Hire and Retain Top Talent

We Have Jobs – Where Are All Of The Candidates?

Q. We thought with unemployment as high as it is we wouldn't have any problem finding people. However, the opposite seems to be happening. We get a lot of resumes, but the people are not the right fit, they don't have the right experience or skills, and often aren't even close to what we are looking for. Why with such high unemployment is it so difficult to find people?

This is a common misunderstanding by companies. As a recruiter, companies just don't believe it when I tell them finding top talent is much harder when unemployment is high and easier when unemployment is low. I can sum up why in one word, “fear.”

This happens because even with 12% unemployment in California, only a very small percentage of those people will actually be qualified for your position. Variables to consider include location, compensation, industry, the right skills, years of experience, cultural fit and so on. This means that there really isn't that huge of a pool of candidates to choose from in the unemployed arena.

That then leaves those currently working. But stop and think about those working for a minute. They are thinking, “The devil I know is better than the one I don't know.” Do you believe they want to take the risk of changing jobs, having something not work out and then face unemployment for 6 months. Not very likely. Chances are they know people that have been unemployed for a long time so working candidates bunker down. Staying with a company where they may not be happy is a whole lot better than unemployment. As a result, most employed people are not looking or even interested in considering something.

Contrast this with times of very low unemployment. There is no fear. The candidate figures that if the new job doesn't work out, no problem, I will find another in no time so they are willing to consider other opportunities.

Don't underestimate fear in your analysis.

Retaining your best talent is always the best thing any company can do. Download our FREE Non-Monetary Rewards and Recognitions Matrix. It will help you retain your best people without additional compensation. CLICK HERE to download under the Free Resources section.

Join the other 10,000 CEOs, key executives and HR professionals and download a FREE copy of our best-selling book, “You're NOT The Person I Hired.” Just CLICK HERE for your FREE eBook.

I welcome your comments and feedback.

Brad Remillard

Filed Under: Finding Candidates, Hiring Mistakes, Networking for Candidates, Placing Job Ads Tagged With: Finding people using social media, finding people with Linkedin, Finding Top Talent, hiring skills, Job Leads, Job Opportunity

By bradremillard 1 Comment

How To Shorten The Time It Takes To Hire

Q. We are a mid-size company that doesn’t hire that often. It seems that when we want to hire it takes a long time just to find qualified candidates. Is there a way to shorten the time it takes to hire someone?

Hiring fast rarely includes hiring the very best. The best way to shorten the time it takes to hire someone is to have a pool of qualified people available when you need them. The problem is most companies start the hiring process when they need someone. Often after one of their best people just gave notice. Companies then expect that at that exact moment in time a highly qualified candidate will also be searching, the stars will magically align and they should be able to hire this person. Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you were looking, highly qualified candidates were also looking? It just doesn’t work that way. Most hiring processes are reactive. To change your situation your hiring process must become proactive.

Highly qualified candidates don’t search based on your hiring schedule. They search based on their schedule so hiring can’t be a onetime event when you decide you are ready to hire someone. This will only provide you with the best available candidates at that moment in time. Companies that excel at hiring top talent know that hiring is a process and having a queue of qualified candidates is critical. Your hiring managers should always be on the lookout for potential people, even if your company only hires once a year. Every manager should have at least two or three potential candidates for the key positions in their department. This means that your hiring managers will have to dedicate at least some time each month to hiring. They should engage potential hires, identify who might be a potential hire, attend professional groups where these potential hires exist, respond to unsolicited resumes that have potential instead of deleting them, use LinkedIn to connect with potential candidates and follow-up with potential candidates when contacted. None of these takes a lot of time to do, maybe an hour a month. These small things can dramatically shorten the time it takes to hire someone and also increase the quality of those hires.

Join the other 10,000 CEO's, key executives, and HR professionals who have downloaded a FREE copy of our best selling book, “You're NOT The Person I Hired.” Just CLICK HERE for your FREE ebook.

Want to assess your hiring process? Download our FREE 8-Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. How does your company rank on these critical points? CLICK HERE to download.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback. If you liked this article and found it helpful, please forward it to others.

Brad Remillard

Filed Under: Employee Referrals, Finding Candidates, Hiring Mistakes, Networking for Candidates Tagged With: candidate cultural fit, Communication, Communications, Company Culture, Employee Development, employee rewards, finding people, Finding people using social media, finding people with Linkedin, Finding Top Talent, Hiring Errors, Hiring Failure

By bradremillard Leave a Comment

Hiring Sales People Made Easier

Question: We have a hard time hiring sales people. Any suggestions on how to hire great sales people?

