A little while ago a colleague of ours, Shally Steckerl, picked up on an MSN Careers article discussing the Top 10 Reasons Why You Are Not Finding a Job. It’s a good article and Shally added another reason as well asking for additions from other recruiters. If you are jobseeker, this is some really great advice.
But, it got me thinking about the opposite side of the coin. Can these reasons be applied to employers? I say abso-freakin’-lutely! Without further ado I present you; Zoë’s Top 10 Reasons Why Employers Have a Hard Time Hiring Good Talent (software engineering talent that is :).
1. You don’t have a marketing plan – Every good business selling a product has a marketing plan for how they are going to reach their target audience. Think of your jobs as your product. While you may have company that makes great software; how will anyone know about the great culture you have, the benefits you provide and the number of job openings you have unless you do a great job marketing this information? You need a comprehensive plan that attacks the appropriate channels to find and attract great talent. Ideally you should do this at the beginning of the fiscal year along with your headcount planning and budgeting so that you can have a plan to follow all year long.
2. You have an inadequate or no budget at all for recruiting – Companies should recognize recruiting as the lifeblood of their business (and I am not just talking about the HR function). Whether or not you even have a recruiting department, you need to set aside adequate funds for your marketing plan, compensation, and other recruiting activities. You can’t expect to win in a tight market unless you can invest in finding and attracting the right talent.
3. You don’t network – Most companies have a referral system, formal or informal, they use to learn about great talent. I say this is not enough! For recruiters and hiring manager alike, you must learn how to expand yourself outside of your existing group of friends and family. Networks are exponential and can yield great results. Try new ways of getting yourself out there to make new connections (social networking sites, user groups, writing articles, attending conferences etc).
4. You're not making finding great talent part of your everyday job – Hiring managers and recruiters alike tend to wait for jobs requisitions to open before they begin the process of recruiting. This is a flawed approach to finding great talent and you will ALWAYS be behind the 8-ball with this approach. Whether it’s building your network, refining your job descriptions, or any of the other activities on this list; you need to take time everyday to do a little bit of proactive recruiting.
5. You have an unrealistic idea about the market for your open positions – As Gretchen has so aptly pointed out, the war for software engineer talent is on. However, businesses often open positions without regards to what the market can supply and expect that talent to be available to them. Even if you have an awesome company where everyone wants a job, you are still going to have a problem filling your openings unless you think of alternate ways to staff your positions. Can you hire someone straight from college and train them? Can you hire a fast learner with a complimentary or similar skill set to learn the technologies you are looking for? Determine what your “must haves” are and what skills you might take instead and then determine how to apply those to your needs.
6. You don't prepare well for interviews – You expect the candidate to come in well researched and understanding not only the position, but your company as well. What is your understanding of the candidate coming in to meet you? Too many times interviewers spend only a few minutes preparing for interviews. They have a stock list of questions on hand that they run through in the first five minutes of the conversation and then they find themselves struggling to create questions on the fly. Set aside ½ hour before your interview to review the candidate's resume and compile a list of questions specific to the candidate. If you are part of an interview loop, take time to discuss in advance what questions each interviewer will cover during the interview. There’s nothing worse then asking a candidate the same questions in 4-5 different interview sessions. Good interview preparation will help you score good talent and leave a good impression on the candidate.
7. You're not selling yourself – Through the interview process, hiring managers and recruiters can get cocky about what their company has to offer. Regardless of how great your business is, you need to be able to clearly articulate why this position and your company are a great match for the candidate sitting across from you. Spend a few minutes working on your pitch and learn how to sell your position, group and division. A great “sell” can make the difference between you winning that person over or your competition hiring them the next day.
8. You aren’t following up with candidates – I would have to say this is the chief complaint I hear from jobseekers about companies. Candidates love communication. They want to know where they are at in the process, how long things will take and when they can expect to know the result of your interactions. The candidates you interact with are a big part of being able to continue attracting top talent to your company. If candidates are having a bad experience throughout the recruiting process, they will make it known to their friends and few will be interested in applying to your openings. This is bad news for your business, so it makes sense to set up a process up front for recruiting and follow up and then stick to it!
9. Your career site is a mess or non-existent – No brainer, right? Not so much unfortunately. Savvy jobseekers will spend time researching your company far in advance of applying for a position. If their first impression of your site is poor, you’ll have a hard time attracting them back in the future. Take a look at your current career site and ask yourself the same questions you would when building great software. Is it user friendly? Is the information provided clear, concise, and focused? Are there broken links? Additionally, does your website give a clear picture of your company, value proposition and number of openings?
10. You are not investing yourself in the community – When I say community I mean the groups of individuals that make up the target market you are trying to reach; current and future. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the everyday job of running your business, but without an adequate supply of people entering your profession you will have limited opportunities to grow your business beyond your current situation. You need to spend time investing in getting people interested (and keeping them interested) in software engineering as a profession. How are you investing in your future? Are you reaching out to school-age children? Participating in programs designed to attract women and minorities to computing?