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How to Hire in a Tight Talent Market

It’s tough to hire right now, especially when you need candidates with in-demand skills. With unemployment so low, hiring is bound to be a challenge for the foreseeable future, but the following tips might just give you an advantage over the competition.

Benchmark Compensation. What are your competitors paying? What does the market demand? Be sure you are paying the same or a bit more for similar positions to sway candidates who may be weighing a couple of offers.

Pile on the perks. Ask your current employees what kind of extras they would like to see. A higher percentage of their medical coverage paid? Quarterly performance bonuses? Chances to win gift cards or event tickets? Desirable perks can vary depending on the region, industry, individual companies. The only way you’ll know what will work is to ask and experiment.

Promote internally. If you develop your current employees, not only will you improve retention and engagement, but back-filling lower-level positions can often be less challenging than recruiting for job that require a high level of skill, giving you a larger talent pool to draw from.

Speed up your process. Hiring managers can lose candidates at many points throughout the process. The longer your hiring process, the more likely people will lose interest or take another offer. Examine your process for inefficiencies and redundancies with candidate viewpoints in mind.

Revisit your requirements. Not to say that you should lower your standards, but reexamine your must-haves to be sure they aren’t actually “like to haves.” Does that position really require a degree? Will the candidate need to come with every skill on your list or can they pick up some on the job? If you hire a candidate with only some of your desired qualifications who is eager to learn, you may be hiring your most loyal employee.

Offer referral bonuses. Your best new hire may be a friend of one of your current employees. Referrals are an option many employers fail to leverage. Be generous and be sure that every employee knows about the program.

Partner with a staffing firm! As specialists, we can save you time, money and aggravation when you need to hire for full-time or contract positions. Get in touch today!

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