Hiring employees in a candidate’s market

If you’re in the process of hiring employees, get in line. Your opening is one of approximately 11 million opportunities available to job seekers across the United States. There is a critical need for workers and seemingly not enough candidates to fill the roles. This creates a candidate’s market, and in a lot of instances, the company with the largest offer package fills their vacancy first. If you’re a small-to-mid-sized business, how can you compete?

Hiring employees doesn’t have to be a bidding war. Savvy, swift hiring managers continue to recruit talent and support their company’s needs; they just need to adjust their practices to fit the current hiring market. Mostly, they need to move especially quickly, becoming one of the first companies to put an offer on the table. ProTech’s talent acquisition team has a few recommendations to help you speed up the process and hire your next great employee.

Get descriptive.

Hiring employees in a candidate’s market is all about timing. If you’re one of the first companies to extend a competitive offer, you’ll likely be in the candidate’s consideration set. But, it’s a delicate balancing act – you don’t want to offer someone too soon, especially if you’re not sure they’ll be a good fit for the role and for your company. That’s why we recommend spending time on the front end developing a clear job description. If you outline roles, expectations, requirements and responsibilities on the front end, you allow applicants to demonstrate their ability to meet your needs from the moment they submit their application. Online hiring tools like LinkedIn and Indeed can even filter out candidates who don’t have enough experience or meet your predetermined requirements. That saves you time and helps filter candidates who won’t work for your company.

Prepare your package.

Signing bonuses aren’t reserved for point guards and left tackles anymore. Companies are creating robust offers to entice candidates to sign on the dotted line. There simply isn’t time to create a package after you interview a prospective employee – you need to have your offer ready to go. Savvy hiring managers are developing tiered packages for their positions based on experience and skill parameters. This way, they can extend an offer almost immediately after an interview. As an added bonus, having tiered offers based on work-specific metrics can help eliminate biases in hiring practices.

Keep things moving.

There is no longer time to take your time – in this hiring market, candidates have multiple offers within days of sending out their resumes. If you’re serious about filling vacant cubicles in your office, you need to move quickly. Having your job descriptions in tip top shape and refining your offer packages prior to interviewing can help keep the process moving. But, you have to move quickly and act confidently. If you’re eager to work with a candidate, extend and offer immediately. If you don’t think they’re a fit, cut them loose and move on. You have to trust your professional judgment and keep things moving, or you’ll miss out all together.

Secure a partner.

If building job descriptions, vetting candidates, managing offers and negotiating sounds exhausting to you, we understand. In a fast-paced hiring environment, it’s much more efficient to have a talent partner do the tedious work for you. When you partner with an organization like ProTech, you can trust that candidates who make it to your inbox are the perfect fit for your role. All you have to do is say “yes”!