Organizations need to hire qualified staff. It feels more urgent than ever. Yet, hiring – and retaining – is hard. Staff shortages, and their root causes, bring decades worth of reasons. The world demands exacerbate the need for change and intentional hiring practices.
The last few years have proven difficult for organizations across the United States. Staff still have to pivot between in-person and virtual experiences.
It is no secret. Employees are burnt out.
With staff shortages, leaders struggle to encourage time off without many options available. As a result, many qualified staff choose to leave a profession. This leads to higher turnover, and an impact on stability, community, and retention.
Given these challenges, how can leaders intentionally hire qualified staff with so much already before them?
Here are a few tips from Possip for attracting and screening potential employees:
1. Learn what your organization’s assets are:
Unfortunately, organizations can be painted with one broad stroke. That’s not fair. And we know that company cultures are highly variable. We see this in our Pulse Checks®. Within one company, some staff are gleeful about their workplace and work culture – while others are struggling. Your organization or company has assets. You don’t get to brag about them until you know what they are.
So ask your staff:
- What do you love about our organization?
- What is special about our community?
2. Brag on yourself – repeat it – often:
In the marketing world, they say people need to hear a message 7 times at least before they start considering it. How can you share why someone would want to work at your organization- again, and again, and again?
3. Know where your future employees work, eat, play:
Once you have a message you want to say again and again, where are you going to deliver it? Find out where your staff learned about your company or organization – and go there again and again with your message. It could be a local university, a favorite product, a social media platform. You want to get in front of them again and again.
4. Understand requirements for licensure and new employees:
When we’re confronting a staff shortage, we’re going to have to bring new staff members into the profession. Make sure someone in your organization is prepared to support aspiring staff into the profession. This means you know someone who understands options for aspiring staff based on their education, test passage, and certification options. Sometimes there are residency options for aspiring staff, as well as certification programs.
5. Leverage a sample workday if possible:
A resume, letters of recommendation, and supplemental materials are standard procedures when hiring staff. However, an in-person sample workday will help a prospective staff member see themselves in your building, in their office, and with your company out and about. Meanwhile, it will allow you to assess how a staff member interacts with other employees and potentially customers, their learning and working style, and content knowledge. An in-person sample workday can help determine if the fit is right for both the staff member and the organization.
6. Consider your employee demographic:
When staff members reflect on the cultural, linguistic, and racial demographic of the company, it is more likely that everyone will feel seen, known, and represented. While this is difficult to achieve, especially during a staff shortage, it’s nevertheless important. Consider where you are posting and advertising about open positions. Or, if you are partners with a recruiter, grow curious about where they are finding candidates.
7. Be expansive about your company culture, strengths, and areas of growth:
As a former teacher, during interviews I was often bombarded with statistics regarding how many students were accepted into four-year colleges. While this was an impressive statistic, prospective teachers may have diverse motivations. Some prospective staff members may be motivated by extra opportunities, or how they’ll get to work with their colleagues. By being expansive about what you share – both strengths and areas for growth – you can give the staff member a holistic read on your company culture.
8. Interview multiple candidates:
Interviewing multiple applicants is time-consuming, but will also help you identify who will best fit the role. Also sometimes candidates apply for the role that is open – but, we know that what role is open can change quickly. So while you may only have one position open, by interviewing 5 people – even when you have a great prospect – you can be prepared should a different position open.
9. Be a problem-solver:
In a time of shortages, you are going to have to get creative at times. Working with hundreds of principals over my careers, I saw some principals give up when a great teacher candidate had some obstacle come up. The difference between those and the great leaders is the great leaders were relentless. They would call the state certification department and call the candidates, and they generally saw problems as obstacles to be navigated. Problems were the starting point, not the end. So, be prepared to solve problems to get great staff.
10. Keep and care for your current staff:
We talk about this as a company – it’s much harder to get new customers than do great work with your current ones. Similarly, having to replace and train new staff is hard. So while you’re bringing on new teammates, remember to care for your current ones.
