5 Ways Employers Are Adapting to the Highly Competitive Employee Market

Jeff Hagen

Jeff Hagen

Post written by Jeff HagenStaffing Exec ◉ Educator ◉ Award Winning BBQ’r ◉ DIY Hack ◉ Rotarian

It’s been interesting to reflect back and see how many of our clients have been able to adapt their hiring processes to fit the needs of a highly competitive employee market.

It’s now very common for technical candidates to receive a job offer every 7-10 days!

The faster we move candidates through the process without sacrificing quality standards, the better chance the employer has at landing the top candidates.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Direct Experience Isn’t Always Necessary

When appropriate, we’ve seen employers look past direct experience. Let’s face it, not every position in a company requires previous experience doing the same thing.

2. Softened Educational Requirements

We’ve seen many employers review the educational requirements for positions. Instead of a Bachelor’s Degree, candidates have been qualified with an Associate’s Degree and 2+ years of experience.

In fact, we’ve been able to document that certain positions where we’ve hired people with a Bachelor’s Degree end up having a higher turnover and error rate than those we hire without a Bachelor’s Degree for the same position.

fiveNow is a great time to review educational requirements since many higher education institutions are offering certificate programs based on specific job positions.

For example, the KU Edwards campus now offers a coding boot camp where students graduate with a certificate to be a full-stack web developer.

3. Adjust Your Pre-Employment Screening Timelines

Please review your pre-employment screening policies and make sure they’re appropriate. We work with many clients who require extensive background checks.

These people may work in a regulated industry or around controlled substances. If they’ve been in the industry, they’ve been through the process and expect that it doesn’t happen overnight.

However, if your company isn’t in one of these industries and the process is taking over a week, the bottom line is that it’s likely costing you quality candidates.

We’ve seen companies with a typical pre-screening process takes 4-6 weeks for an entry-level job. Meanwhile, their competitors’ processes take 3-5 days for the same type of position.

4. Centralized Hiring Process

A couple of clients have centralized their hiring process through HR. This has helped keep managers, HR and staffing suppliers on the same page throughout the process. Not only do we all know where we are in the hiring process, but we also have checks and balances on hiring approvals and budgets.

5. Provide Interview Schedule Times

In the last six months, a couple of clients have given us the interview schedule times each week. Now when we’re on the phone with candidates, we can schedule them for an interview right then instead of going back to the client for interview times. This simple step could save a day or two on the process.

This also ensures that the interviewer will be around that week. Several times a year we will work a position only to find out that the interviewer will be on vacation or out of the office.

There’s no time like the present to be smarter and more efficient with your hiring process. Take the ideas mentioned about and apply them to your process today.

What other changes have you and your company made to adjust to the highly competitive employee market?