Even in a time of high unemployment, Central Florida employers
often find it difficult to fill their job opportunities with
qualified, skilled candidates. It is necessary to have a
reliable strategy to attract and retain qualified workers.
Employers must become resourceful and rely on multiple
recruitment strategies to fill their openings with the appropriate
person. WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA (WCF) offers these
recruitment solutions:
Know your metrics. Have you ever stopped to
analyze your average cost per hire? You might be shocked at
the results. The traditional measure of recruiting costs is
calculated by taking the total of all expenses related to the
hiring process and dividing it by the number of hires. This
metric includes advertising costs, recruiter and agency fees,
travel, relocation bonuses, employee referral bonuses, screening
costs and costs associated with the salary and benefits of the
internal recruiting staff divided by the number of hires. In
some key jobs, particularly in industries where time to market is a
key factor in driving corporate success, the cost of a single
vacancy has been calculated to be between $7,000 and $12,000 per
day.
Analyze your HR practices. Employers should devise
interviewing processes that reduce the risk of selecting a bad hire
by conducting reference and background checks as part of their
screening process. New technologies have made this process
easier to conduct. Lets face it; the interview alone doesn’t
ensure that you have a good match for your vacancy. Many
companies are resorting to a battery of assessments including
behavior-based testing to competency testing to further solidify
the hiring process.
Consider promoting from within. Sometimes your
best talent can be right in front of you, consider your existing
employees for promotional opportunities by taking full advantage of
the skills you have already developed in-house and recruit for the
lesser skills. This process may even yield that you can afford
to reduce headcount overall or use skills to your best advantage to
lessen the impact of positions that cannot be filled. WCF’s
Employed Worker Training program can assist you with filling these
skill gaps.
Analyze your recruitment options. Employers are
faced with an extensive array of recruitment options and sometimes
determining which one to use can be overwhelming. The key is
to use
recruiting sources effectively. Which method will provide
you with the most exhaustive candidate pool? From existing
applicants, internal job postings, Internet postings, local
newspapers, area schools from high schools to technical centers,
community colleges and universities, community based organizations,
job fairs, employment agencies or temporary agencies, to podcasts
there is no right or wrong approach.
Network, network, network. For effective results, tap
into your personal and professional networks to recruit
candidates. Take advantage of industry contacts, association
memberships, trade groups and social media as well.
Employee Referrals. One of the best sources of
candidates is often referrals from current employees. Consider
offering financial incentives to employees for each referral hired
and reward them again once the new employee has been retained for
90 days or six months.
Be Competitive. Offer a competitive salary and
benefit package with components such as life insurance, disability
insurance and financial incentives. Research your competitors’
compensation packages and what they are doing to attract new
recruits. Are you paying enough to attract the right
applicants? Consider strategies such as unique benefits, offering
benefits to part-time workers, job sharing, flextime, and
telecommuting. Remember that different benefits will be
important to different people; your package should appeal to the
masses.
List your Pay Range. Employers should identify pay
ranges in their advertisements. Ads that don’t include wage
information gather little if any attention from serious job
seekers. Listing what you can offer may make the difference in
whether or not a candidate takes your listing seriously.
Re-advertise if necessary. If you cannot locate
your ideal candidate then don’t settle for second best. In the
end this will cost you more time and resources than it’s
worth.
