Mission Impossible: Fill this job! (this req, should you choose to accept it, will explode!)
With the holidays fast approaching and year-end around the corner for many of our clients, our office is abuzz with recruiters making calls, sending email blasts-trying to fill as many open roles as possible before the end of the calendar year. Our company spends time, money and resources to give our recruiters the best tools and analytics needed to determine whether a job we’re recruiting on will be filled. When a particular role is starting to get stale- even after countless recruiting calls, job ad / script tweaks, and candidate presentations to our clients -- we have to ask ourselves if a particular role is turning into an “impossible-to-fill” job. Sometimes the issue has NOTHING to do with our recruiting efforts or lack of good talent... it's the role.
Hiring managers, before you start to blame your internal team or your agency recruiters, take a look at some things you can improve:
The position is boring
A good recruiter will find ways to look at the positives of a job and sell those aspects to potential candidates. Yet, if the role is truly not desirable or boring, it might be time to tweak the title, job description and how it’s presented.
Your expectations are “out there”
Looking for an “A” candidate without paying a comparable salary? Eliminating perfectly suitable candidates because they didn’t go to the “right” college? Too many moves on their resumes? Being unreasonably picky is not going to help fill that critical position that has been vacant for six months. TIP: Loosen up your requirements a bit, and get creative with ways that will help qualify the best talent for your company.
Your interview process is poorly organized
You’re working with top recruiters. They’re sending you good candidates who are INTERESTED and AVAILABLE to interview… yet the process is still not moving along! What’s the deal? A possible culprit could be your company’s interview process. Perhaps it’s too formal and impersonal, making candidates feel like they’re just one of thousands of applicants. If they do get an interview it feels more like a grilling session than a way to get to know one another. TIP: Step into a candidate’s shoes and find ways to improve how your company interviews people.
You take too long
When it comes to making good hires, timing is everything. If you’re constantly losing candidates even though they seemed interested and eager to join your company, it could be that you’re taking too long to make a decision or move to the next step. If you’re taking days to answer emails or texts, review resumes or references, dragging your feet to schedule interviews, it’s no wonder you’re struggling... In today’s candidate-driven job market, you must SPEED UP to the finish line in order to scoop up good employees.
The salary is below market rate
Some roles, especially the very technical ones, or those that require leading a team and/or lots of travel, come with more challenges, and those employees need to be compensated accordingly. Take a look at the salaries you’re offering and try to determine if they’re below market rate. Chances are that candidates will join one of your competitors if they can earn considerably more there. TIP: If you cannot bump up the salary at this time, get creative to show your candidates the benefits of working for your company. Look at your company’s mission statement, and any soft benefits that you offer.
Employer brand… what employer brand!?
It’s a no-brainer that candidates Google search a company before applying for a job – what does your company’s search results say about your workplace? Here are some effective ways to help your company stand out from the rest of the crowd.
If any of these points are hitting home in any way, it might be time to make some changes so your open reqs become less “impossible-to-fill” and more “impossible-to-resist”!
TELL ME ABOUT THE TALENT OR JOBS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR. Get in touch with me today!