If you’re a leader at your organization, it’s likely that your organization has felt the recent talent pinch. Worse yet, you think you’re offering competitive career opportunities, but you’re having trouble competing for in-demand workers when you need to hire talent.
If you’re fed up with the usual way of doing business, it may be time to think of a different approach to hire talent for the company. Get ready to be creative when you hire talent, and consider these five ways to triumph in today’s talent marketplace.
How to hire talent for the new work world
1. Evaluate Your Offer
Have you been having trouble soliciting highly qualified candidates to apply for your open positions when you hire talent? If so, you may need to evaluate what you’re offering. Dive deep and analyze your job descriptions and benefit package. Review how your career opportunities have evolved over the past five, 10, or even 20 years. Today’s employees likely want different things than those working decades ago.
Tap into human resource affinity groups like the Society for Human Resources Management or peer groups for support and insight. You may discover that your benefits package, work hours or location, or career paths are outdated. If so, determine whether you are willing to adjust your current approach to attract talent. If you aren’t, you may need to be creative in other ways.
2. Consider Going International to Hire Talent
If, despite your best efforts, stateside talent hasn’t applied for your jobs, it may be worthwhile to consider going abroad. Opening up your hiring practices to hire talent internationally — or even expat talent — could give you a wider pool of workers. In addition, gaining an international perspective could be beneficial for your business practices.
Consider the benefits of contract employees as you identify long- and short-term project needs at your organization. Keep your offer competitive and consider providing benefits to your international contractors.
You might even gain some operational efficiencies when you hire talent from an international pool. Individuals working in different time zones could tackle off-hours work or fill gaps that your current talent doesn’t have. No matter your goals, there are many benefits to employing international contractors.
3. Solicit Feedback From Current Employees and Candidates
One of your most valuable recruiting audiences is your current employee base. Tap into their knowledge and perspective by soliciting feedback through an employee engagement survey. Ask questions about their job satisfaction, perspective on benefits, and outlook on their careers at your organization. Aim to be comprehensive in your assessment and make needed changes based on employee feedback to propel your recruiting efforts forward.
Consider surveying candidates for your open positions during and after the recruitment process. Ask them about the ease of application, their interview experience, and their assessment of your organization.
Even if they don’t end up being suited for the job, their fresh take can be valuable. Use the data you collect to assess your recruiting process and your employment opportunity. If you identify gaps or areas to improve, create a plan to initiate positive change.
4. Unlearn the Old Way of Work
Do your grandparents talk about their amazing pension plan that practically replaced their full-time salary? Or does the concept of company-paid medical benefits during retirement boggle your mind? What yesterday’s employers offered is vastly different from what is feasible or common today. While you may not be able to replicate the well-funded employment packages of the past, you can consider what’s valuable for today’s employees.
For example, we’ve exchanged glossy office buildings and a 9-to-5 schedule for remote work and flexible hours. Both yesterday and today’s work styles have benefits, but it’s important to understand where the future of work is going.
Work with your executive and leadership staff to clarify what new way of working your organization is going to follow. It’s possible that some of your leadership has more antiquated thoughts about remote work and face-to-face interactions. Strive to educate them on your organization’s new approach to hire talent — and encourage employees at all levels to advocate for it.
5. Stay One Step Ahead
The world of work is changing every minute. To be competitive in the war to hire talent and to retain your hard-working employees, you must stay one step ahead. Prioritize assessing current employee satisfaction and tap into resources to foster long-term engagement. Use human resources and recruiting professional associations to help you understand what is on the forefront of work life.
Any forward-looking approach to hire talent is bound to involve tech. Are there project management tools that will facilitate your new remote work arrangements? Can AI or machine learning solutions take over some of the repetitive, manual processes your employees are presently responsible for? Designate a “futurist” from among your HR staff to explore how technology can make life better for your current and future employees.
Staying in tune with what’s ahead will help your organization adjust as employee needs and organizational demands change. Create an internal culture accepting of change and willing to be nimble. Challenge the status quo in the name of doing good work with great people.
The future of work is now
Who would’ve thought three years ago that so many people would be passionate about working at their kitchen tables? While the pandemic was not how we wanted to arrive at this new way of work, its impact is undeniable. Both employers and employees have had to adjust their work style and expectations on the fly. Now is the time to leverage the opportunity that remote work and nimble employees can offer to your organization.
It’s also time to prepare yourself for coming trends that fly in the face of traditional workplace practices to hire talent. For example, a four-day work week is being touted as a way to give workers more work-life balance. Another popular idea is focusing work on productivity as opposed to hours on the job. Two major components in the future of work are flexibility and open-mindedness. When your organization is willing to be responsive to new schools of thought, success when you hire talent is surely on the horizon.
