While you’re struggling to find enough good candidates to fill your company’s open positions, you see a headline, “Jobless Claims on the Rise”. It’s such a frustrating position to be in. According to MarketWatch on 9/23/21, initial claims for jobless benefits advanced another 16,000 to a one-month high of 351,000 in the week ended September 18, 2021. That’s approximately 10% higher than previously forecasted. Why are jobless claims going up while there remains over 10 million open jobs in the United States?
“People just don’t want to work anymore.” is a common response. However, it leaves opportunity on the table that is too precious to overlook if you are struggling to hire good people. There are very capable people who want to work but they are navigating particular obstacles that keep them from finding a job. For those people, if you can help them navigate the obstacles they face, you open yourself up to a whole new workforce. Here we discuss four key areas to explore where you can create a win-win for you and your new employees.
Helping candidates transition careers
We are facing a sharp rise in the number of people who are being put out of their careers for various reasons. These are the cases where it makes a lot of sense to look at their specific abilities. What made them successful in their prior roles? The positions may seem highly unrelated but it’s likely that you can find a lot of transferable skills if you are willing to invest the time to connect the dots. Maybe someone has never served in a particular function you are hiring for, however, they have exposure to industries that you serve. Thus, they bring industry knowledge and connections along with some fresh perspectives that may lend to the role. On another hand, consider the talents that are required for a successful salesperson. Personally, I have resisted hiring for a Sales role without seeing demonstrated sales success in a candidate’s background. However, if you grind down to the attributes of a successful salesperson, you’ll find various jobs that share those required attributes.
Relocating candidates
Personal situations have changed dramatically in the last 18 months. For some, that has meant relocating in order to be with family or find more desirable living situations. The ability to take advantage of a situation where a qualified individual is on the market due to relocation can really give you a leg up. We advise forming relationships with local Real Estate agents who work with home purchases and rentals in order to be first in line as a resource to help people secure employment when they have relocated. Even if you are not always hiring specifically within their niche, you can circulate contacts within your network to help them out.
The power of training
The way we work is changing at an ever-increasing pace. It’s expected that certain functions will become obsolete or will involve the adoption of AI and automation that will replace a large portion of the human hours previously required. We can benefit our organizations and our employees by thinking less about specific titles. Consider how you can maximize an individual’s talents with the opportunity to combine roles which requires upskilling and/or re-training. This gives you the chance to retain good employees and it gives employees a chance to expand their skills which benefits everyone.
How flexible can you be?
Flexibility in a working arrangement has emerged as a primary concern for the majority of people today. The concept of flexibility has also expanded in recent years. How flexible can you be? It’s not just about remote work or a flexible schedule. Some people are attracted to the ability to take leave for various reasons without worry that their employer will think less of them. Can you reward employees tenure with the option to take a paid leave for whatever might strike their fancy; hiking the Himalayas, writing a book, unplugging to live off-grid for a time? While this is not an everyday benefit, it’s something long-term that can be a strong motivator for employees to stay with you. On the other hand, if an employee thrives in some aspect of their role but has aversion to another, can you reformat or outsource some elements in order to make their role as enjoyable for them as possible? The point here is to work together with people in a fierce way in order to create win-wins that allow you to attract and retain great employees.
The competition for employees is tighter than ever before. It appears that people have found a way to reformat their lives on a collective scale. There are more people able, willing, and desiring to stay out of the workforce, at least in the traditional sense. We encourage you to think less traditionally in this changing environment. For things to work in the future, we must work together in new ways.
