The Great Resignation is upon us and shows no signs of slowing down.
With your current employees leaving to pursue other opportunities, you may be concerned that the job applicant pool in your area is thinning. Don’t worry – we’ve got you covered! Read on for three ways you can expand your candidate pool and continue to attract those ideal employees.
Look outside your usual geographic area for potential employees
Doing so helps increase the diversity of your candidate pool to those with a variety of backgrounds, education, and experience. Doing this means you’ll need to allow the option to work remotely (at least for certain roles) if you haven’t done so already. Just keep the following in mind:
Follow state recruiting and hiring regulations
Though your prospective employees will follow company policy once they’re hired, the recruiting and hiring laws vary by state. Make sure you’re aware of and follow all local and state hiring and compliance requirements. OpenSesame has several courses that can get you started on how to do this, in several different languages.
Hire for remote qualities
Understand that hiring employees to work remotely is different from hiring on-site employees. On-site employees have the benefit of easing into your company culture and learning from those around them, as well as being able to rely on others 24/7 for support. Virtual employees, however, should possess more of those desired cultural qualities up front.
Consider adding additional behavioral questions to your initial interview process to screen out candidates who may not have the skills you’re looking for – as well as those who may not work as well in a remote environment. You’ll want to look for candidates who are disciplined, self-directed, and willing to seek solutions without a lot of support and supervision.
Move to virtual recruiting – and not just through LinkedIn
If you’ve focused mainly on recruiting locally and in-person, consider changing your strategy.
Target your job postings to specific cities
On hiring sites like LinkedIn and Indeed, target your job postings for cities outside your main metropolitan area (making sure these posts include the regional requirements, and that you’re allowed to hire in that region). And don’t forget to include the flyover states of the Midwest and mountain regions. These often-overlooked areas are full of untapped potential. You may just find that treasured employee you’re looking for!
Host virtual hiring and networking events
Don’t just throw up a post on the usual job sites and call it a day. Take it a step further and host virtual hiring and networking events!
A virtual hiring event is just what it sounds like: a job fair but online instead of in-person. Advertise for the roles you’re looking for, bring in potential candidates, and even conduct on-the-spot interviews. Since you’ve now reached out to a larger geographic area, you should have plenty of great prospects to choose from.
Virtual networking events include hiring a VIP speaker, hosting discussions, and allowing professionals in similar industries to gather, meet new people, and potentially find new opportunities.
Expand other pools
In addition to expanding your geographic pool of potential candidates, consider broadening the pools for candidate type, role, and skillset.
Hire for as-needed or part-time positions
Shift from the full-time employee mindset and consider hiring employees that fill immediate or short-term project needs, such as contractors, freelancers and temporary or part-time workers. These employees are often efficient and reliable, as they’re used to working quickly to get the job done. They also may be less expensive to hire in the long run, as you can pay them per project or based on the number of hours worked.
Broaden your desired applicant skillset
As mentioned above, it’s important that virtual employees possess a certain set of skills that aren’t as important for on-site workers. Capitalize on this need by adding the types of skills you’re seeking to a particular role to attract the best applicants. In addition, you could consider applicants that may not have the experience in the field, but have the skills that could apply to the role.
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Recruiting and hiring during this uncertain economic time may seem scary, but it doesn’t have to be! Follow the tips above and you’ll go from Great Resignation to great employees in no time.