It’s harder than ever to attract and retain top talent, businesses are experiencing the struggle of not only finding employees that are the right personality, culture and skills/experience fit, but retaining and growing them once they’re onboarded.
With few exceptions, candidates are in the driver’s seat, and corporate leaders are feeling the pressure. While the temptation is to lower expectations and devise job descriptions that call for meager skills, Devon Underwood, Principal and Founder of the Talent Store, cautions employers to resist this urge. Rather than reduce requirements, spend some time to look at your advertising, outreach, and vetting processes.
Read on to better understand the most common mistakes organizations make when hiring, and how to avoid them.
Errors Organizational Leaders Make
Negative or ambiguous employer brand.
What sort of banter surrounds your company in the marketplace? If a candidate researches your organization, what impression will they walk away with? Understand your digital footprint, while positioning your company to better sell itself.
Ineffective advertising campaigns and misunderstanding the value of social media platforms.
Networking sites often act as ad hoc job boards – work to make your company’s online presence a good one. Take time to learn how to job boards work and how potential candidates may be searching for a job. Spend your advertising dollars effectively on networking sites and platforms to reach the right audience. Streamline all of your efforts so that you don’t miss out on queries and interested candidates.
Limited time and capacity for research, outreach, and follow-through on quality leads.
Invest in recruiting professionals that can fill this critical role while providing objective feedback from outside the company. A broader market perspective can be an invaluable step in getting you more quality candidate options.
Failure to understand the market – compensation and culture trends.
Companies everywhere are assessing their compensation packages both to acquire top talent and extending pay increases to retain current talent. They are also implementing changes to follow trends in culture, benefits, connection, and work flexibility that more and more candidates are seeking.
Committed to the notion that talent strategy is the job of HR only.
In fact, operational leadership, and those the candidate will be collaborating with and reporting to are in key positions to set the vision and lead in these initiatives.
Listen to the interview: Doing Prep the Work for Advertising and Outreach
Neglecting to research and set objectives.
Who will own the role of defining the target market, gathering market compensation data, understanding the platform and community options for advertising and outreach, and setting measurable objectives? Know who you need, and really understand what you are looking for.
Misunderstanding team dynamics and expectations of hiring managers.
It’s essential that hiring managers are a part of defining the talent avatar, providing details on skills, character traits, style, etc. important to success in the role they’re looking to fill. This includes being clear on what this person needs to accomplish in the first 90 days and year, and how that will be measured.
Failure to implement an effective vetting process that drives quick
decision making.
The key to effective vetting goes back to accurately identifying the experience and attributes needed in prospective employees. How are you building a consistent fair and equitable vetting process? And don’t be afraid to act swiftly. In today’s market, take those necessary next steps when you’ve found a promising candidate or risk losing them to competition.
Negative candidate experience.
In our social media-heavy society, one bad prospect’s experience can spread like wildfire. Put yourself in their shoes and create an experience that will leave candidates not chosen, walking away wishing they were and applying in the future. You also want to make sure the application and interview process reflects your company brand, values, and culture accurately. A disconnect in who you say you are vs. what the candidate experiences can also cause a negative impression.
Ineffective onboarding.
Employee offers should include the thorough Job Description outlining responsibilities, expectations, and keys to success for the position. Take the time to introduce a new hire to who they are going to be working with, reporting, and collaborating with. Make sure their tech set up and ready to go on Day One? Has an employee been provided a handbook expressing company culture? What other resources do you need to provide so they can successfully hit the ground running?
Listen to the interview: Internal Processes and Onboarding
Despite the challenges employers are facing with talent acquisition, hiring success is still possible with the right action plan (read: articulate your needs; be quick with competitive compensation; know your digital footprint).
Investing in a recruiting partner with the insight, expertise, and bandwidth to guide you can be an essential part of this strategy. At The Talent Store, we address all of these areas of concern in any of the services we provide. Which one is right for you?
Key Position Placement: Let us do the recruiting for you, so all your team has to do is interview and select.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing: We build a consistent pipeline of talent for positions you always hire.
Advising Services: We can help you do this all yourself through internal resources.