Human Resources Blog - Spark Hire
Internal Wikis for Recruitment: A Great Tool For Professional Headhunters

Internal Wikis for Recruitment: A Great Tool For Professional Headhunters

Regardless of business size or type, there’s so much information required to keep things running. Knowing which recruitment source to use, where to look, and when to use it are all essential skills you need to facilitate a seamless interviewing and boarding process.

Depending on company resources, the interviewing and onboarding processes can be hectic or smooth for recruiters and candidates alike. Although research shows that interviewing and hiring take approximately 24 days in the United States, a well-structured recruitment process will significantly reduce this timeline or make the process hassle-free.

A well-structured system includes experienced recruiters and a reference platform to enhance their practice. For example, a recruiter may want to share or confirm specific information about company values, corporate culture, processes, company updates, and more, making processes better and easier. This is where a tool like an internal wiki comes into play.

An internal wiki for recruiters acts as both a knowledge management base as well as the first point of reference, to keep recruiters on top of their game and enhance the HR department’s hiring metrics, including average hire time, application completion rate, interview-to-hire ratio, and more.

What is an Internal Wiki?

An internal company wiki is a centralized reference for company information, everything from job roles to processes to culture. As a tool for recruiters, it enables headhunters to onboard new candidates with ease. The information contained in a company wiki for recruiters may include:

  • Work processes
  • Work policies
  • Company vision, mission, and history
  • Projects and clients
  • Teams across the departments
  • Team member code of conduct, et cetera

Different recruiters, managers, and company leaders can access, share, or update existing data to keep the knowledge store relevant and up to date.

The Five Benefits of Internal Wikis For Recruiters

Internal wikis help an organization improve its processes and make work easier for everyone who wishes to access or share information. In the context of recruitment, here’s how internal wikis benefit recruiters.

1. Provide Quick Answers to Common Questions

Internal company wikis offer helpful resources when answering specific questions. It acts like the organization’s “Google.” For example, when an applicant asks about the job expectations or the company’s culture, the recruiter can locate and answer the questions accurately.

An excellent internal wiki structure should support all media types, including presentations, documents, audio, and video files. A recruiter should know how to use all of them to get answers to unique questions.

2. A Custom Store for Interview Questions

Recruiters can use their internal wikis to generate custom interview templates for everyday scenarios and questions. For instance, you can create custom questions for specific roles ensuring every candidate gets similar questions. It is a perfect way to prevent bias.

Additionally, customized templates ensure accurate information is shared and used during recruitment. Recruiters can edit questions and answers. However, you should limit editing access to senior recruiters for quality entries.

3. Save Time

A prolonged recruitment process can be tiring. It is often the case when recruiters must figure it out for themselves. One thing that causes a hectic and lengthy process is the lack of systems and information. An internal wiki for recruiters keeps them informed, facilitating a smooth process.

Internal company wikis save time since everyone in the team simultaneously has access to the same information. Having adequate company information ensures a recruiter meets the company’s expectations by hiring the best candidates for the job.

Resources such as video interview software, coupled with a comprehensive internal wiki for hiring, will enable a seamless process that benefits both the client and the candidate, especially if you’re building a remote team.

4. Provides Greater Transparency

A lack of enough information can result in a flawed recruitment process. This can range from discrepancies in the job roles required to outmoded responsibilities or skills. As a result, recruiters may not manage to maintain a certain quality of hires.

A transparent recruitment process can always be achieved if recruiters carry out the functions in the same way. Therefore, having a centralized information system for all recruiters is the best way to operate. As a result, miscommunication is less likely, and you will experience fewer disagreements. Importantly, quicker resolutions and transparency will always reign.

5. A Central Source of Company Culture

Internal wikis are a fountain of information about a company and not just the professional aspect. It can extend to the company’s mission and vision, culture, and lifestyle. 

Recruiters can easily and quickly create cultural template guides and share them with the recruits undergoing onboarding. It is an excellent way to improve beginner experiences, prevent culture shock and ensure hires are exposed to company cultures before starting the business.

Moreover, internal wikis can also be a company culture guide for individual departments. For instance, you may want to share best practices for new finance or human resource department recruits.

How Do You Create an Internal Wiki for Recruiters?

You can create internal wikis for recruiters with a few simple steps.

  • Step 1: Choose the best internal software for your organization, then create content for the wiki. You get information from the current recruiters as well as other websites. The internal wikis software you choose should have:
    • Multiple language support
    • Option to add, delete, and manage users
    • Wiki templates
    • Contextual help
    • A search mechanism like Google
  • Step 2: To make it simple for recruiters to explore the wiki, enable interlinking with other relevant pages. You can employ templates since they make work easier, fuss-free, and streamlined. Moreover, templates will ensure you don’t have to start building your wiki from scratch.
  • Step 3: Include a search box so that employers can filter topics based on relevance. It is an excellent way of saving time. Have a convenient search box at the top of your wiki so employees can input keywords or questions and quickly receive responses. Use the most pertinent keywords in each article’s names, subtitles, and content to improve the wiki’s searchability.
  • Step 4: Set up the team members’ access rights, then design a welcome page.

After that, you can include your team by granting them system access. Remember that the company wikis will need to be updated frequently to keep all the content current and accurate, given the organizational changes.

Bottom Line

Internal wikis will be a terrific tool for recruiters to streamline their hiring procedures. With the information, recruiters can focus on finding exceptional talent rather than gathering a ton of data for interviewing purposes. Ensure your internal wikis are detailed, easy to navigate, and constantly updated. Also, remember to involve the candidates and current employees in pinpointing areas that need improvement.

Featured Guest Expert – Stephen McKenna

Stephen is an aspiring business writer, who has contributed to publications including Devops, TheWiseMarketer, and Flevy – when he’s not researching the latest in marketing & tech, you can find him enjoying a fresh cup of coffee somewhere out in nature. 

Guest Post

Spark Hire is honored to host featured guest experts on our HR & Recruiting Blog. We're committed to bringing you the best tips and trends to streamline your hiring and recruiting processes. Thank you for your contributions and readership.