3 Common Hiring Challenges and What You Can Do About Them

Hiring the right people is a critical part of successfully growing your company. Each new hire can have an impact on your company’s turnover rate as well as bottom-line costs. Also, new hires at smaller companies can often have a greater influence on company culture compared to larger organizations. Here are three common hiring challenges and ways to overcome them.

Challenge #1: Candidates do not have enough information about the company

According to a recent study by LinkedIn, one of the major road blocks candidates face is that they don’t have enough information about the company they are interviewing with or don’t understand what makes it unique. This means it’s that much harder for them to stay interested during the interview process. This is especially true of candidates interviewing with multiple companies.

The good news is that a candidate has many touchpoints during the interview process. This is where all stakeholders involved -- from your recruiter to your candidate’s peers – should all convey the same message and help your candidate understand:

• What makes your company different?
• How does the role they are interviewing for contribute to the overall strategy of your company?
• What are the opportunities for development?

Make sure your candidate gets a consistent message from everyone to ensure it leaves a strong impact.

Challenge #2: Company reputation is important   

Consider this: According to a survey from Glassdoor for Employers, 69 percent of job seekers won’t take a job with a company that has a bad reputation, even if they are unemployed. Meanwhile, 84 percent of employees would consider leaving their current job if they were offered one by a company with an excellent reputation. With candidates becoming more tech savvy, they’ll research everything they can about a company before applying.

Focus on establishing and developing your brand, especially with social media sites. Featuring employees in photos and videos also helps illustrate your brand. Employee ambassadors can help communicate your brand to candidates, with stories readily available on career sites and social media pages. Start asking for volunteers to be the “voice of your company!”

Challenge #3: Millennials have different expectations of the employment experience compared to some of their working peers.

Millennials have now surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation. They want to make a difference at a company that, itself, also makes a difference. According to an article in Forbes, “72 percent of millennials would like to be their own boss. But if they do have to work for a boss, 79 percent of them would want that boss to serve more as a coach or mentor.”

So how do we speak the same language as millennials?

For one, encourage an entrepreneurial spirit in your company culture. Offer flexibility in both work schedule and projects that employees can work on. Demonstrate that employees at your company, regardless of level, can contribute fresh ideas. In terms of feedback and recognition, encourage managers who have more millennials on their teams to have frequent conversations around performance - and not just during the annual performance review. Millennials want to know whether their performance is tracking to expectations and they want to be recognized.

Remember, the long-term growth of your company depends on recruiting the right people, so set aside time and resources to hire great people, especially in the early stages of growing your company.

This communication is for informational purposes only; it is not legal, tax or accounting advice; and is not an offer to sell, buy or procure insurance.

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