Businesses today are competing for workers more than ever. As a consequence, the shortage of qualified and/or interested candidates continues to make the hiring process difficult.
We all know about the well-documented challenges business owners face when making hiring decisions in today’s environment—especially when it comes to finding “skilled” or “specialized” labor. The situation has become even more complicated in an era marked by a pandemic-induced reshuffling of the employment deck as workers re-order their priorities when it comes to work/life balance and overall job fulfillment.
Against this backdrop, it might be tempting for some owners or managers to pull the trigger too soon on a new hire. However, before you make a costly mistake in hiring the wrong person, it is imperative that you make sure you’re laying the groundwork for success. That means taking the time to outline your corporate identity in addition to establishing the requisite qualifications that make someone the “right” candidate for your organization.
There are three fundamental elements that should be identified as part of that preparation: company culture, creating a job description and employee value proposition. Everyone involved in the interview process should consider these key points as the basis for the search for a new hire.
Ensure fit with company culture
Define your company culture to ensure that hiring the new employee will work. (Don’t confuse personal similarities with cultural fit; cultural fit means employees’ beliefs and behaviors are in alignment with their employer’s core values and culture.)
Industry research indicates the top predictor of overall employee satisfaction is based upon an organization’s culture and values. Research also indicates that people who fit well into an organization often express greater job satisfaction, employee engagement and productivity. Cultural fit can also play a role in employee retention. Remember: The cost of replacing an employee can be one-half to two times their annual salary.
Provide accurate job description
Industry surveys indicate that 36% of job seekers who use job sites search for a new position using the title of the job they are looking for. Therefore, be sure to provide a complete job summary that lists the responsibilities, duties, qualifications, skills and benefits associated.
This means: highlighting the day-to-day activities for the position; specifying how the position fits into the organization; providing a list of hard skills required such as education, previous experience, technical skills and relevant certifications; and including a list of soft skills such as communication, problem solving and personality traits.
It’s also important to emphasize the primary perks and benefits your company offers. According to Indeed, 83% of job seekers agree that a company’s benefits and perks have a significant impact on their decision of whether or not to accept a job offer.
Employee value propositions
Another equally critical element to a successful hiring search is establishing your employee value proposition (EVP). The term is typically defined as a set of both monetary and non-monetary benefits provided by an organization to its employees in return for the skills, capabilities and experience they bring and the contributions they make to the organization.
In short, EVP is what makes your organization different that brings value to a prospective candidate. To better quantify your company’s EVP, ask yourself how do you and your organization differentiate yourselves to attract candidates that have the desired skill set that aligns with your company culture? Businesses curate their value proposition to customers, and their teams are trained on how to position their value proposition to win business. We suggest owners do the same for their employees and prospective candidates by creating and supporting the company’s EVP.
Besides the traditional compensation and benefits package, there are several ways that companies can differentiate themselves with their value proposition. Organizations can customize their EVP to fit their corporate culture to include non-monetary benefits such as:
- Offering “true” work flexibility. If you can’t offer remote work, consider offering a hybrid work week with a few days working from home in combination with a few days working in the office. Or, offer a shift in daily work hours if the remote or hybrid models don’t work for your organization.
- Foster genuine employee connections such as in-person meetings for those working in the office. Also, look for ways to celebrate individual or collective “wins” with a happy hour at the end of the day; milestones like employee birthdays, etc.; or bring your kids/pets to work day.
- Paid volunteer days or team fundraising for charitable events; consider adopting a couple of philanthropic projects and do those volunteer hours together.
- Daily huddles to share insights and spark new ideas.
- Meetings with management to discuss growth opportunities not only to another position but expansion of an employee’s current role or responsibilities.
Don’t forget, the most important element of all this—people. Employees respond to feeling valued and are motivated when they are validated.
Laurie Baatz is a senior recruiter at The McSweeney Group, where she specializes in sourcing candidates for commercial flooring businesses across the country.
