Many companies are struggling to fill critical roles in today’s extremely competitive job market. We’ve all seen the “Now Hiring” signs that are a prevalent part of the landscape. It seems like EVERYONE is looking for people, some companies are offering large sign-on bonuses and pay rates seem to be increasing rapidly, especially for hourly workers. The recruiting team at Red Zone HR have come up with a few tips to help you be successful:
- Be a “First Responder” – Do your best to respond to applicants/resumes that come in the same day, preferably within a few hours. The early bird often “gets the worm” in this market and the best candidates often receive offers within a matter of days. Try new ways of connecting with candidates. Instead of old school traditional methods such as emails or phone calls, try non-traditional methods of reaching out such as texting or IM’ing through platforms like Indeed or LinkedIn. Some candidates will only respond through some methods and not through others like some may never pick up a voice message.
- Evaluate your Pay Rates – Are you competitive in your local market? Have you done even a quick market analysis? Today’s labor market looks way different than it did just six months ago or even three months ago. A quick and easy way to do a quick pulse on the local market is to search Indeed, Craigslist and other job sites as if you are the one looking for work like a candidate. If you’re hiring a Warehouse Associate, get on Indeed and search “Warehouse Associate” in your city to see what other companies are paying for this role. Salary benchmarking data surveys tends to lag six to 12 months and the best ones must be purchased, so they may not be the best way to understand current trends in a market as dynamic as this one.
Through our HR Resource Center, our clients can access a salary benchmarking tool available using the data from the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
- Streamline your Selection Process – Evaluate and simplify the selection process to make it as painless as possible. Long employment applications are a turnoff to candidates. Look at how many interview steps you have to determine if the candidate is the right one. Good (and not so good) candidates will move on to other opportunities if there are too many hoops to jump through. Try to decrease your “time to hire”, aiming to shorten it as much as possible from the time the candidate applies to their first day of work. Candidates will continue to look and field job interviews and offers while you are trying get your act together. The longer your process takes the more time the candidate has to consider other opportunities.
- Be Transparent About Your Process – Be sure to let the candidates know what your process will be. This will help them stay engaged with you and just check out: a) an overview of the hiring process b) when they can expect to hear back from you c) ask them to let you know if they receive any offers in the meantime.
- Creative, Flexible Schedule/Work from Home – Creating a flexible schedule, compressed workweek, or offering work from home options is one benefit you may be able to offer that doesn’t cost anything and makes you an “Employer of Choice” in this competitive market. Being flexible in this way will greatly expand your pool of applicants to different geographic areas, part-time or remote workers, etc. Some professionals are not even considering jobs that do not even have an option to work remotely.