We receive more complaints and questions about hiring sales people than any other position. Hiring great sales people takes time. Most companies expect when they decide to hire a sales person at that exact same moment in time a great sales person will also be looking and their paths will cross in some magical way. Rarely, if ever, does this happen.

Hiring great sales people is a process, not an event. You should constantly be on the lookout for great sales people. You should be soliciting names from your current sales team, using LinkedIn to identify potential sales people, and asking your customers, “Who are the best sales people calling you?” Then you can start engaging them in very low key ways. For example, ask to meet with them for coffee one morning, send them a request to connect on LinkedIn, or once a month or so send them an email about something exciting happening in your company or industry. Just begin a dialog with them. As you do, you will develop a queue of potential candidates. This doesn’t take a lot of time, maybe an hour a month. This is a small investment for a great sales person.

Join the other 10,000 CEO's, key executives, and HR professionals who have downloaded a FREE copy of our best selling book, “You're NOT The Person I Hired.” Just CLICK HERE for your FREE ebook.

Want to assess your hiring process? Download our FREE 8-Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. How does your company rank on these critical points? CLICK HERE to download.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback. If you liked this article and found it helpful, please forward it to others.

Brad Remillard

Filed Under: Finding Candidates, Hiring Mistakes, Networking for Candidates Tagged With: hiring best practices, Hiring Errors, Hiring Failure, Management, mistakes in finding candidates, mistakes using recruiters

By bradremillard Leave a Comment

You Can Shorten Your Hiring Process

A. Hiring fast rarely includes hiring the very best. The best way to shorten the time it takes to hire someone is to have a pool of qualified people available when you need them. The problem is that most companies start the hiring process when they need someone, which often happens after one of their best people just gave notice. Companies then expect that at that exact moment in time a highly qualified candidate will also be searching, the stars will magically align and they should be able to hire this person. Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you were looking, highly qualified candidates were also looking? It just doesn’t work that way. Most hiring processes are reactive. To change your situation your hiring process must become proactive.

Highly qualified candidates don’t search based on your hiring schedule. They search based on their schedule, so hiring can’t be a one time event that happens when you decide you are ready to hire someone. This option will only provide you the best available candidates at that moment in time. Companies that excel at hiring top talent know that hiring is a process and having a queue of qualified candidates is critical. Your hiring managers should always be on the lookout for potential people, even if your company only hires once a year. Every manager should have at least two or three potential candidates for the key positions in their department. This means that your hiring managers will have to dedicate at least some time each month to hiring. They should engage potential hires, identify who might be a potential hire, attend professional groups where these potential hires exist, respond to unsolicited resumes that have potential instead of deleting them, use LinkedIn to connect with potential candidates and follow up with potential candidates when contacted. None of these takes a lot of time to do, maybe an hour a month. These small things can dramatically shorten the time it takes to hire someone and also increase the quality of those hires.

You can explore our audio library, download free examples of compelling marketing statements, download a summary of our research project that identifies the biggest hiring mistakes, and get our culture assessment tool by clicking the links. All of these are free.

I welcome your thoughts and comments. Please forward this to your contacts on Facebook, LinkedIn, or anyone you think would benefit from this article.

Brad Remillard

Filed Under: Finding Candidates, Hiring Methodology or Process, Networking for Candidates, Social Networking Tagged With: Advertising, candidate fit, Candidate Motivation, Communications, Company Culture, cost per hire, Hiring Errors, Hiring Manager Training, Job Search Mistakes, Networking Plan, Networking Techniques for Hiring Managers, Social media, Social Networking, sourcing process improvement, Sourcing Talent, Success Factors, Top talent

By bradremillard Leave a Comment

Why Is Recruiting Sales People Like High School Sports?

In many companies, the recruitment process of trying to find top talent for their sales team resembles the process high school sports teams use to add players. They take whoever shows up at their doorstep and considers that the candidate pool. Discover in this audio program the key elements it takes to fish in deep waters to find the best talent. In this program, we describe the four primary pools that candidates come from. We'll also identify which pool is the sweet spot for recruiting top sales talent and the techniques you can use to get those candidates to come forward and apply for your job opportunity.

To download this radio show CLICK HERE.