7 Ways to Solve Your Biggest Hiring Headaches

If the biggest problem facing business today is a lack of qualified staff, then the second biggest problem is finding and hiring the talent your company needs.

It’s not easy to find the talent you want. Highly skilled professionals are usually employed already, and when they job hunt, they can cherry pick the best positions. Top talent doesn’t stay on the market for long.

Recruitment is expensive! And not just in monetary costs. Posting job ads, interviewing candidates, screening applicants all take time. And when you’ve made a hire, there’s the time and money involved with onboarding and training.

Every company has to negotiate the same challenges in their hiring approach. Some do it better than others. If you face problems with your recruitment process, check out these tips for solving your worst hiring headaches.

1. Limited Budget

Many businesses simply don’t have the resources to hand their hiring process to a recruitment agency. Agencies take a percentage of the new hire’s yearly salary, which can average from £1000 to £4000 or higher. For many firms, the expense involved can be prohibitive.

Companies can save money by advertising directly with job boards or subscribing to online job board databases, but this route could still prove costly if you need to use several boards.

Another solution would be to sign up with an online recruitment company like Jobheron. For the same price as listing on a couple of the main boards, your advert will appear on many top UK job boards, giving you greater access to a wider pool of candidates.

2. Time constraints

Time spent recruiting is a double-edged sword for businesses today.  It’s not only the hours spent posting to boards, pouring over CVs, and arranging interviews, there’s a real problem with time-to-hire. This could be because of anxiety over making a bad hire or even an overlong interview process.

It’s no secret that recruitment teams around the UK are taking more and more time to achieve results. While market factors like Brexit may be partly to blame, businesses need to go about the hiring process more efficiently.

Whichever way your company conducts the hiring process, you can achieve stellar results at minimal cost. An online recruitment provider will search online databases for talent, post your ad to all the job boards, and help to filter CVs, saving you time and money.

3. Talent shortage

Finding top talent is time consuming. This is why so many companies turn to recruitment agencies despite the expense. They are a great option if you have the budget, when you need to find likely candidates in a time efficient manner.

If you are looking for a more affordable option, you can post to a job board yourself. While this seems practical, by posting to only one board, you will still only be accessing 33% of the available talent in the marketplace. It doesn’t matter how big the job board, the simple fact is not all candidates will be viewing it.

By using an online recruitment provider, you can get your ads on multiple boards at once and reach a lot more talent. The right provider will also offer database searching.

Another good resource to recruit with is LinkedIn. This can be a great place to view and access talent. Recruiter Lite accounts allow you to email prospects directly to let them know about your job opportunity.

One potential hack would be to send an invite to people you think are a good fit for your role, tailoring the invite message to let them know about the position. Once connected, you can email each other easily free of charge. (Word of warning: LinkedIn can restrict your account if you have too many rejected connections, so keep this in mind.)

Recruiter Lite isn’t a cheap fix. Even if you pay for a subscription annually, the most affordable plan will still cost about £85 per month.

4. Getting hold of applicants

It’s a sign of the times — plenty of openings and too few candidates. Are you struggling to get hold of applicants to your job adverts? Perhaps they’re not picking up the phone or not replying to your emails.

If so, you are not alone. It’s one of the biggest issues I hear from our clients when advertising.

From my 18 years of recruitment experience, the #1 tip I found works the best is…

drumroll, please…

Use your mobile!

Sounds simple, but it works.

Everyone’s on their mobile all the time.

First off, try calling them using a mobile. They are more likely to answer a mobile number than a landline or withheld number.

If no one answers, send a follow-up text. It’s much more likely they’ll read that rather than an email. (Remember to sell your role/company in the message!)

If you’re not happy giving your mobile number out, you can buy a pay-as-you-go phone for £16 (Nokia 105) and use it specifically for recruitment. I promise it’s a worthwhile investment.

Remember to always follow up calls and texts with an email.

It might even be worthwhile dropping them a connection request on LinkedIn.

5. Getting candidates to the interview

Remember, hiring is a two way process. Too many companies have a sense of entitlement when it comes to candidates wanting to work for them.

You are not the only company hiring. There are always other opportunities out there turning their eye. It’s true, candidates need to sell themselves and demonstrate why you would want them to work for you.

But in the current marketplace, you also really need to sell your company. This starts on the phone, in any emails, and also when you meet them. Let them know how great you are and what a fantastic place to work you are offering.

6. Getting your offers accepted

Today, candidates are looking for something more important than just a fat paycheck. Other factors come into play, like prospects for career development, work environment, and company culture.

In the race to win the top talent, you’ll need to show your company is offering more than just a great salary. Throughout the interview, candidates assess a lot about your firm.

Will they fit in, will their work be valued? Move beyond a simple salary negotiation. Make your offer enticing, and candidates will accept your job proposal every time.

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7. Offering the right salary

The fattest paycheck may not be the most important element for your candidate, but woe betide you if you aren’t paying market rate. Get a benchmark by checking out what other companies are paying in your area on various job boards like Indeed and Reed.

Paying an extra 10% above market rate can get you an extra 40 to 50% in quality, so it’s worth bearing in mind. Remember, benefits are also sometimes held in more regard than salary. Recruiting statistics from Glassdoor reveal that nearly 80% of employees would prefer new or additional perks to a pay rise.

8. The takeaway

Recruiting in today’s disrupted business environment isn’t easy, and finding a cost effective solution for your hiring conundrum can be a headache.

Whether you are suffering from a limited budget, time constraints or a talent shortage an online recruitment provider like Jobheron can put you ahead of the pack

With over 20 years’ experience in recruitment, we’ve gotten pretty good at it. We’re flexible, scalable, and will give you everything you need to hire effectively. When conducting your next hire, why not try Jobheron and find more talent quicker at a price you can afford?