The conversation around hiring challenges has a shifting cast of villains: it’s the pandemic economy, it’s the “Great Resignation,” it’s employee burnout, its millennial expectations, it’s workers’ growing sense of free agency.
The truth: hiring has never been easy. The task of matching the right employee to the right positions takes specialized skill, patience and a customized approach – three things the vast majority of HR leaders and hiring managers, not to mention many recruiters, simply don’t have.
Effective hiring practices also require a recognition that for all the myths surrounding the “Great Resignation,” expectations of employees have changed – across every demographic group and across industries. It’s not a Millennial thing. It’s not a white-collar or blue-collar phenomenon. Employees of every type and every generation have more choices and greater expectations around “work/life balance.”
4 Recruiting Practices Keeping You from the Workforce You Need
At the same time, many of the hiring mistakes employers make are the same ones they’ve made forever. It’s not a Great Resignation; in many cases, it’s ordinary inflexibility and old habits in the face of a labor pool with more, higher quality options.
Below are four examples of practices that come between employers and the workforce they’re trying to build.
1. Assuming the Pool of Applicants Is Deficient
If you’re not getting the applicants you want, it could be because you’ve defined what you’re looking for in a way that screens out viable candidates. If you’ve established rigid criteria around specific skills, years of experience, resume “keywords,” or other inflexible criteria, you may be screening out great candidates who are willing and able to learn, or who bring a skillset that could be adapted in a valuable way.
2. Looking for Your Twin
We get it. your standards are high. But sometimes we find employers who believe they’re relying on well-honed instincts – e.g. “I’ll know it when I see it” – are really seeking someone in whom they see themselves. This is an opening for more than just subconscious bias – it’s a good way to sabotage the chances of great candidates with talents, skills and experience complementary to the ones you already have. And it deprives you of the diversity needed to make better decisions and avoid more mistakes – diversity that goes beyond race, gender and socioeconomic background to also include diversity of personality types.
3. Operating in a Blind Spot
You’re offering a great position in a great company, but you’re not the only game in town. Try to see things from the perspective of your applicants and adopt an attitude of flexibility. Small accommodations can make a big difference and if you haven’t figured out what they are, many of your competitors have. Look past the way you’ve always done things and get creative with scheduling, benefits or learning opportunities. For many hourly workers, this can include offering the option of working swing shifts 3 or 4 days on then off, and perhaps even working weekend shifts so they can stay home with their children during weekdays.
4. Overlooking Potential
Sometimes, the perfect employee is one you create yourself by investing in potential. Upskilling your workforce is a sound investment in the future of your business as much as it is an investment in employees. Taking a chance on prospects who have most of you are looking for along with a growth mindset can help you create your own talent pool while also improving your ability to increase employee retention.
Innovation & Flexibility vs. “The Big Upgrade”
At BlockForce Talent, our job can include helping employers get out of their own way in the hiring process. Hiring is difficult and the competition can be fierce but, by incorporating a bit of flexibility and innovation, you can dramatically improve your likelihood of finding capable and motivated job candidates. Flexibility tends to outrank salary, benefits and title for what’s most important to job candidates: half of workers surveyed in a 2022 ADP Research Institute study said they would take a pay cut in exchange for improved work-life balance.
As Vistage Worldwide Chief Research Office Joe Galvin writes, the modern job search is all about the upgrade: “With the job market tipped in favor of the employee, every worker is looking to ‘upgrade,’ whether they are in pursuit of a better title, a higher salary, or a more optimal work schedule,” Galvin writes.
He added: “Across the board, working individuals are seeking improved pay and benefits, greater flexibility, and better work dynamics. At Vistage, we’ve gone from saying the Great Resignation to The Big Upgrade, as people aren’t simply quitting, they’re upgrading.”
Upgrade Your Recruiting with BlockForce
At BlockForce Talent, whether you’re an industrial, manufacturing or temp agency employer, we can help you upgrade your recruiting efforts with a proven process for job matching that eliminates bias and promotes inclusion, diversity and growth for both job applicants and companies.
Let us show you how you can use a tight labor market to your advantage by partnering with an experienced recruiting firm that knows where the barriers are – and how to move them. At BlockForce Talent, we work as an extension of your team to ensure that you’ve got the practices in place to grow and thrive.
Speak with one of our recruiting experts today to learn more about how BlockForce can help you attract and retain the talent you need, faster and more effectively.