I’ve been talking to employers lately who are looking for workers again after a lengthy hiatus from the whole hiring process. Here are some hints to assist you in finding the right person for your job. First, take time to review your hiring strategies and make sure they are helping, not hindering you.
Recruiting
How effective and updated are your recruiting methods? Print ads are on their way out. Posting openings on your company website and publicizing them on social media, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and electronic job boards is the way to go. However, if you’re going to use social media, you’ve got to keep it current, relevant and easy to navigate. Try checking out your posts on your own website first, or have a brutally honest user critique them. Employer referrals can also be a good source of candidates.
Really necessary – do an analysis of where successful hires found your posts and how they responded to them. This will tell you where to focus your efforts as you post future openings.
Workforce Solutions has a job-matching online job bank, WorkInTexas, where approximately 178,000 new candidates registered this year. We have staff to help you post your job in the database, at no charge, and we can customize how candidate responses are handled. If you want to browse this candidate database yourself, we can show you how.
Job Descriptions
Have you taken a look at your job descriptions lately? You don’t want a job description so vague it attracts hordes of unsuitable candidates or so specific it attracts no one at all. Do the descriptions pinpoint the essential components of the jobs you have now? Don’t pass up great candidates who meet essential job requirements but don’t match on specifics (i.e. chemical engineers to plant engineers). Sometimes it only takes a little training to bring these prospective employees up to par on specifics and turn them into your best workers. Try Skills Pass to crosswalk various occupations (aerospace to petroleum engineers, for example) and military occupation specialties (MOS) with civilian occupations. And please, spare me the hyperbole when advertising your position. Too many exclamation marks (Exciting!!! Great!!! Opportunities!!!) make me think you’re trying too hard and something is Not!! Good!! about your job.
Interviewing
Are your interview techniques producing the employees you want? Interview questions should be tailored to the specific job you are trying to fill, and the same questions should be asked of each candidate.
Don’t use these tired, too-vague questions:
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
Tell me about yourself.
Ask open-ended questions about accomplishments, goals, and work attitudes that can lead to a conversation beyond rehearsed answers. Remember, people are more often let go because of their lack of ability to fit into the company culture than from their lack of job skills. A team approach to interviewing is helpful for objectivity and evaluation.
The Gulf Coast economy is picking back up. I hope your company is profiting from the upward trend in business. As always, if you need help in hiring, we’re happy to oblige. When you feel like Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders, let us carry some of that weight for you. Want to discuss, moan or query regarding personnel issues? Participate in this blog, ‘cuz I’d love to hear from you.
Cally Graves is an Sr. Industry Liaison between business, workforce, and education working with Workforce Solutions. She has 38 years of experience in workforce development, primarily working with employers in Houston, Texas and the Gulf Coast region.
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