Few factors are more important to an organization’s success than the quality of its staff.
Most companies don’t have the resources to waste on poor performers; hiring represents an enormous investment and choosing the wrong candidate can have dire consequences for profitability and your brand’s reputation.
Unfortunately, current trends show that the pool of talent is shrinking.
The US population is graying at an accelerating pace:
- From 2010 roughly one in six workers will be over 54 years old
- The 25 to 34 year old demographic in the labor market has shrunk every year since 2006
- From 2024 the average age of US workers will be over 42 years old
These figures show that it will get tougher to attract and retain the best people for your company. Here are four ways to recruit the best candidates, along with three red flags that signal it’s time to move on (and two that mean they should come back for another shot).
1) Make Your Brand Attractive
Use your brand image to attract talent by controlling the message your brand sends to potential candidates:
- Maintain a frequently updated blog
- Publish thought-leadership articles about your industry
- Practice reputation management and keep negative reviews from crippling your recruiting efforts
2) Never Stop Networking
There’s never been a tougher recruiting environment; you can’t just wait for talent to seek you out — be proactive. Send a representative to every convention, trade show and recruiting event possible.
The growth of social media platforms means that it’s never been easier to connect with thousands of potential employees; dive into social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter to advertise available positions at your company and explain why yours is the best place to work.
The crowd of competitors fighting for the shrinking pool of top candidates means that your message could easily be lost in the noise if you don’t use every avenue to get your message heard.
3) Detailed Job Descriptions
Nothing will waste more time than the flood of unqualified applicants a poorly written job description will bring. What’s worse — a badly written job description wastes their time, and hurts your organization’s reputation as a good place to work.
Be as explicit as possible about:
- The actual job
- What skills/education you require
- What salary you’re offering
- Where the job is located
4) Offer (Some) Disqualified Candidates Another Chance
The shrinking pool of candidates with the qualifications or experience you need means that investing in skills training is increasingly the way to go.
The cost and lost productivity involved in this process make it critical to identify red flags early in the interview process that indicates someone is a risk.
Here are five red flags to look out for:
- Poor eye contact
- Spotty work history
- Late to the interview
- Unprepared for the interview
- Unqualified for the job
The first three red flags are deal breakers, but depending on the situation, the last two offer some hope. Point unprepared or unqualified, but otherwise excellent candidates toward resources that can make them a perfect fit!
From learning app coding skills to getting licensed to drive for a limousine service; there are free, online resources that they can use to develop the skills they need to come back and get hired at no cost (and little risk) to you.
