When it comes time to staff your business, you’ll understandably want to attract the best of the best. Aside from finding the most qualified and driven individuals, you’ll want to make sure they’re likely to fit into your culture and are committed to your organization. After all, 22% of new hires leave their positions within their first 45 days, and picking the wrong candidates often leads to higher rates of turnover.
Unfortunately, many businesses struggle to bring in high-caliber potential hires — and that may force them to leave a necessary position vacant for a long period of time or hire someone who isn’t really a good fit. If this scenario sounds familiar, you may want to take a good look at your hiring practices. You might be committing some of the most common (yet deadly) staffing sins.
Relying on Resumes Alone
Of course, acquiring resumes and sifting through them will always be an important part of hiring the right person for a given position. But a candidate’s resume is not the be-all and end-all when trying to staff your team. In the digital age, your staffing solutions also need to include social media and networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. By supplementing traditional staffing solutions with information from these networks, you’ll be able to get a more complete picture of a given candidate. You and/or your staffing agency may also be able to use these channels to connect with and recruit potential new hires.
Focusing Solely on Unemployed Candidates
It’s only natural that your company conducts a lot of interviews with candidates who are actively searching for employment. But don’t forget to split your focus between those individuals and ones who may already be gainfully employed. By emphasizing your corporate culture, benefits, salary, and other perks, you may be able to attract top talent who are already working for other organizations. Don’t assume that trying to recruit “unavailable” candidates is a waste of time.
Failing to Accept Applications 24/7
As we mentioned earlier, we’re living in the digital age. Whether they’re currently employed or not, a lot of potential candidates will want to apply for positions at any time of day (or night). By placing limits on the hours during which you’ll accept job applications or phone calls, you could end up dissuading the exact kind of candidates you want to attract. Instead, choose an online system that allows candidates to submit applications at any time and set up a job hotline (even just an automated system or answering machine will do) for applicants to call at any time. Making the process as easy as possible will yield far more applicants than you’ll otherwise receive.
Not Working With a Staffing Agency
When you attempt to recruit candidates on your own, it’s likely that the process won’t be as efficient — or other parts of your operations will suffer as a result. You may fail to adequately screen candidates or may not have the time to attract the kind of talent your organization really needs. In addition, you won’t have the kind of access to currently employed individuals that your job agency does. When your staffing solutions need to be a priority, you should work with an organization that’s completely devoted to that cause. That will free up your time and allow you to make sound decisions about who to hire.
By not committing these staffing sins, you’ll be well on your way to attracting top talent in your area. If you need assistance figuring out your staffing solutions, we’re here to help. Contact us today to find out more.