Why can’t your organization hire anybody right now?
- COVID
- Small applicant pool
- Wages are not competitive
From the recent AASPA conference, these were some of the most common responses I heard from school districts nationwide. While correct, it’s certainly true for every other employer — so you need to start thinking out of the box for solutions that will set yourself apart from other employers in your area.
I want to change your way of thinking and put forward the notion that there are small, measurable, simple, actions you can take that will put your organization in an active role in engaging your untapped applicant pool, as opposed to passively attributing your losses to external factors.
I want to re-empower you as an employer in a tough market by showing you that you have a part in dealing yourself a bad hand.
Before proceeding, confer with your legal counsel to see if these changes are applicable to you; different states have different hiring requirements/regulations, and the way in which you might implement these changes will look different.
Let’s explore a few ideas through some exercises that will help illustrate some of my points, and I would urge you to follow along and try them. If nothing else, it’ll spark conversations in your next recruitment/retention meeting.
Applicant data
These exercises involve looking at basic data from your applicant tracking system — grab your nearby data analyst, and if you’re really bold, your hiring manager, and follow along.
Data geeks rejoice
Log into your applicant tracking system and figure out the total number of applications you received for the past month (internal, external, or both), give them a quick review and skim them over:
- Overall, what were some of the reasons why you didn’t hire those types applicants?
Maybe they didn’t have the minimum amount of education/experience required for the position, as per the job description (you do have a job description… don’t you?)
Maybe they’re missing some sort of certification (e.g. CDL, CPR/First Aide, teaching credential, etc.)
Do you notice any trends (e.g. per position classification/group, per department/location, etc.)?
- Are those positions still vacant?
If you answered yes to the last question can you honestly say, and be able to defend your assertion, that you would absolutely not hire any of those applicants for those positions. Can you do that?
- Will you really pass up on that secretary with “only” 3 years of experience because your job description (please tell me you have one) says they must have 5 years?
- Will you really pass up on that cook because they don’t have experience in a school setting, even though they owned their own restaurant?
- Will you really pass up on that accountant who worked for another county for a decade, because they don’t know your accounting system?
Data geeks no longer rejoicing
Break out your crystal ball, you’ll need it for some of these:
Determine the total number of applications that were not submitted for the past month. Why did they not submit their application? If they’re next to you, turn to your hiring supervisor and tell them why.
Awkward.
Determine the total number of applicants who read your advertisements and said to themselves,
“Well it says this position needs 5 years of experience, but I only have 4, so I won’t apply.”
If they’re next to you, turn to your hiring supervisor and tell them how many.
Awkward.
Determine the number of people who read your advertisements and didn’t apply because something was unclear (e.g. benefits, job description/duties, location, wages, etc.) If they’re next to you, turn to your hiring supervisor and tell them how many.
Awkward.
You get the idea — you’ll never know how deep your applicant pool truly could be because there’s always a group of applicants that don’t even bother applying at your organization.
They don’t consider you a viable employer.
You spend a lot of time marking applicants as not qualified for your positions, but just how much of a part do you play in making yourself not qualified to be an employer, in the eyes of an applicant?
Job Advertisements
By now you should be having a hard time completely attributing the earlier reasons as to why you’re unable to hire people for your positions. If this is the case, good, you’re beginning to think in a way that will put you in a position of taking action versus in a passive position of losing.
Begin to realize that you have some power over your applicant pool.
This exercise is to show you how you look through the eyes of an applicant, and while not all-inclusive, they’re meant to get you to switch gears and review your entire recruitment campaign/process.
Pretend you’re an applicant applying to your organization. Look at your job advertisements through the eyes of someone who has no idea what you as an employer are about:
- What would entice you to actually click the “apply” button? If you’re having a hard time coming up with a legitimate answer within a few seconds, consider what you can do to address that. Is your job board visually appealing? Are the advertisements’ contents standardized (e.g. same information in the same spot on each post, verbiage consistent, etc.)?
- Do your advertisements have benefit/salary/work schedule information on them? How many applicants made it all the way to the job offer stage to just turn down the position when they realize how much they’ll come in at? If your answer to this question is greater than zero, you’ve wasted the time of the applicant, your interview committee, Human Resources, and others, simply because you didn’t type that information on the job posting.
