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November 2, 2022
Three Tips for Retention-Friendly Hiring In Today’s Labor Market (and Beyond)
On Monday, the America Back to Work series explored why quality control in the hiring process is more important than ever before. ICYMI: the tight labor market has increased the cost of turnover, putting pressure on employers to focus on retaining employees.
These days, employee retention starts the second a quality candidate makes contact with your organization.
A recent study by leading recruiting platform, Top Echelon, reports that 40% of candidates reject offers because another company made an offer faster. A similar Employ Inc. study shows that nearly 50% of workers would not apply to a company again if they had a bad candidate experience.
Candidates are evaluating whether they want to stick with your organization–or not–earlier than ever before, making it crucial to move hiring along quickly and to represent your organization in the best light at every step of the process.
The candidate experience also sets the tone for future employee engagement, motivation, and feelings toward your company–making employee retention top of mind from the very start.
Quick Hiring Audit
Creating a candidate experience that’s efficient, easy, and transparent–and solves for long-term employee retention? That’s no small task.
It helps to take a quick “audit” or “health check” on your current hiring process so you can quickly figure out where to make improvements. Start with:
The Who
Who are candidates interacting with at every stage of the hiring process? Are these people equipped to represent the company in a positive way? Can they sell the role? Are they representative of your diverse workplace? Ask yourself: are these the best people to determine if the candidate is a fit for the role and the company?
The What
What elements of your organization are you showcasing now? Does it accurately represent what it’s like to work at your company? For example, if you’re a logistics company that prides itself on efficient, tight operations–your hiring process should depict that. It should be clear, organized, quick, and powered by best-in-class technology.
The Why
Why should an employee choose your company over another? What makes you unique? In a tight labor market, it’s important to get really clear on your company messaging–in order to communicate your value to a candidate, get them through the door, and foster long-term engagement with your mission from the very start.
The Where/When/How
This one’s pretty self-explanable. It’s all about figuring out the best cadence for communication, interviews, screenings, etc.–and the best way to deliver those experiences. For example, if you’re conducting only in-person interviews at the moment, perhaps consider offering virtual interviews to keep employees engaged.
Our Tips for Employee Retention Hiring
Once you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your current hiring and retention tactics, it’s time to make some changes so you can get ahead of the current tight labor market–and stay ahead.
Here are our top tips for creating a hiring process that will have candidates hooked from day one and help you improve overall retention:
1. Use technology to perfect the process
Your hiring team has limited time and resources, and chances are they’re working double-time to compete with current labor constraints. Thankfully, there are some powerful tools and services out there designed to reduce the manual labor and human error involved in recruiting/HR operations. Use them!
Incorporating technology into your hiring operations will help you save time and money while delivering a best-in-class hiring experience that keeps candidates on the line.
2. Focus on efficiency…
If 40% of workers are turning down offers for quicker offers, then you need to move fast. Long gone are the days of multi-stage, drawn-out interview processes. Now, it’s all about delivering an experience that’s fast and easy.
Small changes can go a long way. Try to cut down on response times to qualified candidates or see if you can reduce the time it takes to get through your application to five minutes or less–this can boost conversion rates (candidates viewing a job ad who go on to complete an application) by up to 365 percent.
Always use solutions that speed up your work–like onboarding tools and background check services–to get candidates through the door more quickly.
And, be sure to set expectations and timelines at the start so they know everything is moving according to plan.
3. …and transparency
On that note, transparency helps build trust with the candidate throughout the hiring process. It creates more “organic” touchpoints, or, opportunities for communication as a candidate progresses. Mostly, it helps create a culture of respect, sets a positive tone for your future employee-employer relationship, and lays out accurate expectations for the candidate about the role.
The good news? S2Verify’s suite of products and services for hiring and retention are designed for this kind of thing. Whether you’re verifying a professional license or running a background check, we notify candidates of real-time progress around their application.
But, It Hasn’t Always Been This Way!
And, you’re right. Coming out of a pandemic–and hinging on rising inflation–the labor market is unusually volatile right now.
Plus, an October news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows signs that the labor market is loosening with a decrease in job openings and little change in separations (including quits). That’s a good sign for a cooler, more employer-friendly market.
But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make updates to your hiring and retention tactics in the meantime.
While the labor market may get cooler, everyone agrees: it will be changed forever. Nation-wide movements and conversations have already started in order to preserve the new normal–a normal that puts employees first.
Get Ahead and Stay Ahead
Quality control in the hiring process is here to stay–not only because it serves candidates, but also for all the ways we now know it improves retention. A quality hiring process serves both employees and employers, candidates and hiring managers alike!
Plus, retention is forward-thinking in nature. It makes employers ask: what can we invest in today to make sure employees are here tomorrow?
Centering retention in your hiring practices is a low-risk move that can have both short and long-term benefits–and, fortunately, many of the same tools that can help you solve today’s hiring conundrum can also set you up for success in the future!
Throughout the rest of the series, we’ll survey all of the must-have technology, services, and solutions for improving hiring operations.