Your Company’s 2018 Success Begins and Ends with the Hiring Process

Improving your companies, products, and customer retention begins and ends with the hiring process.

As a business owner, I understand how both the political and economic climate can impact that critical process. And whether you like Trump’s administration or not, you need to know how the final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed on December 20, 2017, affects hiring within your company walls.

The plan reduces the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent in 2018 and temporarily lowers the income tax at nearly all levels. In order to benefit from it, you need to put a plan in place to prepare for growth. By reinvesting in your hiring process, you’re investing in the future of your company, employees, and customers.

However, with the top two hiring concerns of 2018 being a lack of qualified candidates and high turnover, according to our recent report. If you don’t take actionable steps now, freed up monies from the new tax plan will be meaningless.

Here’s how you can prepare your hiring process for 2018 and beyond:

Accept the tides of change

What worked for your hiring process five years ago — or even last year — could be what’s derailing it now. Changing candidate expectations and increased job opportunities creates a different hiring atmosphere. In addition, it’s making waves in turnover rates.

In fact, our report found 25.4 percent of recruiters and hiring managers noted high turnover as the number one factor holding companies back in times of rapid growth. On that same note, when hiring during rapid growth, the majority focus on work experience.

With only 10.8 percent looking at soft skills and 7.2 percent looking to culture fit as the most important hiring factor, we’ve found the missing link.

Take a critical look at what you’re missing

If your hiring is based predominantly on work experience and retention is a major issue, consider refocusing your efforts. Continue looking at work experience but don’t hold it in such high regard.

Start allocating funds toward software that gives you a clear picture of both soft skills and cultural fit. Use tools, like personality tests and video interview software to see how they’ll mesh with your team.

Don’t look for people who are exact replicas of your current staff. Instead, look at the gaps in your company. Do you need someone with a more creative mind? Is your team lacking in empathy? How would someone with one or both of these traits bring your team together and improve customer happiness?

These are questions you need to be asking yourself and your team. Work experience is absolutely useless if those highly skilled employees are only contributing for a short amount of time.

Add value without making candidates wait

Nobody likes to wait.

Our society is constantly awarded with instant gratification — and it’s only getting worse in 2018. This rush, rush, rush mindset makes prepping for your recruiting needs even more challenging. You need to find a balance between meeting your hiring needs while improving the candidate experience.

The majority of respondents in our report said they’re doing this by adding social media (44 percent) and video interviews (31.2 percent) to their hiring process in 2018.

While these are both effective strategies, simply throwing your budget at them won’t solve your issues. Before adding new resources to your hiring process, make a list of your problems and goals.

Then, sit down with team members to hear about their experiences with your hiring steps. Next to each of your own needs, explain how solving that need affects the candidate experience. The more proactive you are in combining the solutions, the less money you’ll waste when adding new tools.

What are you doing to improve your hiring process in 2018? Let us know in the comments below!