual scheduling processes, interviews can overlap, some sessions may slip through the cracks, and recruiters may turn up without proper preparation. 

With bulk recruitment, offering feedback to every candidate is also extremely difficult. Such interview inefficiencies make you red flags for candidates. 

Solution: Organize your interview process using ATS benefits like 360° recruitment automation. 

For example, Kula offers AI-powered recruitment workflows that can schedule interviews and follow-ups automatically. The system also sends timely reminders to the candidate and recruiter. 

6. Difficulty with diversity and inclusion

According to a Forbes survey, companies with over $10 billion in revenue named diversity a driver of innovation. However, creating a diverse workforce is still one of the most common challenges faced in recruiting. 

Reports show that achieving gender equitability in their company is one of the top priorities for 71% of TA professionals. However, the disparity between the number of male and female applicants is significant. 

There is also a lack of acceptance for people from different sexual and gender orientations. Plus, racial and ethnic biases prevent professionals from underrepresented sections from applying for jobs. A lack of diversity in your workforce may also drive away candidates from diverse backgrounds. 

Solution: 

• Design clear DE&I policies in your talent acquisition strategy. 
• Promote the opportunities you provide to employees from underrepresented groups. 
• Use gender-neutral terms in your job boards and include people from different genders, backgrounds, and races in your recruiting panel. 

Kula ATS supports inclusive and unbiased hiring practices.  You can anonymize candidate source data for interviewers and offer a customizable collection of self-reported demographic data to track your diversity efforts.

7. Cost of recruitment

From marketing your employer brand to outbound recruiting expenses, talent acquisition is an investment-hefty operation. Companies often struggle to design a funnel that fits their budget and still gets them the best talent. 

Solution: 

• Use forecasting algorithms to gauge future vacancies and skill needs and allocate resources accordingly. 
• Analyze your candidate sourcing channels, identify which ones drive the best applicants, and eliminate the rest.
  
  Kula ATS streamlines cost management by providing detailed recruitment spend analytics. You can identify areas for optimization, make strategic adjustments, and maximize your hiring budget's impact.

8. Higher time-to-hire

Balancing your search for the right candidate with the optimum time-to-hire is also one of the top challenges in talent acquisition. 

Talent acquisition teams often get so caught up in chasing the perfect match that they drag the process too long. This can frustrate and cause your candidates to drop off in the middle. 

Solution: 

• Use Kula ATS’ automated resume parsing to save time and filter out unqualified candidates early on. 
• Audit your recruitment funnel to detect gaps and inefficiencies. 
• Determine specific recruitment KPIs to assess candidates on pre-defined parameters quickly. 

9. Unsatisfactory candidate experience

When a candidate weighs in on their job offers, their experience with your recruitment process plays a fundamental part in their decision. They view it as a mirror of how your company will treat them as employees. 

An unsatisfactory candidate experience also shows your employer brand in an unfavorable light. 

Solution: To overcome this talent acquisition challenge:

• Offer an easy and mobile-friendly application process. 
• Let your candidates choose the mode of interview. 
• You should also communicate the expected timeline and wait time throughout the recruitment process. 

Kula ATS offers personalized candidate portals to provide a transparent and engaging experience throughout the hiring journey. Applicants can easily track interview progress, learn about interviewers, and stay informed at every step of the way.

Don’t keep your candidates hanging. If they fail to move to the next stage, offer constructive feedback. We also offer a built-in interview note taker that captures and transcribes interview conversations in real time, automating the feedback loop and streamlining the interview process.

10. Candidate ghosting

Ghosting the recruiter is another prevalent talent acquisition challenge. According to a 2022 survey, 39% of recruiters stated that candidates cutting off communication has become more common than in 2020.

The top reasons for this phenomenon are: 

• Poor interview process 
• Receiving another job offer
• Non-alignment with job expectations
• Return-to-office policy

Solution: Simplify your recruitment process, reduce time-to-hire, and build trust through regular communication and feedback. Offer flexible work options, competitive benefits, and a clear description of responsibilities.

11. Candidates shopping for offers

The best candidates have the luxury of pursuing multiple job offers simultaneously, making talent acquisition more competitive. 

Solution: Give your best in designing a smooth recruitment process for candidates. Arrange a meet-and-greet with the people they will work with and introduce them to the leadership. Keep them in the loop after the final interview. 

12. Struggle to manage the talent pipeline 

Managing the wave of candidates in your hiring pipeline is also a predominant challenge in recruitment. You must ensure no candidate slips through the pipeline without proper evaluation. 

Solution: Streamlining the process by using Kula ATS’ integrated resume repository and advanced search. Opt for AI-powered candidate matching features and recruitment analytics to track your hiring funnel.

13. Technology integration

Integrating tech is necessary for efficient talent acquisition. However, a company used to manual processes may find going back and forth between multiple tools challenging. 

Solution: Invest in an end-to-end ATS solution like Kula that offers key recruitment features you need under one platform and top-notch assistance. Make sure it’s scalable, user-friendly, and integrates with your existing tech stack.

Automate, simplify, and solve talent acquisition challenges with Kula ATS

These challenges may initially seem like a lot to deal with. But with focused effort and strategies, you can overcome them and optimize your inbound and outbound recruiting process.

However, to apply these strategies, your ATS needs to be reliable — and that’s what we offer with Kula’s recruitment workflow automation. 

So, sign up for a free trial and take your employer brand to the next level with data-driven, bias-free, and seamless recruitment operations.