Don't start your day with broken pieces of the past. Yesterday ended last night. Today is a brand new day and it's yours. – Zig Ziglar
January is upon us. I am sure most of you feel like you just got used to writing 2019. . . . Well, try 2020. Has anyone ever noticed that a good market flies by, but 2009 felt like it would never end?
How quickly many of us forget the pain of struggling to find business when that lack of business is replaced by more business than we are prepared to handle! It is, as they say, a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. In fact, it seems that all I hear from clients as I travel the country is that there is a “lack of manpower.” My challenge to you, as we find ourselves at the end of one year and the beginning of another, is what are you going to do about it?
You could rely on the old tried and true methods of yesterday: Put an ad on a job seeker website, collect the resumes, cull through them, pick your winners, and hire them.
But, based on what I am seeing, this simply isn’t working anymore (not by itself, for sure). The problem is that those techniques ignore the real problem—our supply and demand are out of balance. There are simply more jobs (demand) in comparison to job seekers (supply) than there has been in a very, very long time. If people want a job, they can usually get one. If they want a raise or a new title, instead of working harder or better, they just find a new job. All of this makes finding new employees really tough, and it makes keeping the ones we have even tougher. . .
So how do you find new people in today’s demand-dominated market? The first key is widening your search. EVERYONE is looking for an experienced, not too expensive, great person. Many people call these exceptional prospects Unicorns…. And, like Unicorns, there aren’t very many (if you can find any at all).
Today’s market requires compromise. Can you substitute training for experience? Can you afford higher compensation? No one wants to work with the not so great person, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And, who knows, maybe
one of those “not so great” prospects will become your leading salesperson with a little coaching and encouragement.
In addition, widening your search to include less than ideal candidates may generate unexpected benefits. In fact, being willing to push the limits of the safest method or tried and true can open the door to an entire group of new potential employees. If a prospective employee has been overlooked, rejected, or ignored by other companies, they are likely to be very motivated to work hard for an employer willing to give them a chance.
Next, you have to treat recruiting as a focus in your or someone’s job. Who is monitoring the resumes? If it is tough to get people, you better respond almost immediately to the ones who do submit a resume. If you let those resumes sit, someone else is going to get them first. Remember, almost EVERYONE is looking for the same person you are.
And, who is monitoring the ads? Stale ads don’t get new people. Rewrite them frequently, constantly changing words and verbiage to attract different people. Who is monitoring follow-up? Twenty-four hours with no communication allows someone else to snap that person up! College sports teams spend millions of dollars on recruiting so that they get the best players available. There is a reason for that.
Finally, become an evangelist for your company. How many people outside your team have you asked if they or someone they know might be a good fit for your organization? The waitress, the valet, the person at the store in line, the person next to you on the plane, etc.—everyone you meet, no matter how temporary or casual, is a potential referral source for new employees. However, few will tell you about potential candidates without being asked or prompted. Carry good ole’ business cards and hand them out. Consider putting a sticker on your cards that says “We are ALWAYS looking for good people to join our team.” Makes it very quick and easy. You never know where that card will end up. . .
People are the lifeblood of any organization. Good people are hard to find, so make it a priority. Once you get them, keeping them is a whole new challenge for another day. Good luck in your search!
