The global workforce landscape has been undergoing significant transformations, amplified by the unforeseen challenges of the 2020 pandemic and the economic turbulence marked by 2023’s rising inflation. The pre-existing skills gaps, which once seemed like distant hurdles, have rapidly evolved into critical barriers for hiring across various industries. These gaps span a wide range of sectors, from advanced technology to healthcare, transportation, and beyond, highlighting the diverse nature of hard-to-fill positions that include:
- Financial advising
- Data science
- Home health experts, medical management, and registered nurses
- Truck drivers and shipping specialists
- Information technology and cybersecurity specialists
- Managerial positions, particularly in the food and beverage industry
This situation leaves many companies at a crossroads, questioning how to attract the talent necessary to navigate through these challenging times and into the future. Understanding the qualities that make a position hard to fill is the first step in addressing this dilemma. It involves recognizing the unique combination of skills, experience, and qualifications that are in short supply, along with the roles’ critical importance to the organization’s success.
To bridge this gap and attract the right candidates, here are some actionable tips and strategies:
1. Enhance Job Descriptions
Craft clear, compelling job descriptions that not only detail the responsibilities and requirements of the role but also highlight the impact the position has within the organization and the potential for career growth.
Your job description is what will attract potential candidates to your company
- It must therefore be enticing with the advantages highlighted.
- Your job description must make the position sound exciting and compelling.
- It must make the job clear so there is no doubt as to what the candidate is applying for.
- Your job description is often the first impression of your company for potential new employees. Make your company sound attractive in the job description
2. Invest in Employer Branding
Finding job candidates requires an investment of time, energy, and resources. Hiring the wrong person is even more expensive. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a bad hire can cost up to 30% of the employee’s first-year salary.
Employer branding can make the hunt easier and much less costly. When you can tell your story effectively, show people why you’re different, showcase your culture, and give people an honest and authentic sense of who you are, you will entice the right kind of people to apply, saving you valuable time, money, and effort.
3. Utilize Social Media and Networking
As per Builtin, up to 92% of employers use social networks as a means of finding and recruiting new talent. Social media channels like Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, etc. are major hubs for finding talent across all age groups. According to Talent500’s recent survey, we found that out of 10000 professionals, 93% are actively engaged on Linkedin and 72% on Instagram. This demonstrates the substantial impact and extent of social media platforms in the recruitment sector, underscoring the significance for employers to have a robust presence on these channels to attract and interact with prospective candidates.
4. Offer Competitive Packages
Ensure your compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards. Consider including unique benefits such as:
Health, dental, and vision insurance: Due to the high cost of healthcare in the United States, millions of Americans rely on employer-sponsored health insurance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, close to 159 million people are covered by employer-sponsored insurance.
Paid time off: Paid time off can help improve employee productivity and mental health. Additionally, paid time off can help employers control unscheduled absences, which can be highly costly.
Retirement benefits: Retirement benefits are the second most-wanted benefit after health insurance, according to a Human Interest survey from 2022. There are also certain tax advantages that come with offering a retirement plan, which can potentially make it more affordable for small business owners to provide more robust benefit packages.
Wellness benefits: Wellness benefits remain highly sought after since the pandemic. Examples of wellness benefits include flexible work schedules, mental health care, and financial stipends for childcare or fitness programs.
5. Embrace Flexibility and Innovation
Be open to candidates who may come from different industries or backgrounds but possess transferable skills that can be valuable to the position. Transferable skills are abilities and competencies that are relevant and applicable across different jobs and industries. These include, but are not limited to, leadership, communication, problem-solving, adaptability, and technical skills that can be applied in various contexts. Candidates from different industries or backgrounds bring with them unique experiences and viewpoints that can stimulate innovation and creativity within a team. Their fresh perspectives can challenge the status quo, leading to improved processes, products, and services. Moreover, these individuals are often adept at adapting to new environments and challenges, a trait that is invaluable in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape.
6. Prioritize Candidate Experience
Provide a seamless and positive experience for candidates throughout the recruitment process. Timely communication, transparency, and respect can leave a lasting positive impression, making candidates more likely to accept an offer. The high cost of a poor candidate experience is something British cable and mobile provider Virgin Media knows all too well. In 2015, Virgin Media discovered that bad candidate experiences—often the result of negative interview experiences and poor communication—were costing the company over $6 million in lost revenue each year. The reason? Many of the candidates that applied to Virgin Media were customers of the brand themselves. And these candidates were so disappointed by the brand’s recruiting process—and how they were treated throughout the process—that they canceled their subscriptions to Virgin Media services and switched to competitors instead.
7. Know Candidates’ Shortcomings
It’s equally essential to know your incoming talents’ shortcomings before hiring them because nobody is excellent at everything. Your hiring process should put prospective hires at ease to share what they aren’t good at. This way, you understand their career expectations and whether your evaluation of them matches with theirs.
However, don’t ask for their weaknesses to simply reject them. Instead, seek to understand how they are willing to improve and show how your company is ready to help them. Remember, an excellent company helps people overcome their weaknesses and bolsters their strengths.
8. Hire People You Could Comfortably Work For
Learn from Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Mark says that he only hires people he would be comfortable and confident working for. That might sound paradoxical, but it contains common sense and truth. Why? Because if you can see great employers in candidates, they would most likely make great employees. The best leaders are often servants.