How to hire the best talent.
It’s clear to see that confidence in the market has returned in most industries and the challenges we’re facing are also very apparent. Skills shortages that existed before the pandemic are now even starker. There is fantastic work going on in order to upskill team members, enhancing the education of the young and acknowledging the changes in the skills needed to succeed in business in 2022 and onwards.
Training your staff is vital, investing in new skills and spending time assessing the talent that you have in your business and where you could use hidden talents to best effect is also critical. So, when it comes to recruiting additional talent into your company, there are a few bits of advice that we can give in order for you to be more successful during the hiring process.
Quicker more decisive recruitment can often attract a higher calibre of candidates – fast-tracking the very best talent. We are really noticing that lengthy recruitment processes, poor advert writing, lack of planning for hiring & poor communication with candidates is leading to a negative impact on a company’s employer brand. Candidates are looking carefully at the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) when looking to move jobs. Much more is expected from your company brand than ever before and candidates are certainly doing more homework on potential new employers.
- Write a good advert
Your job advert is critical – get the details right. Does it show your company off, does it explain the job requirements, does it match the requirements of job seekers?
- Select those who you wish to interview as quickly as you can
If you want to recruit the very best talent – plan your selection process, organise who will communicate the news to those selected for an interview and arrange dates and times as soon as possible. If the closing date is Friday, set aside time on Monday morning to review the applications and select those to interview asap.
- Consider a flexible approach to interviews
Be flexible about how you might carry out the interview (using technology or face to face), think about the timings in order to appeal to all applicants. Could you meet before or after work or perhaps at lunchtime to suit the applicant if possible. Embracing technology will improve speed. It’s commonplace to use Teams, Zoom, or Whatsapp video, etc and this is likely to continue as a sensible option moving forward in the coming years. A face-to-face interview can follow as stage 2 / final stage.
- Be prepared to sell your company vision
For someone to join a new company and take on a new job is daunting. It’s so important to portray a clear vision and inspire the candidates to want to be a part of the journey. This needs to be communicated well during the interview. Give details about the company ethos, culture, future plans, work-life balance, management expectations, and why you enjoy working there.
The best interviewers need to be fully briefed on the role, the future plans, project pipeline, promotion opportunities, team structure, and culture.
- Speed of response with feedback and offer management is crucial.
Good or bad news must be communicated quickly. Don’t sit on feedback or an offer for any longer than a few days. Set out your timescales at the end of the interview. Speed of response, quality of response & clear communication will give you the best chance of securing the talent that you want.
- Mind the gap
Once you’ve made an offer, set timescales for an acceptance and then mind the gap between offer and start date, particularly as many people have longer notice periods than before. A clear and supportive onboarding process from offer acceptance right through to week 12 of a new job is very important for all involved.