These days, the search for top talent is pretty competitive. While 78 percent of HR leaders say their number one priority is finding top talent, only 25 percent of hires are considered top performers. So after spending a lot of money and effort, you only have a one in four chance of getting the best.
So what can you do to increase your odds? Here are four mistakes you (or your recruiting team) could be making—and how to correct them.
Recruiting only when you have a job vacancy
It’s easy to become complacent when all of your positions are filled. You feel you can take a break from recruiting. But what if someone abruptly gets fired, or quits? You’ll probably find yourself scrambling to replace that employee, and you’ll be right back into the dangerous mindset of “Hire someone, anyone, quick!”
Instead, make recruiting an around-the-clock effort. Between mobile recruiting, posting on social media and using your company website as a recruiting tool, 24/7 recruiting is easy and will help keep you prepared.
Screening candidates based on past job titles
Job titles may only be useful internally, because many of them are very general. First, industry or company size can have major impacts on employees’ titles, and the titles can be misleading to a prospective employer. If you go off of past experience alone, you can really narrow your talent pool.
Filtering out the long-term unemployed
There are still a lot of people out there who have been unemployed for a long time, through no fault of their own. And while surveys show that hiring managers are willing to hire the long-term unemployed, given the option they usually would rather choose a currently employed candidate. Don’t dismiss a candidate who’s been unemployed for a while. Everyone runs into bad luck, and if you reject a candidate just for being unemployed, you could be missing out on a great employee.
Failing to pay a competitive salary for tough-to-fill positions
If you’re struggling to fill an open position, ask yourself why. What is making the position tough to fill? Are the hours unusual, are the skills hard-to-find, or are you looking for recruits in all the wrong places? No matter what the reason is, there is a reason—and poor compensation should never be one of them. Yes, money is only factor that affects why candidates take jobs, but it’s an important one. If you’re not offering an attractive compensation package for a tough-to-fill position, you may find yourself experiencing tough luck.
Are you making any of these mistakes? Or are you making others? One great way to correct the course of your hiring strategy is to hire Synerfac. We recruit round-the-clock, we’re experts at screening, and we know the salary requirements for your industry in your region. If you want to ensure you’re doing hiring right, give us a call!