How To Hire Top Talent In A Tight Labor Market

Hiring top talent: First, let’s briefly discuss recruiting and hiring the best candidates rather than average candidates. Recruiting top talent is difficult and expensive. Is it justified? Can you afford it? Usually, the answers are a resounding “yes”. Hiring just one talented individual can have a significant positive impact on your company. In addition, the cost of replacing a bad hire is very high. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that replacing an employee costs one-third of the employee’s annual compensation. The Society for Human Resources (SHRM) estimates this cost at up to five times annual compensation. These are strong justifications for hiring top talent. The following are some hints to help you do so.

• Prepare job descriptions that include requirements that have been demonstrated to correlate with success. Don’t base job descriptions on guesses or anecdotal information. Also, job descriptions are more than descriptions of open positions. They are a candidate’s first impression of your company and effective job descriptions can motivate candidates to apply. When preparing job descriptions it is important to remember that you will never get a second chance to make a first impression.
• Evaluate resumes and job applications for skill set, experience, job tenure, etc. 
• Prepare candidate questionnaires to help evaluate candidates. Questionnaires should include open-ended questions with at least one question relating to each job and company requirement. Ask follow-up questions like “why” or “can you tell me more” to test the accuracy and completeness of candidate answers.
• Candidate Score Cards provide an objective method for measuring and ranking candidates rather than relying on subjective assessments. Scorecards should include a column for questions, a column for numerical scores, i.e. 1 – 5, and a place for the total score. You may wish to weight questions based on importance.  Use scorecards to grade candidates on skill set, past performance, experience, cultural fit, and job tenure (including months and years).  Interviewers should complete scorecards for all candidates.
• Multiple telephone and face to face interviews.
• Test candidates’ skills. For example, have sales candidates “sell” you their current product or service. Ask questions and raise objections. Do they answer your questions and overcome your objections? If you don’t agree with something that candidates say, tell them and measure their reaction. Do they change their statement or support it?
• Request and evaluate work samples, i.e. programming, proposals, etc.
• Be Candid. Describe the job and your organization including the challenges as well as the rewards. Doing so will result in some candidates withdrawing, but these are probably individuals who would not be a fit.
• Post-interview reviews. Hold post-interview review meetings during which interviewers discuss candidate scores, strengths and weaknesses. Record and distribute minutes of these meetings.
• Offers. After reaching a decision to make an offer, do so as soon as possible. Also, keep the time frame between the offer and the start date as short as is reasonable. Stay in touch with candidates during this period.
• Always be recruiting, even if you don’t have any open positions. Evaluate candidates at meetings, trade shows, while traveling, or in social settings. If you identify individuals as possible hires and you don’t have open positions for them, explain that you may be interested in hiring them in the future and maintain relationships with them until you do.

CNI Recruiting and our subsidiary Best Recruiting recruit for Sales, IT, Marketing and Operations candidates at all company levels.  Our referral fee is only 10% of candidate first year base salary. In addition, we offer a no-quibble, 6-month guarantee in the event of resignation or termination for any reason. Our offices are in New Jersey and we place candidates throughout the U.S. If you are looking for talent please contact us today…we will exceed your expectations. Just fill out our Contact Form or email us at [email protected] or call (908) 874-6148.

Fred Neufeld
President
CNI Recruiting
www.cnirecruiting.com