Recruiting the right human capital in a tough labor market
As an off-site Human Resources Department, the #1 reason small businesses approach us is recruiting
The questions come in many forms:
Do you help with talent acquisition?
Are you a recruiting agency?
Are you a LinkedIn recruiter?
Can you help us hire?
The answer is Yes! And no. We do a lot of hiring, but we aren’t just a recruiting agency.
For months, small business has felt the crunch of the labor market. It’s tough out there! And we must acknowledge a simple fact, there are less people in the workforce.
Reduction in workforce by the numbers due to the pandemic:
2.4 Million Americans retired
Nearly 2 Million women left the workforce
Over a million Americans died
68% of those worked as retail and service workers
Our best advice for our clients?
Expect the hiring process to take time.
Finding the right candidate used to take a couple of weeks, we could reasonably expect to be moving toward an offer easily within a month. Now that time span has doubled.
Know what you are looking for:
Focus on what you cannot teach. You can teach someone how to do a procedure, but you cannot teach them to have grit, to see the big picture, and to just be a nice human at work.
You will see a lot of sandwich artists.
When you read as many resumes as we do, (yesterday I read a total of 110 resumes for 4 positions) you will see trends.
People are applying for jobs they are not remotely qualified for #sandwichartist AND people are leaving some professions in droves #teachers
Your job ad needs to be very clear – the word “development” means different things in different industries
Show the applicant who YOU are in the process
Finding the right fit for your business means being open about who you are, what is important to you, and what your environment is really like.
When we ask an applicant to share their core values, we expect the business owner to do the same. Be ready to discuss your values and how you live them.
Set clear expectations early
Discussing what team work means to you, acknowledging that things don’t always go to plan, starts an honest dialog about business reality.
Talk frankly about the schedule, the pay, and the realities of the job.
When discussing pay, let them know your review cadence and when they will be evaluated for pay increases.
We are seeing a trend of workers expecting a raise within 3-6 months. This is often not in the budget, and setting pay increase expectations saves a lot of grief later.
Throw away the old cliché interview questions – unless you want to portray your business as old, antiquated and steeped in patriarchal dogma…. Many questions are red flags to applicants. Do not ask me, if I were a tree what tree would I be - unless you are hiring for creativity, this kind of question has no relevance.
What you say: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What they hear: Will you start a family soon and need a lot of time off? - OR - Are you the
caretaker for an elder family member?
What you say: Are you a team player?
What they hear: Are you a complainer? Will you be ok with me calling in your off hours?
What you say: What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What they hear: I expect you to lie to me and tell me you have no weaknesses, also lying is
ok with me.
What you say: Why should I hire you?
What they hear: We have been doing things the same way since 1950 and we do not expect
that to change anytime soon
Last, but not least…
Keep the faith. While it is a tough labor market, your team is out there. I promise, there is someone who only wants 2 shifts a week, or who is a night owl and wants to work that odd night shift, or who would be happy in your little corner of the world.
It may take time, but we can find them.
Also: Am I the only person who has never worked at Subway?
At any given time, we have between 8 and 10 jobs posted on all the major job boards for our clients. Recruiting and hiring for 27 small businesses means we need strong processes and an applicant tracking system. UNIcycle has both!