 The fight for talent in the tech industry has become an all out war. The labor market is tight and many companies struggle to matriculate high quality candidates into new hires. According to a study by Deloitte, the average recruitment process takes about 52 days while candidates remain on the market for about 10 days.
In order to make your company competitive when it comes to attracting and hiring rockstar candidates, consider refining your hiring process with these three simple steps to close the gap between the recruitment process and your new hire’s Day One.
A high turnover rate can become debilitating for a business given the cost of hiring new employees. In fact, research has estimated that it costs an employer 33% of a worker’s annual salary to hire a replacement when that worker leaves. Retention is crucial to any company’s bottom line as well as its culture and people management. Since an alarming rate of attrition occurs within the first 100 days of new hires joining a company, you are never finished selling your organization to top talent even after you’ve closed the deal and have successfully matriculated your newest rock star to your team. Regardless of your industry, every business should be intent on keeping their A players, and here are the top three tips we suggest following to do so:
1: Onboard your new hires. Onboarding isn’t just a “welcome to the team” email and a newly issued laptop. A successful onboarding program demonstrates an investment in your new employee while providing them with the key information they need to be successful. Onboarding programs should provide key information, connections to team members, and opportunities to ask questions as the new employee enter into their new realm of work. Not only is it important to getting your new hire up to speed on the way things run at your company, research also links effective onboarding processes to reduced turnover and increased retention. Employees who undergo a structured onboarding program are 60% more likely to remain with the organization for more than three years. 2: Develop your employees. Professional development shouldn’t stop at onboarding. Your rock stars already crush it at what they do; however, they should be given ample opportunities to take their skills to the next level. If you’re not providing these opportunities at your company, your irreplaceable employees will start looking elsewhere. Making professional development and career growth a top priority at your company will ensure that your A players stick around. Take the time to design a professional development calendar based on the needs/desires of your current employee base. This can also serve as a leadership opportunity for your high performers, as they can design and facilitate professional development activities or take on a mentorship role. Strategic professional development and mentor opportunities deliver personalized training and professional learning communities to employees in a cost-effective manner while improving engagement, connection, and retention among your employee base. 3: Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Whether it’s ensuring your employees are provided with timely feedback, informing them of a new company policy, or celebrating successes on the team, communication is key in retaining strong employees. Make sure your business is creating channels for feedback to flow to and from your employees, providing them with consistent opportunities to receive praise and constructive criticism in a timely manner and to provide you (the manager) with the same. Establishing opportunities for 1:1 check ins between managers and direct reports, providing a digital spaces like online employee communities, and scheduling weekly updates to share big wins and areas of growth across the organization can increase communication among your team while sparking meaningful conversations that keep people committed to your company. The ability to make strong hiring decisions is critical to the success of your business. A weak hiring process can lead to “false positives” when it comes to your new hires, which can leave you in need of finding a replacement sooner than you would wish. Companies lose a vast amount of time and money with every bad hiring decision, as the cost of sourcing, screening, selecting and training a new employee can add up. A hiring process that leaves too much latitude for subjective decision-making can result in a bad investment of time and resources. In fact, a recent Forbes article by David K. Williams notes that the cost of a single bad hire can cost a company anywhere from $25,000-50,000.
Taking the emotion out of hiring can lead to stronger hiring decisions, higher retention rates, greater productivity, and ultimately an increased return on investment. Give your hiring process a facelift and reduce the time you spend on replacing new hires who received the job offer without a sufficient evaluation by using these simple steps below. Step One: Define the Non-Negotiables. A non-negotiable represents the key knowledge, mindsets, and skills that a new hire must have on Day One of the job in order to be successful. By defining these non-negotiables, you will quickly realize what the new hire must have and what areas are coachable. You should work with the hiring manager and other relevant decision-makers to determine these non-negotiables. If the role is an existing one, compare these non-negotiables to the current employees in the role. Step Two: Craft the Perfect Job Description. When you design the job description, make sure that all the job requirements, such as key responsibilities, required education, relevant experiences, and skills are clearly outlined and aligned to the non-negotiables. Be sure to include a compelling description of your company and guidance on what makes a successful applications. A compelling job description that is aligned to your non-negotiables will help ensure that the best possible candidates are applying for the role and will assist you in evaluating applicants. Step Three: Align Interview Process to Non-Negotiables. Design interview questions, role play scenarios, and assessment tasks that align to the non-negotiables you have identified for the role. These aligned questions will allow you to glean the appropriate evidence needed to determine if a candidate is the right and best fit for the role. Probe for examples of skills and knowledge in action, and listen for evidence of mindsets required in the role during the interview. Step Four: Norm on the Hiring Process. All hiring managers and decision-makers involved in the hiring process of the new employee should be normed on the non-negotiables and interview process. You can design a hiring training or craft a one-pager describing the non-negotiables for the role and the types of evidence you are looking for in the interview process. Ensure all hiring decision-makers are clear on the non-negotiables in order to increase objectivity, remove any lingering bias, and take the emotion out of hiring. |