Jonathan Carter at DiversityRecruitingGuru.com Vacant positions that require specialized skill sets can create many HR headaches, especially when diversity is factored in. Specifically, technical & IT positions, construction and manufacturing trades, and medical professions present major challenges in recruitment because of the level of experience required for these jobs.
Competing for a limited candidate pool calls for a well-planned recruiting strategy. Let’s examine some short-term and long-term projects that will increase your response and placement rate for these hard-to-fill positions.
Short-Term Strategies Unfortunately, this can be a daunting task in the short run. Nonetheless, there are some tried-and-true strategies to start generating candidate flow in a short period of time.
Try Tech Staffing Agencies If your budget allows, consider staffing agencies such as Aerotek that focus only on recruiting candidates for specialized fields. The finders fee can be very economical when you compare the alternative cost of running multiple job postings, sorting through unqualified candidates, and the costs of an extended vacancy.
Know Your Competition Chances are, you’ll be “stealing” an employee from a competitor in the same industry. What differentiates your organization? What benefits of the job do you offer that the competitors don’t? Job security? Better health benefits? Higher salary? Flexible schedule? Advertise these things directly to the candidate. Imagine yourself in a candidate’s shoes - what would motivate you to make a move?
Tailor your advertising and job posting to those needs. To attract these candidates, you’ll need to do more than just advertise your opening - you’ll have to sell your candidate on why they should leave their current job to join your organization. Think about the concerns you’d have about leaving your own position. That’s the level of persuasion your job postings will need to have to generate any serious impact.
Look to Education Develop relationships with trade/vocational schools in your area, and follow up regularly with new job postings. If the students don’t have the required experience, think about internships or training your organization could offer to develop their skills. Often, technical schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities will partner with you to offer training and skill development, and can even subsidize a portion of the cost. Or create a direct-placement agreement with a program that offers the skills you need, beating your competitors to the punch.
Long-Term Strategies This is the most desirable way to ensure that your organization steadily develops the workforce it needs to be productive. With proper planning, you can create a pipeline of energetic, qualified candidates to support your company’s needs.
Review your company’s comp & benefit offerings. Do you benchmark against main competitors for employees in your region and nationally? If so, where do you stand? If your organization’s budget puts tight constraints on what you can offer, focus on easy quality-of-life fixes. Can you offer flexible work hours or schedules? Child care subsidy? Unpaid leave? Job security?
Invest in industry research. Make sure that your organization is involved with a professional or trade association for the particular fields in which you’re seeking employees. Participate in surveys, development of best practices and industry guidelines, lobbying or political action… anything which will distinguish your organization as a leader in that field. You’ll have access to the leading thinkers in that industry, whom can direct you to the best resources in traning and staffing.
Consider foreign nationals. Certain areas of the world have become very efficient in producing skilled workers in a variety of fields. The employees you’ll find are often well educated, highly motivated, and willing to relocate to the US. The visa process isn’t necessarily as intimidating as you may think - in fact, there are a variety of consulting and recruiting firms that can handle the entire process.
www.diversityrecruitingguru.com
Posted By: Jon C.
Monday, September 8th 2008 at 3:23PM
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