Written by Michelle Stokes, SPHR
Most employers might say recruiting drives them insane. You have likely heard the famous quote “Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.” Employers are trying to get results today with the same recruiting strategies and processes of the past. To avoid recruiting insanity, we need a new perspective. Let’s start by reviewing the facts.
Unemployment rates are back down to 3.5% and there are 1.7 jobs available for every unemployed person. Though there have been layoff announcements, labor force participation remains low and there simply aren’t enough people available to fill the number of open positions. We knew this reality would come well ahead of its arrival, which was only slightly accelerated by the pandemic. Yet, many employers didn’t prepare to change their practices and are devastated by today’s recruiting reality.
You may also be aware of the theory acceptance leads to change. Here’s your opportunity to accept the “new normal” of the talent landscape in 2023 and beyond and change your thinking and strategies for getting work done.
Before reading on, please reread the above until you’re convinced a big change needs to be made in how your company gets the job done and recruits talent to make it happen.
If you’ve accepted the reality of today’s talent landscape and understand there is no expected change to demographic facts within the next several decades, then I ask you to open your mind to different ways to address your needs. To be clear, I am not suggesting you have to lower standards for hiring or work quality but I will make suggestions to streamline processes and remind you of the new normal with a little tough love, where applicable.
Here are my suggestions:
Assess your company culture. Today’s generation of workers want their jobs to provide a sense of purpose and belonging. They seek recognition at work, flexibility and continuous career development. Does your company culture reflect these dynamics? The reward for embodying what the workforce wants, is attracting and retaining talent.
Getting paid to do the job is not enough. Honestly, was it ever? Most of us define ourselves largely by the work we do. Purpose and belonging are inherent needs to all of us. When we have a strong sense of purpose and are recognized for what we do, we take pride in our work and strive to continue to produce excellent results.
Flexibility has long been a successful retention tool for many companies. With technology, flexibility has evolved and can take different forms including telecommuting and non-traditional schedules creating better work-life balance, something today’s workforce considers a competitive trade for higher wages.
Another strong retention tool for today’s workforce is career development. Workers want opportunities to grow and be challenged. They’ll change jobs if they don’t feel they’re learning enough. Prioritize training and development to fulfill workers needs and retain those employees saving recruiting costs and yielding better performance.
Concentrate sourcing efforts. The “post and pray” method has never really worked well. When you post a job ad and pray that the right candidates apply, you’re fishing in a really big ocean without the right bait to attract the best candidates for your company and job openings. Be thoughtful in where you search for candidates based on the job you’re filling. Go where they are. For example, most blue collar, trade workers are not active on LinkedIn and Indeed. So don’t waste time or money posting there. Consider radio ads. Post in relevant trade and recreational publications and on websites those candidates generally frequent like Facebook and Craig’s List. The opposite is true for professional jobs. Those candidates are active on LinkedIn and Indeed. They can also be found in peer groups and industry associations.
Make current employees ambassadors of your company and recruiters by rewarding them significantly when they refer a candidate. And don’t wait 90+ days to pay your employees for referrals. You’ve already saved recruiting costs so why not translate those funds the employees who refer candidates right away? For best results, early rewards work best.
Condense the selection and hiring process. How lengthy are your hiring processes? When talent was in abundance, we built lengthy selection processes to “weed out” candidates. While we still need to do some of that in our screening processes, most companies do not have the resources to conduct multiple interviews over weeks of time tying up their key employees. Nor are there the abundance of candidates to “weed out”. Consider restructuring your selection process to be inviting and succinct instead.
It is unnecessary for an application to require retyping all the information generally found on a resume. Automated prescreening during the application process is often a turn off to candidates, as well. Skills tests and prequalifying questions are not best placed during an application process. Sixty percent of candidates quit completing applications because the process is too lengthy or troublesome. Make it easy for candidates to apply and submit a resume. Save skills tests and questioning for interviewing.
Respond to candidates who apply quickly. Contact those you wish to interview promptly—within 48 hours is best practice. Good candidates will not be available long before getting offers from other companies. Send a simple rejection to those you will not consider further to avoid fielding emails and phone calls from underqualified talent who are following up on their application.
