Are you having a hard time hiring and keeping your employees? If so, you’re not alone—many businesses are facing these hurdles. In fact, NPR recently reported that the United States labor market has stayed tight as some employers struggle to hire new employees, and The Wall Street Journal recently wrote that small businesses with fewer than 50 employees have lost workers in the past few months. So, what can your company do to successfully hire and retain employees? Here are a few tips to get you out of the recruitment rut.
Develop a Recruitment Strategy
Preparation and planning up front will increase the likelihood that you’ll find the right candidates in the least amount of time. Ensure your human resources representative, the hiring manager and others who will work closely with the new hire are all on the same page.
Decide on:
- The process you’ll follow. How will you move applicants through the pipeline in an efficient way? What is each person’s role along the way?
- The job description. Just as you sell your products or service to our customers, you have to sell the job to potential applicants who, let’s face it, likely have a lot of options right now. Be honest and transparent about the job and what it entails. Avoid speaking in generalizations, so applicants know what to expect if they are hired. If reality doesn’t live up to expectations, new hire retention will suffer.
- Create a checklist. List out the key traits and skills you want candidates to have. Talk about must-haves versus nice-to-haves. It’s important for the hiring team to understand where there is flexibility and where there is not, so they can be objective.
Meet Applicants Where They Are
In today’s competitive labor market, traditional job listings aren’t enough. Keep this in mind, according to Indeed, more than 70% of job seekers say it’s very or extremely important to see details about your culture. Make people want to work for you.
To reach passive job seekers, think creatively. Consider employing:
- Social media posts and behind-the-scenes photos and videos on your website showcasing your opportunities, team, facilities and culture.
- Commercials on traditional and streaming media.
- An employee referral program.
- Outreach to candidates who may not be actively looking for a new opportunity.
Need help? We offer comprehensive Talent Acquisition Solutions that go beyond traditional recruiting methods—allowing us to objectively evaluate your needs and attract people who have the skills and personality traits to succeed in your organization.
Hone In on the Best Candidates
The hiring process can be daunting for both you and the candidates. You want to hire the candidate with the right skills and personality to be a happy and successful contributor to your organization. But that can be hard to do based on resumes, phone screenings and interviews—all of which are time-consuming for both you and the candidates.
Our Pre-Employment Assessment and Behavioral Interviewing process can shorten the hiring process and reduce turnover by helping to ensure you hire high-performing employees who are also good organizational fits. Using our exclusive Performance Dynamics® assessment, we can identify the different traits that drive personality and behavior, to provide accurate and insightful information about the candidates.
Focus on Retention
We could write another whole blog about how to retain employees you want to keep (and we probably will), but given that up to a third of all new employees quit within 90 days, it’s clear that your onboarding process must be spot-on. A bad or non-existent onboarding experience will cost you not only in terms of ongoing recruitment costs, but also in increased turnover, a slower ramp-up time, frustration felt by the new hire and your current team and difficulty with ongoing recruitment.
Don’t Go It Alone
Whether you are trying to fill one opening or many, recruitment can become an all-consuming task. Count on us to help. From talent sourcing to interviewing, onboarding and providing your current team the skills they need to grow within your organization, we have the tools and expertise to get you out of your recruitment rut and on the road to a world-class team. Reach out today to talk about your challenges.