Whether you’re looking to add new talent to your team, hiring for a gap in talent and knowledge, or making sure key team members have plenty of reasons to stay, some local HR experts have shared their insights into how a mindful, modern approach to hiring can set the stage for holding onto that new employee as they become a seasoned staffer who may start looking for greener pastures.
DON’T cling to outdated management policies.
DO adapt to current realities.
The effects of lockdown remain wildly impactful for the ways they allowed people to reconfigure their professional and personal lives, refocus on what mattered to them, and proceed with a new understanding of what benefits are the most important.
“COVID really did change everything,” says Rachael Dochnahl, senior human resource generalist at Workplace HCM. “There were a lot of new opportunities I think it created: As an HR professional, I really saw how it helped people achieve the work/life balance they needed. … There was no real option for remote work before, or it was very, very limited, so there was more competition among people thinking like, ‘I want to work as close to home as possible, what do I have to do to make sure I’m more qualified over everyone else?’ Where now, at least in my industry and the recruitment we do, you still get 80 applications over three days for these positions that [applicants] might not necessarily be qualified for. But there’s this new desire to find a new challenge. People are starting to get bored and they’re realizing, ‘I’ve been in this onsite job for 10 years, but now I could do a job like this hybrid or remote. I might not have all the qualifications but I’m going to try for this.’”
Meeting those shifting employee mindsets, boundaries and non-negotiables is, indeed, a necessity for employers to stay competitive. As Dochnahl adds, ”It’s not about how much money they’re making anymore: It’s about where can they go, what new stuff can they do and learn, and what new opportunities can they find.” With an empowered workforce collectively becoming more confident in identifying deal-breakers and leaving stagnant careers that paid the bills but offered little else, organizations will need to accordingly adapt and meet those job-seekers—and their expectations—where they are if they want to avoid the high cost of frequent turnover and a diminishing talent pool that’s taking its skills where they’re more appreciated.
DON’T be cavalier in either crafting job listings or responding to applicants.
DO write postings intentionally and proactively manage candidate relationships.
If your posted openings are attracting lots of attention but not necessarily from the caliber of talent you need, you might want to revisit the listing’s content to see where the disconnect is.
“There is a secret sauce,” promises Morris Yankell, founder of HRComputes. “The key is a great job description [and] asking knockout questions. Let’s say you need a delivery person: The classic knockout questions are, ‘Are you over 18?’ ‘Do you have a driver’s license?’ ‘Do you have the right to work in this country?’ Boom, right off the bat, you knock out all the people who don’t meet those requirements. It’s the same if you need a CPA, you need someone with a law degree, you need someone with an architecture accreditation. … Having a clear-cut knockout question helps you identify the specific skill set you’re looking for. The key is to know the skills you need, and then set up the application process so that the system can automatically send them a nice, automated email that says, ‘Sorry you don’t have the requirements for this position and that this job wasn’t right for you, but we really appreciate your time and would love to have you apply for another position.’
Engaging potential employees for future work can be a useful, timesaving approach, especially when you do find yourself contacted by candidates who might be perfect for another role, or who were close runners-up in a tight race among applicants. Yankell advises staying in touch with those individuals rather than ghosting them entirely—a huge, albeit increasingly common taboo on both sides of the interviewing process—to ensure that they keep your company at top of mind as they continue their job search for a position better aligned with their talents and goals.
Managing your candidate relationships is much like managing client and vendor ones, just with a different outreach campaign modified to suit that purpose, and can help generate authentic enthusiasm for both the job and your company even before their next interview.
DON’T utilize technology without understanding its place in your company first.
DO ask your team what tech tools could be advantageous in their roles.
Job applicants have tools like LinkedIn and Glassdoor to help them tweak their résumés to put relevant experience and skills front and center according to a job description’s least negotiable items, or assess the culture at a potential employer to determine if this is a working environment they want to join.
Employers, too, have an array of digital and technological options to help in their quest to fill a role with the most promising candidate, as well as to sustain and streamline growing operations in an increasingly tech-savvy world. But, as Yankell points out, it’s not enough to subscribe to this software package or purchase that program and then expect it to be the magic bullet that streamlines, automates or offloads the tasks that technology is equipped to handle: You have to mindfully, intentionally invest in something made to resolve, or at least simplify, your company’s complex challenges.
That’s where engaging in direct conversation with your team can help identify their biggest issues, brainstorm what can potentially correct or minimize them, and explore the ways technology can free up your team to tackle more pressing items and responsibilities—without burdening and frustrating them with misguided technological band-aids that offer more flashy bells and whistles than actual solutions to real-life hurdles.
“Some companies purchase technology and never apply it the right way,” Yankell points out. “Technology’s here to stay, and people need to know how to leverage that data, technology, AI, all kinds of things that come bundled in some vendor’s package. … It’s all about how can technology work better for your team. You want to use technology to improve the candidate and employee experience, because that’s what’s going to impact your bottom line.”
DON’T assume new hires will immediately intuit what they need to succeed.
DO help position them for success.
Ultimately, as long as your company is hiring people, treating your staff like human beings is the bare minimum. Not only attracting top talent but also retaining starts with nurturing those relationships. Getting some face time with your team, whether they’re a new hire or a longtime employee, will pay dividends in making them feel seen, heard, supported and like they’re more than just another cog in the machine. It will also help you in identifying what their pain points are to help them do their job more effectively and efficiently.
Whether you’re at the hiring phase or the onboarding one, there will need to be procedures and policies in place to check in with your newest team member, assess how they’re both fitting and settling in, ensure they have a clear line of communication to either address their concerns or ask their questions, and especially to ensure that any early snags don’t snowball into hard-to-break bad habits that negatively impact them or their teammates. It’s easy to forget what it was like learning the ropes, and encouraging new employees to speak up when they’re overwhelmed or confused will help fine-tune your orientation and onboarding procedures for optimal success.
Keeping that avenue of communication open will also get you into the habit of touching base with your employees often enough to know when they’re struggling, when they’re in need of a new challenge, when they’re ready for a new role and when they’re thriving. It may sound like a lot to facilitate communication, but even just five minutes of meaningful conversation or assessment can fortify the goodwill that inspires employee loyalty.
And it’s certainly a lot less time-consuming than starting the hiring process all over again because a disengaged worker finally hit their limit.
“One of those big things is encouraging continuing education, when you’re willing to listen to your employees when they say, ‘Hey, I really think getting this certification would help me be better at my job and would be great for the company,’ and the company goes ‘Absolutely!’ and helps pay for it—that’s how you get a better employee,” affirms Dochnahl. “Communication is always the catalyst for success in anything, especially at work when the new kid on the block wants to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to and wants to know that people are here to help in the event that they hit a wall. … But just as important is following up. The error I think that leadership tends to make is that there isn’t that biweekly or monthly check-in—an annual or biannual review isn’t enough! If that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing out on so many opportunities to create a better bridge between each one of your departments. Having a 10- or 15-minute conversation with the employees keeping your company successful can change their whole day, and it creates a whole new dynamic of prioritizing communication and following up that can improve everything else.”
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Published (and copyrighted) in South Jersey Biz, Volume 14, Issue 8 (August 2024).
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