NCET Biz Tips: Four Keys When Hiring is Tough
NCET helps you explore business and technology
Peter Williamson
By Peter Williamson
Unemployment is down in Northern Nevada, and that is generally a good thing. Except when it’s not, and that’s when you’re a business owner looking to hire. Finding new employees has become a real challenge for some businesses seeking to fill positions in high demand roles.
Often the reaction I hear is that more money will solve the problem, but that the business can’t afford to increase compensation so much. What to do? Here’s a few ideas:
Create a real recruiting process. Do you have a system that is written down, tested and proven? My experience is that this has made a real difference for my clients. Recruiting is critical, yet many businesses approach it reactively, as a task to be addressed when they need a new hire (often yesterday!). Lacking a good system leads to random results or often no results at all.
Invest in your work environment – it pays off. And I don’t mean massage chairs in the break room (although maybe that would help too?). Instead, have a look at your company’s environment. Is your business a place that people love to come to work? Are the factors in place that energize employees about your business? Vision for example – is your business having an impact that excites employees? Is your culture consciously defined, continuously reinforced and actively lived? Or has it just sort of evolved to “That’s how we do it here.” Vision, mission and culture can have a huge positive impact, if you do the work to make them real.
Provide opportunities for the future. Not your current openings – rather, what can prospects look forward to if they do come to work for you? Is there training? A strong review and development system that recognizes achievements and helps them grow? Career path planning so they will be able to build a future with you? Most people want careers, and showing them you offer that is a big plus.
Focus on being a place people want to work. Is everything a smoothly humming machine, where employees and managers work seamlessly to deliver in a relaxed, fun atmosphere with happy customers as a result? Or is it sometimes chaotic, with unpredictable demands, recurring crises and customers who are sometimes happy and sometimes really not so happy? Make it better and stronger recruiting results is only one benefit here – you’ll get improved bottom line results, too.
The reality is that compensation is an important part of why you get employees – but it’s far from the only important part. The place they work, the people they work with, the business environment and your systems for recruiting can have a huge, positive impact on your hiring efforts.
Peter Williamson is Business Coach and Master Licensee at ActionCOACH, and NCET’s VP of Tech Wednesday. NCET is a member-supported non-profit that produces educational and networking events to help people explore businesses and technology.