Be transparent and put the details on the advertisement — applicants will be able to more-easily determine if they want to apply or not, saving both you and them time.
Application
By the time you receive an application, this applicant believes they should be considered as a candidate for your organization — they want to work for you. They acknowledged all the terms and conditions.
You both know there’s a labor shortage, and you both know that it’s a job-seeker’s market out there.
You know that it’s hard to hire for, and fill, your vacancies.
So why, do you make it so hard for applicants to apply?
I clicked the “apply” button for an organization near me just last week to see what their application looked like (they use the same applicant tracking system), and the first page it showed me literally had verbiage that said:
“…[the application] could take around 45 minutes to an hour to complete.”
Tell me that’s not a major turnoff as an applicant; I’m searching for a job, presumably submitting multiple applications per day, and this application can take me around an hour to complete? I’m not going to bother.
Make it easy for you and them
Let’s ground these ideas into some concrete actions you can take (and these won’t take weeks to implement) to deepen your applicant pool. One of the easiest ways to get more applicants is to make it easier to apply:
- Everyone has a phone or mobile device and we all know how painful it is to navigate any given mobile website at any given time; is your application mobile-friendly? Grab your nearby web developer and ask them to help in facilitating that (and give them an aneurism in the process). </div>
- Reduce redundancy. You should be looking to do this on a daily basis for everything you do anyway, but many organizations forget about their applications — usually because they inherit it and just keep perpetuating it over time. How many of you have gotten this,
I have to upload a resume and cover letter, why do you want me to type it all again on the application?
Good question! Turn to your data analyst and hiring manager and ask for the reason why.
Awkward.
We ask for those things so we can get a complete picture of their work history!
If that’s the case, then choose what you want; ask for their resume and cover letter or ask for them to type it all on the application. Don’t ask for both. You’re wasting their time as an applicant and making yourself less attractive as an employer. Plus, since we just considered mobile-friendly applications, good luck trying to upload a resume to an application from a phone or tablet. Looking at you, SharePoint.
- Do they really need to provide all of their work history? Why are you asking them to provide every bit of information about themselves since they penned a W-4 if your organization can only credit 10 years of experience for salary placement? Do you actually contact all their previous employers for a reference? If the answer is no, don’t waste their time.
- Do you have the same application/application requirements for every position? If I’m applying to be a crossing guard, and I’m getting questions for a teaching position, I’m going to stop applying.
- Do you have questions on your application that are better addressed in an interview? An application is not an interview — it’s a way for an applicant to vie for a vacancy. Remove those lengthy interview questions from the application and save them for where they’re more appropriate.
Making decisions like these will chunk your application down, reduce the time it takes for a candidate to apply, and deepen your applicant pool.
Job requirements
Job descriptions are important (third time, you do have them, don’t you?) as they detail the nature and scope of a given position; they help you in determining reasonable accommodations, they help you in developing improvement plans, and they have you defend unemployment cases.
Use these exercises to review your positions — you could be passively missing talent in the applicant pool because you’re disqualifying them before they even have a chance.
Degree inflation is a very real threat to your organization, and I want you to think beyond degrees. I’m not necessarily suggesting an entire compensation/classification review, I’m aware they’re costly; however your job requirements are a major factor in filling your vacancies:
- Do your clerks really need 3 years of experience; do your bookkeepers really need to know your ERP prior to employment? Can you not train those elements on the job? Keep those specific elements out of the minimum requirements of the job description unless absolutely necessary.
- Do your groundskeepers really need their pesticide certification prior to employment; do your instructional aides really need their CPR/First Aide certification prior to employment? Show applicants and employees that you’re committed to their development — hire them without it, train them to do those things, and pay for their certifications for them! It’ll cost you less to do that than to wait for the unicorn applicant to come by.
I can do that!
Yes you can.
To recap, consider:
- Your advertisements — do they tell the applicant everything they need to know?
- Your application — can you make it shorter?
- Your job requirements — do they really need to be that high?
We are all experiencing the labor shortage, however, I promise that we all have a part in dealing ourselves a bad hand.
