By Stephanie Klein, president and CEO of the Experience Factor
As the adage goes, “you can’t put a square peg in a round hole.” That may be true if you are a carpenter, but anyone in HR and recruiting knows that many times important qualities and attributes may not be as obvious to identify. Sometimes square pegs and round holes work well with each other. Last month, we surveyed over a thousand hiring managers and asked, “what is your top hiring challenge?”
Sixty percent of those who responded to our survey said that their biggest challenge was “finding qualified workers.”
Sadly the Denver market is not alone in finding top talent quickly. According to Indeed.com, if a job is not filled within the first month after it is posted, it has a 57% chance of remaining open for three months or more! It goes without saying that if a key role is open for that long it either isn’t really that “key” or if it is, the delay can have serious consequences on your business, potentially resulting in longer working hours and lower quality work as a result of staff shortages. This in turn can impact morale and lead to higher staff turnover.
The following is advice to assist you in your search for the “perfect” applicant, and or speed up the time it takes to find your next best hire:
1. Clarify the role/position with your management team. Are your expectations of the job in alignment with the work that actually must be done? Many times we can get caught up in ideal skill sets rather than focusing on the attributes or actual objectives and outcomes of the position.
2. Remember to WIIFT when marketing the position. Make sure your website, job description and communication with candidates highlight “What’s In It for Them.” Even with a small budget, it is easy, important and necessary to define your organization’s mission, culture and value, keeping in mind what the candidate could gain from the opportunity.
3. Interview questions to ask in order to identify your best candidate:
• Tell me about your biggest legacy at your last company.
• Tell me about a time when you had limited time to learn a new skill/software or business.
• What skill set did you build and leverage in your last job?
• What makes this job attractive to you If your organization needs help in finding your next best hire?
Experience Factor would love to help. Reviewing resumes and interviewing are opportunities to read, look, and listen between the lines; to open up new avenues for the open position and grow it and the organization together. Embody an intelligent, yet open-minded attitude.