While the difficulties in finding a job make headlines regularly, the difficulties incurred in hiring talented individuals are highly underrated. Hiring in a competitive environment like today is tough. Gone are the days when the hiring process was controlled by the recruiters and the hiring organizations. The millennial generation, who contribute to around 35% of the global workforce¹, walk-in for a job interview with a set of expectations from the organization. The millennials make an informed decision, weigh choices and are in no rush to settle for a job or an organization that doesn’t resonate with their personal beliefs.
And as rare as talent is, engaging the talented employees to make them stick with the organization is a challenge by and large. Companies have to compete to score a good employee, just like employees have to compete to bag a job they like. Especially for startups and companies who are just gaining a foothold, hiring and retaining is as competitive as it can get.
There isn’t a full-proof formula to recruit and retain talent but a bucket-load of efforts that have to be implemented not just by the HR teams but by the organizations as a whole.
Here’s how you can perfect recruiting and retention of talent in a competitive hiring market:
Create and display an attractive culture
As much as we stress the importance of hiring for a cultural fit, building the company culture and living the culture on our end is equally important. Candidates today want to see the culture reflected in every process of the organization and not just on the business flyers. They want ideals and social messaging that they can support and be a part of. Of course, all this while having a working environment they enjoy and feel excited about, every single day.
“Job search -love it to the heart.”, said no job-seeker ever! Candidates want the right organization where they can contribute and grow at the same time. Organizations can have a competitive advantage by offering an attractive work culture (and not just displaying it) to convince the candidates that this is the best place to be.
Read more: Work Culture at ProMobi: What Sets Apart Best From the Rest
A marvelous candidate experience
More often than not, what repels good candidates is a latent, non-responsive hiring process. A poor experience during the hiring process, both by the HR teams and the hiring managers displays a lack of respect, responsibility and seriousness and good candidates make a long-lasting impression of the organization, based on this.
If a job seeker faces a dilemma of choosing between two organizations, one that provides a smooth, well-communicated and quick process, and the other that is a rather ordinary, long and unwelcoming process; it’s going to be a very simple decision to take- in competitive hiring, you snooze, you lose!
The way you market yourself as an organization is an important tool for recruiting
Candidates, especially the millennials and Gen Z want to be associated with a brand. If your organization advertises locally, you will be raising awareness of your region with potential candidates. They can see the ads and identify the brand to be a reputed organization. If your organization doesn’t advertise locally, you can still consider publicly promoting the fact that you’re hiring by using the power of social media. See your current career profile on job posting sites and social media. Make sure that it corresponds to your brand and the type of people you’re looking for.
Read more: Building a Team at ProMobi: 5 Things We Look for while Choosing our Next Teammate
A blog dedicated to the company culture, frequently updated social media handles, sharing insightful content on the behalf of the organization and highlighting your organization’s infrastructure as well as a culture that makes it a desirable place to work is an efficient way to establish a brand dedicated to hiring.
Having an overall brilliant recruitment strategy
While tech firms often need to recruit quickly to reach their goals, a long-term plan is crucial. Recruiting for engineering vacancies is one of the toughest challenges since the positions often require a lot of diverse and nice skill-sets. Working professionals with strong experience weigh their choices carefully before career changes. Also, your hiring timelines won’t always align with ideal candidates. And hence, it is important to proceed with a strong strategy for recruitment to make sure that you don’t overhire at the same time you don’t lose out on good candidates just because of the timelines.
Retaining talent in a competitive job market
After you’ve made the hire in a competitive job market, retention is the next big challenge. We’ve extensively written about How to Retain Your Top Talent, it is important to understand that retention is a continuous process.
In a competitive hiring scenario, identify what makes you different from other employers, your rivals particularly. Converse with the staff. Look at exit interviews and onboard reviews to figure out what keeps employees at the company happy and motivated, and what makes them move away from it. See how you can change and align your employee engagement focus towards the same.
In a competitive hiring environment, you need to act quickly and distinguish your organization, or your competition will beat you to it. After all,
“The greatest asset of a company is its people.”
–Jorge Paulo Lemann (Co-founder, Banco Garantia)
Sources:
1. workable.com
