It’s no secret that hiring is hard right now. Today’s labour market is making it more difficult than ever for hiring managers to find and keep great staff. So what should you do if you just can’t find your next team member?
Fortunately, current hiring challenges don’t have to mean the end of effective talent planning. With the right skills, knowledge, and strategic approaches, you can overcome hiring hardship and return to quality talent acquisition.
Wondering what you can do to get your hiring process back on track? You’ve come to the right place. This is the Kingston Human Capital guide to rising above hiring stress!
What’s going on in recruitment?
Increasingly, hiring managers are reporting that job seekers are not accepting employment offers.
Instead, applicants are seeking alternative roles, often with competitor companies.
Recent shifts in the labour market have opened up new opportunities across many industries. As unemployment rates drop, it becomes more difficult for hiring managers to find the staff they need.
Today’s job market belongs to jobseekers, often forcing hiring managers into competition with one another.
What stands in your way?
When it comes to acquiring new talent for your company, there are several things that could be standing in your way.
Job Seekers often complain that hiring processes just don’t meet their needs or expectations in a way that motivates them to sign a contract. When hiring managers don’t impress at the interview stage, would-be employees explore their other options.
When hiring staff for your company, it’s important to consider how you communicate what your business can offer its employees.
Simply offering a job is no longer enough to turn candidates into team members. To truly impress new talent, you need to offer them a better reason to choose you.
What can hiring managers do?
The good news is that many of the elements holding you back from effective talent recruitment are within your control. Here’s what you can do to improve your chances and start onboarding new employees.
Improve job advertising
Before you can find great staff, you’ll need to create a great advertisement!
When the job market is slow, it can be easy to overlook the power of good communication. When the market is saturated, effective copywriting could help you earn a skilled cohort of applicants.
Always be as clear as possible about your company and its values. Offer a detailed position description and selection criteria for new recruits, and give job seekers a sense of what value your business can offer them, at work and beyond.
Find out what matters most,
Next, find out what matters to your candidate.
Understanding what’s important to applicants will optimise your recruitment outcomes. As you develop a stronger understanding of the needs and wants of your ideal candidate, you can adjust your communications to address the things that are most important to them.
The easiest way to find out what your best candidates want is by asking them!
As part of your interview process, add these two powerful questions to the start of your interview and watch your hiring outcomes skyrocket
💎“When it comes to making your next move – what is important to you?
💎“Why are those things most important to you?”
As you communicate with candidates throughout the hiring process, take note of recurring themes, and look out for patterns.
Some staff needs may vary from person to person, but others might be a universal offering you can provide to improve hiring value.
Provide value
When hiring, it’s always important to show candidates what value you can offer.
There are many ways your company can serve its employees. You might provide learning opportunities, great compensation rates, and a range of supplementary benefits. Your business might be the chance your employees need to make an industry impact.
As part of your hiring process, communicate your employee value proposition (EVP) clearly and succinctly, but don’t stop there. It is important to go beyond the generalist nature of your EVP and address the things that matter most to your candidate from their individual perspective.
Demonstrate your culture
A positive corporate culture is always important, especially at the recruitment stage. Staff spend a significant portion of their lives at work. This makes it all the more important for workplaces to have good cultures.
By demonstrating that you have a good culture, you can provide candidates with a reason to join you.
During the hiring process, steer clear of making generalist statements like “we have a great culture” and instead, provide examples of that culture. The more real life examples you can provide, the better.
Be willing to adapt
Finally, willingness to adapt is essential for hiring managers hoping to make the most of opportunities.
As the labour market continues to change gears, new developments are always on the way. Adapting to quickly changing hiring environments can allow you to seek great talent whenever you need to.
When hiring a new staff member, approach every interview with an open mind.
Remember to ask candidates what is most important to them and understand their ‘why’. With the right approach, you can help the best candidates see your company’s value.
This allows you to build a productive, cohesive and talented professional team.
Case study: Recruiting Tom
Tom is a highly-skilled candidate. On Monday, he attends an interview with the hiring manager at Jeff’s Office Supplies. The hiring manager runs a standard interview, asking Tom basic questions about the job on offer. Then the hiring manager promotes the job to Tom by discussing the organisation’s Employer Value Proposition (EVP), which includes a range of benefits like discounted gym
memberships, and 10% off health insurance.
On Tuesday, Tom has another interview, this time with the hiring manager at Kate’s Office Supplies. This hiring manager avoids discussing the company EVP at the start of the interview. Instead, the hiring manager asks what’s important to Tom and why.
Adding those two questions to the interview help the hiring manager at Kate’s Office Supplies find out that Tom needs to pick up his children from childcare by 3:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to avoid extra fees. He wants to know if he can start work at 7:30 am on these days, allowing him to finish at 2:30 pm and beat the traffic to pick up the children on time.
At Jeff’s Office Supplies, the hiring manager knows nothing about Tom’s needs and doesn’t realise that Tom doesn’t care about a cheap gym membership. At Kate’s Office Supplies, the hiring manager knows what is important to Tom and is able to offer him the flexibility he needs to be a great employee.
When both hiring managers offer him employment, Tom recognises the company that will put his needs first. For this reason, he accepts the role at Kate’s Office Supplies.
Your next steps
Need help hiring talent? Find out how Kingston Human Capital can help revolutionise your recruitment process.
