Let’s face it, it’s challenging to find the best person for the job. Some candidates are overqualified based on their resumes but are entirely the opposite once hired. Others are simply not fit for the role. There are also applicants you hire and entrust with an enormous responsibility, and yet they end up resigning because of too much pressure.
What’s even more difficult for most hiring managers is that department heads demand to fill vacant positions right away. For people not involved in the actual screening and hiring process, it’s easy to assume that hiring is a ministerial task that’s a cinch to accomplish. The truth of the matter is – it’s not.
Hiring Is A Difficult Process
Regardless of the position you’re trying to fill, recruitment is one very challenging process. Glassdoor revealed that it usually takes an average of 23.8 days for hiring managers to acquire new employees. More complex and demanding roles even take longer to fill.
What’s even more challenging is that filling these vacant positions isn’t the end of the line. In fact, Leadership IQ revealed that about 46% of newly hired employees fail within 18 months.
These numbers only suggest a universal truth applicable to all employers – it’s a struggle to find exemplary hires. Some of the world’s largest companies haven’t cracked the hiring code despite years of operations. Even Laszlo Bock, Google’s past Senior Vice President for People Operations, admitted hiring is a ‘random mess.’
What’s Standing Between You And The Perfect Hire
Understanding the obstacles that hinder you from getting the people you need can help you address such issues and help you improve your selection process. Here are some of the specific challenges that might get in the way of your finding the perfect hire for your company:
Hiring People Is A Buyer’s Market
The modern-day job market tilts in favour of job seekers. This is what you call a candidate-driven market. Since there are so many vacancies, it has become harder to find qualified candidates.
In the past, it was an employer-driven market, and the problem then was more on sorting through piles of resumes and applications. Hiring managers in those days didn’t have the time to go over these documents, so it was easy to miss the right candidate.
This trend can shift from one to the other, depending on the availability of jobs and candidates. Regardless of where the favour tilts, finding the perfect person for the job needs deliberate screening and some luck.
Some Applicants Are Not Completely Truthful
It’s hard for hiring managers to judge a candidate’s credibility off-the-bat because they don’t know these people personally. They only judge them based on their resumes, cover letters, job applications, and interviews.
While employers take time to know their applicants, the latter also work hard to be the best candidate in the eyes of the former. This may be harmless, but it could indeed lead to misrepresentation.
It’s perfectly understandable if these candidates want to ‘sell’ themselves during the interview. Unfortunately, some of them overdo it to the point of lying. The consequences of this occurrence are equally costly, especially if they’re not the right fit for the job. After they get hired, and they can’t do their tasks properly, the company bears the losses and the employee loses their credibility.
Luckily, hiring managers can utilize the help of executive sales recruiting agencies in conducting background checks before hiring. These agencies can verify what these applicants claim on their resumes – their education, work experiences, certifications, and professional licenses. They can even run the screening process before any interviews occur to save the company from going through so many unqualified candidates.
Some Applicants Just Lack The Necessary Skills
In a study published by the Society for Human Resource Management, it was revealed that employers often struggle to find suitable hires because the workforce lacks the necessary skills required for the job.
While some candidates lack core and hard skills, even more don’t have the soft and basic skills a company needs. The most prevalent skills applicants lack include basic computer skills, reading comprehension, writing business correspondence, and math skills.
Some HR professionals also reported having trouble picking candidates with problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Another concern is finding people with great work ethics and those who exhibit professionalism. All these skills make a person professionally valuable. Without them, you can’t expect one to thrive in a professional environment.
Bridging The Gap
Understandably, most hiring managers have a hard time meeting the best candidate. HR personnel may also experience difficulty in getting through mountains of resumes. Regardless of who faces the most challenges in this situation, it’s best to seek the help of professional headhunters.
With the help of executive hiring agencies, a company’s hiring managers, department heads, and HR personnel can redirect their focus on more important matters. HR departments can plan employee development programs to help their current workforce improve personally and professionally. Department heads can plan changes and developments in their teams. When everyone does what they can to improve the workforce, the organization benefits.
