Recruiting professionals are only as strong as the client’s they’re sourcing for. According to Recruiter.com: “Hiring great employees is as crucial as it is complex. Nothing matters more in winning than getting the right people in the right places. For this reason, organizations all over the world spend untold amounts of money, time and energy pursuing top candidates. While some companies consistently get ahead and recruit those who have passion, audacity and intelligence, others continually fall short of their staffing goals. Ironically, the main reasons for their shortcomings are not external factors such as available applicants. Rather, the problem stems from common hiring mistakes that countless companies fall victim to.”
Before we dive into these self-made obstacles, it’s important to remember that if your company is making these mistakes, there are easy adjustments to increase your odds of staffing some dedicated, competitive, and engaged employees.
Needle in a Haystack
In the field of recruitment, everyone wants to find the golden goose, the purple squirrel, Bigfoot, but the issue then becomes missing out on rock-star candidates to, hopefully, find this unicorn. The mistake is in letting great candidates slip through because you’re holding out for the perfect person. I am fairly certain that 99 times out of 100, the perfect job seeker doesn’t exist. Ken Sundheim writes, “Just like everybody else, no applicant is ever perfect. Strong management and honest appreciation make an individual great — not the content of his or her resume.”
Avoid spending too much time finding one perfect person, and work on taking a great candidate, training them, and molding them into that perfect candidate you seek.
Top Candidates are Top Dollar
Not paying enough is a lose-lose situation. When companies don’t compensate accordingly, they scare off top applicants and incite resentment among those whom they do hire. Although you want to avoid a big hiring mistake, especially in sales recruiting, which is paying too much. Overpaying a candidate will definitely lock he/she down and get them to sign an offer rather quickly. However, it also puts unneeded pressure on both the hiring manager and candidate. A good rule of thumb here is to use the law of 30 percent. Most candidates will make a move for 30 percent more than what they’re making now. If you’re looking for top-level candidates, don’t cheap out and scare them away with a low offer, but do not add an overwhelming amount of pressure by dramatically overpaying either. Be sure to make it competitive and compelling.
Make the Position Appealing
Recruiting is about selling. A recruiting firm like Crawford Thomas Recruiting is able to stir up enough interest among the desired job seekers that they consider the organization their first choice for employment. It is the employer’s responsibility to present a compelling argument, during an interview, as to why that individual should want to work for their company as opposed to the other firms recruiting that individual.
