Hiring Great Candidates in the New Economy

Hiring great employees in the life science, molecular diagnostics, and CLIA Lab industries have become more difficult. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, there are more jobs than there are people to fill them. There are many hiring managers that have not experienced hires in a “candidate short market”. Roger Herman coauthored Impending Crisis in 2003 and predicted a labor shortage in 2010. He was a little early with his prediction, but the shortage is here now. You can no longer use the same processes to hire. Here are a few necessary changes you need to make to successfully hire in the new economy:   Watch a short video that reviews four critical points.

1. Don’t expect to have a large candidate pool

Many hiring managers desire to interview 3-4 candidates to compare and select the best candidate. There are two problems with this approach. First, in a “candidate short” market you most likely will not have 3-4 equally qualified candidates. And secondly, comparing candidates to one another is not the best method to select the best candidate. The best way is to determine critical criteria for the position and grade the candidate against those points. 
You may only have 1-2 candidates to choose from. Use your decision criteria and have the confidence to make the hire. 

2. Shorten your hiring process

I realize that many companies have involved interview processes and candidates must meet numerous decision-makers. I am not suggesting eliminating critical decision-makers, but I do suggest eliminating direct reports (of the future candidate) from the interview process. If these employees will be reporting to the prospective candidate. Chances are you will not receive valid input. Move through the process quickly or risk losing your top candidate. 
Candidates will innocently tell hiring managers they are only interested in your company and are not interviewing anywhere else. What neither one of you realize is that the very next day the candidate may get a call from an aggressive recruiter encouraging them to interview with their client. There is an old saying that applies to recruiting——Time kills all deals! 

3. Make a motivating offer

One of our clients recently lost a candidate because they offered her $5.,000 more than what they were currently earning. (The candidate had a $95,000 base and should have received at least a $10,000 increase.) According to a recent Forbes article, the national average for salary increases when changing jobs is 10-20%. Make your future employee a great offer or be prepared to continue searching. 

4. Hiring managers need to be involved in pursuing candidates

As a hiring manager, you must be engaged with the candidate to make them feel wanted. Do not delegate too much of the process to your HR team. Let your HR team help you with administrative portions of the process while you work closely with the candidate. Take the candidate to dinner if they are spending the night. 
A robust economy is great, but the downside is the shortage of candidates. Companies that get hiring right, will excel. Companies that don’t change their approach will suffer. 

Three ways to avoid losing your perfect candidate is another article that may be useful.