Businesses across the world are facing a desperate labor shortage. It’s not just in areas like retail, but across professional occupations as well. It’s left millions of positions unfilled in the US alone.
It’s the kind of situation that can make a desperate business owner or HR department decide that hiring employees regardless of qualifications beats not having bodies in roles. Except, that approach is a recipe for problems down the road.
Despite the labor shortage, your long-term success depends on hiring the right people for the right roles. Keep reading for some hiring tips that will help you find the right people.
Write A Solid Job Description
Too many job descriptions are just endless lists of wishes from some hiring manager. They all too often include requirements that no one can possibly meet, like five years of experience in something that didn’t even exist five years ago. It’s a failure of a recruiting strategy from word go.
Instead of making a list of every skill you wish someone might have, assemble a list of key skills the employee must bring to the table. You’ll get more applicants who can actually do the job. Remember, you can always help an employee skill up for more responsibilities down the road.
Pay Attention to Culture Fit
Every business has a particular culture. Some are laid back and fun, while others are very serious and high-energy. You must understand the culture of your business when selecting candidates.
Let’s say you have two candidates who look good on paper. One of them is a buttoned-down go-getter who only thinks about the job. The other is an easy-going charmer who likes to chat.
If your company culture includes a lot of internal competition, you want the buttoned-down go-getter. The easy-going charmer will hate working in that kind of environment.
Look for Short-Term Options
Sometimes, you can afford to wait six months to fill a critical role with the absolutely right candidate. If your cybersecurity guy quit out of the blue, you need someone who knows what they’re doing more or less immediately.
This is where temp agencies can help. Many temp agencies specialize in particular types of jobs, such as IT, or in particular industries. When you need a body with particular skills, you can often find employees through a temp agency for a short-term contract. Depending on how they perform, you might eventually replace them with another candidate or offer them the position on a full-time basis.
Leveraging Hiring Tips
The hiring tips above are just the tip of a particularly large iceberg. They do give you somewhere to start, though.
You’ve got a strategy for bringing in more qualified candidates. You’ve got at least one big factor for keeping or eliminating candidates. Plus, you have a method for dealing with immediate and non-negotiable staffing needs.
Deploying those three tips should help you manage your hiring needs more efficiently and with greater success.
Looking for more hiring or management tips? Check out the posts in our management section.
