Hiring new employees can be time-consuming and expensive. To maximize your efforts, you must think unconventionally, utilizing new resources and opportunities that are engaging, attractive and useful. Finding the right candidate in today’s technologically driven society can be challenging, but with the right focus, you can attract and retain the manpower you need.
How much does hiring the wrong employee cost?
Hiring the wrong employee costs more than manpower: it affects time, money, productivity, employee morale, and in some cases your reputation. Doing something different from the beginning can help reap great rewards in the pool of likely candidates. Here are a few tips:
Plant the right seeds
If you are looking for candidates or anticipate you will need employees in a certain field, planting the right seeds will help your efforts grow. This means you must target your searches in unique ways. This could be networking at specialized conferences, examining social profiles, looking at industry prospects and using specific industry boards that focus on your target market. Having focused searches in place will help attract the right pool of candidates.
Create new incentives
Gone are the days where standard incentives like vacation pay do the trick. Your incentives have to mirror the tone of the generation we live in that provide value and enrichment for not only the company, but for the employee as well. Some popular untraditional incentives are on-site health and wellness services, work hours that mirror that of an independent contractor (just get the job done), automatic time allotment for volunteer work, and extra pay for incidentals ‘just because’ you’re a valued employee.
Make it worthwhile
Beyond incentives, today’s employees want to feel that they are part of the bigger picture. By offering a certain amount of autonomy over their futures and how they effectively contribute, you will continuously attract raw and diverse talent. Allowing candidates to learn and work in other areas of the company, add input in developing prototypes, and in offering suggestions or presenting their inventions without fear of having their designs stolen or credit taken will always keep your organization on the cutting edge of success.
Attracting and keeping the best candidates isn’t about just offering an opportunity of employment anymore but must include how well you can market your organization and navigate the tools you choose. Making sure you use all the resources you can in identifying the best candidates is key. It’s always important to take the time necessary to fully understand the type of candidate you need, the internal structure of the department, and the company culture, which are all huge selling points.
Once you’ve created a strategy for attracting great candidates and have done your homework in finding creative ways in locating them, you’ll have a greater chance of getting the talent you need the first time around. Pay close attention to the tactics, resources, and evaluation methods you use to save time and interview candidates that will be the best fit for your organization. Changing the way you do things can be an interesting and rewarding experience for your team. When you’ve finally found the right candidate, you’ll realize it was well worth the time!