Conduct thorough, but brief, interviews as soon as possible. Lengthy interviews are not necessary if you have an effective agenda prepared and ask questions to identify the must have skills and attributes of a successful hire. Be flexible and use virtual participation to include candidates and internal interviewers, if needed. Don’t wait until you have multiple candidates lined up to interview. There may only be one or two candidates to consider. Meet the candidates you’re interested in promptly and assess them individually for a fit with your company and the job rather than waiting for a pool of candidates to compare and contrast.
Follow up with candidates quickly after the interview. Use the same timeline and processes as to responding to application submissions. If a second interview or skills test is necessary, schedule those promptly and reconnect with candidates within 24 hours after the tests or second interviews are conducted. Make an offer to the candidate of choice promptly and schedule a start date as soon as the candidate is available to start to minimize the chance they choose another offer over yours.
Tip: when launching your recruiting campaign, consider all the essential people who should participate in the selection process and be sure they will be available within a week of receiving resumes to conduct interviews. Don’t begin sourcing candidates if you will not be able to review their resumes and applications or conduct interviews promptly.
Focus on results. Boomers are comfortable working 10- to 12-hour days while younger workers prefer to work fewer hours. Many companies are offering four-day work weeks with great success. The work gets done in less time and workers experience greater work-life balance and overall better mental health.
Rewarding efficiency and encouraging employees to find better, faster ways to get the work done yields high dividends, as well. Your training should never include or imply “this is the way we do things.” Continuous growth and efficiency are gained when you foster a culture of inviting employees to challenge processes and systems by asking “why do you do it that way?”.
Hire for aptitude, not experience. How many times have you posted an ad which was titled something like “Experienced [Job Title] Wanted”? Then you waited for someone with the right experience to apply. The amount of work that backs up becomes exponential while the opening goes unfilled compared to the time it takes to train someone new, but employers still fail to make the time.
When you hire for aptitude and train candidates they will learn and be more likely to stay. During training and explaining processes to a new employee, encourage them to ask why you do something a certain way and question if it is the most efficient way to perform the work. This will be another way to identify opportunities for improvement and engage new employees.
Consider automation. Automation does not strictly mean building robots to do the work of previously manual processes. There are likely numerous other systems and processes that can be automated with software and apps. A technologically savvy worker can set up automated processes and procedures, then maintain those systems. Younger workers are much better at working smarter vs. harder. Take advantage of their skills and automate processes whenever possible.
Of course, there is the potential for automation on a larger scale, also. Cost analysis often reveals long-term savings when manual processes are replaced by machines and mechanical systems. Fewer workers are needed to maintain the systems in the long run. And much of the new workforce is skilled at learning and managing automated programs and processes. They’ve grown up with technology at their thumbs. Now is the time to strategize, plan for and implement large-scale automation to get the work done with fewer people.
Embrace the gig economy. There is a lot of talent who do not want to become, or go back to being, a traditional employee. Contractors enjoy the autonomy of being able to control when and how they do the work. Hiring a contract worker rather than a full-time employee could also save your business money; since you won’t have to pay for a contractor’s health insurance, 401(k) matches, vacation time or other benefits.
These workers are specialized and can be hired on a project basis to get some of the aforementioned automation and analysis work done. Also consider hiring contractors for phases or periods of time throughout a project or for positions that often have higher turnover rates.
If a position historically has had a lot of turnover, it may be a good choice to hire contract or seasonal workers to do the work for a period of time and fill it with a different contractor before burnout strikes and an employee would generally leave. Be creative in how you get the job done and with whom.
Don’t continue to waste your energy complaining about lack of applicants to your job postings or no shows to interviews. It can be tough to tolerate; however, for years, candidates put a lot of time and effort into applying and interviewing for positions only to never hear back from companies at all.
That dynamic has made a 180-degree turn. I don’t condone that behavior and have always made it my mission to respond to every candidate. But today’s talent is less formal, demanding faster response times and less loyal. We should stop being surprised and learn to move on to the next candidate or strategy for getting the work done. The sooner we accept the “new normal” and change some of our long-standing, outdated systems and processes, the sooner our businesses will evolve to persevere.
