Common hiring pains and how to address them

We talk to dozens of businesses every week and hear their pains first-hand. Many of them ask if other companies are experiencing the same challenges and ask how are they addressing them. 

I thought it might be useful to share some of this information with you.

Holding on to the people you have

This is a big challenge, especially as the best people are being headhunted by other organisations. These companies may be offering better salaries, more attractive benefits or remote ways of working that you just can’t match.

To hold onto these people, you need to understand why they are leaving you but also catch them before they start to look. It may not just be financial or career-based reasons. There could be other things such as compliance or how they are engaging with other stakeholders (internally and externally). These areas could be impacting these people and causing them to leave.

You need to have constant reviews of your team, to see what’s working well and what’s not working so well. Continually exploring any things you can do to improve the quality of the role as well as the work-life balance you offer is also good practice.

We are hearing success where the organisation is listening and reacting to market forces before the team member thinks about leaving.

Resource constraints in supporting the hiring process

The job market is competitive and you need to act swiftly during the hiring process. Any delays can mean that the candidate will be more open to progress other opportunities and you may lose out. 

You need resources available to review CVs quickly enough and also to subsequently interview candidates without compromising quality.

One solution is to have a hiring plan that is published to all the stakeholders involved in the recruitment process. This will provide visibility to those that need to participate and make them aware they will be required in advance and can plan accordingly.

We have seen success with shared Microsoft Teams chats and calendars where after the CV is reviewed interviews can be set up quickly via chat with internal and external recruitment partners rather than the back and forth needed with emails. 

Rewarding agency partners

In many instances, there is a focus by many companies to drive down agency rates in an attempt to cut costs. This can be a false economy as it may compromise the service provided. It can also impact the relationship and trust between parties, which is essential for partnering success. 

Any company that does not reward business partners and recruitment firms fairly and in a way that will motivate them to get the best candidates may not get the best level of support they need.

On the flip side, companies that build long-term relationships with selected partners and consider them an extension of their company have found great success and value from the partnership.

Managing business expectations with delivery capability

Businesses want new products and services to come to market. They want projects to be delivered and many have plans to achieve but some just don't have the resources to deliver.

This can put extreme pressure on the existing teams, which leads to stress and individuals going on long-term sickness absence or leaving. This is clearly not good for the business.

Ensuring you have a resourcing and hiring plan which is regularly reviewed internally and with external partners can help to ensure any gaps are proactively filled in time.

Lack of knowledge transfer between staff

Where a company has contractors, there may not be a continuous plan to transfer the knowledge to full-time employees for the IP built up and it is not captured or documented to pass on.

Many successful companies have structured knowledge transfer processes using platforms like Microsoft Sharepoint or Google Workspace, which are good investments to ensure the running of an efficient team.

Slow onboarding

Once the offer is made and accepted, companies want to get the candidate onboard and productive as soon as possible. We are hearing delays in onboarding are often a problem due to compliance, process and security requirements. In some instances, by the time two or three new team members have been recruited, the company may have lost an equivalent number from the team due to them resigning!

A structured hiring process, an onboarding plan and early involvement by the relevant departments (such as finance, procurement, legal and IT) will optimise the offer to start time and get your new hires to hit the ground running in no time.

Finding great talent

Finally finding great talent is hard work and identifying the best people for your business to help you achieve your own objectives should be a non-stop part of your job. Have you reviewed in the last 3 months what you can do to continuously reach and connect with great people?

We hope sharing these challenges gives you some food for thought and some ideas to help you resolve them.