On a scale of 1 to 10, how efficient is your company’s hiring process?
If you’re anything like most small business owners, you’ll be hard-pressed to give your business anything above 5. A whopping 90 percent of small enterprises struggle to find qualified workers for their open positions, and it’s not because there’s a shortage of talent in the labor market.
Without a refined recruitment process, you’ll not only make bad hire after bad hire but also struggle to retain the employees you already have. The cost of a flawed recruitment strategy can drive you out of business.
So, what changes do you need to make to your recruiting process to make it better? Read on to find out.
Workforce Forecasting
Workforce forecasting is the process of assessing and identifying the staffing needs of an organization.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve certainly faced times when you had to step into the labor market on short notice. Maybe your business got an influx of orders after a marketing campaign, and suddenly you needed to bring in more people to get the job done.
While you can’t entirely avoid impromptu hiring, being forced to recruit when you weren’t planning for it can lead to some mistakes. For instance, because your business needs to fill positions quickly, you might rush through the recruitment process, increasing your chances of getting employees who’re a bad fit.
Workplace forecasting will help prevent that. When you have a clear picture of your company’s staffing needs, you won’t be caught unawares. You’ll be in a better position to ensure your business is adequately staffed at all times, even during periods of rapid growth.
Build a Talent Pool
On average, it takes 36 days to fill a job opening.
Can you imagine taking that long to fill a crucial position? You might be forced to settle on the first job seeker you find just as long the company gets someone to do the job.
Reducing the time it takes to find new employees is a key part of improving your hiring process. But how do you do that?
Build a talent pool.
As your company advertises positions, several qualified job seekers will apply. Although you’re only interested in a few people, don’t discard the resumes of those who don’t get the job. As long as they met your requirements, put their resumes in a database.
In the future when an employee resigns or you need more personnel, you’ll simply go back to that database and pull the resumes of suitable candidates. Depending on the size of the pool, there’s a good chance you’ll find someone within a few days.
Leverage Staff Augmentation
There are instances when your organization needs more hands on deck but only for a short period of time. Perhaps you have a 3-month project that needs a team of 5.
You can hire temporary in-house workers, but there’s a better solution: staff augmentation.
This involves using outside personnel on a temporary basis. There are companies that provide staff augmentation, so all you need to do is find a good provider and tell them your needs.
Your Company Needs an Efficient Hiring Process
Your employees are your organization’s lifeblood, but they don’t appear out of the blue. It’s your responsibility to recruit and build a team. It’s also your job to create an effective hiring process that helps you keep your company well-staffed.
Need more recruitment advice? Keep reading our blog!