Costly Recruiting Lessons We Must Remember: A Roundtable Discussion

Contributors: 

Andy Pittman, Vice President Global Talent at ShipBob, Inc and former Vice President of Talent Strategy at Mailchimp

Phillip Chen, head of Global Talent Acquisition Operations & Strategy at OneTrust

Josh McAfee, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Humans Doing and WSJ & USA Today bestselling author of Measure Up: Mastering Your Career Search Like a Boss

From a pandemic induced economy in stand still to massive demands, business leaders have had to wrestle with monumental challenges at breakneck speed over the last 18 months. There’s been hard lessons learned, especially when it comes to recruiting, retaining, and engaging high quality employees. 

Experts in talent acquisition Andy Pittman, Phillip Chen, and Josh McAfee led a Recruiting Roundtable, discussing data and insights with Atlanta based tech business leaders. 

Though you may have missed out on the (rather delicious) dinner, we wanted to share some of the key takeaways. This is the first in a series of articles highlighting talent acquisition, retention, and engagement trends of the last 18 months and what the future holds for growing companies. 

What Are The Costly Recruiting Lessons We Can’t Forget?

1. More is More. Josh, Phillip, and Andy have noticed a massive increase in the time it took to fill positions throughout the last 12 months. In the before times, you could often expect to contact roughly 50 to 100 candidates to get a new hire. Post-pandemic, it’s likely to require combing through at least 5x that to get one role filled. 
   
   

What has that meant for companies? Hiring agents that haven’t adjusted accordingly and are stuck in old habits are finding their recruiting process is taking 5x longer than it used to. To counterbalance the new trends, it takes MUCH greater effort. If we know it may take 500 candidates to find the right one, Josh and his team will often engage with 1500 people that are qualified for the role to expedite the process. How are you adapting to the new speed and volume needed to hire top tech talent today? 

2. A Slippery Catch. Never assume that you’ve landed a great new hire just because they’ve accepted a job offer. Josh noted that recruiting data from 2019 shows an average 1 in 37 candidates didn’t start the job. In the last year, that ratio has grown to 1 in 5! That means we went from a fail rate of around 2.7% all the way up to 20%!
   
   

What can companies do to keep candidates on the hook? Phillip and Andy both shared that ongoing communication and intentional effort is the best way to better the chances of successfully onboarding a new hire. Consider focusing on the full candidate experience as you would the customer experience. That may mean extra effort and thinking outside the box. For example, in this era of remote meetings, Phillip encourages his team to find new ways to stand out in a virtual environment. Lean into developing relationships with candidates and really getting to know them. He’s noticed that managers embracing this approach are filling positions in an average of 30 days, but those that are more hands off are taking triple that time to find a new hire. 

3. Meet Them Where They Are. The past couple of years have given workers a chance to examine their careers and reflect on what they really want. Changing jobs has been just as much about finding a company that aligned with their values and focus as it was about getting a better paycheck.
   
   

What can companies do to engage candidates? Andy recommended skipping the old questions about what they’ve done or where they’ve worked. Anyone can read a resume. Instead, ask them where they want to go next. How will they get there? What impact do they want to have? Exchange asking how much money they want with instead asking how they want to be rewarded? This presents a future focused and open conversation that will be inviting to ambitious candidates. 

 

The Moral of the Story

With markets changing and struggling daily, companies can’t afford the strain of leaving roles unfilled for too long. Overburdened employees can’t be effective, meaning poorer quality products and services for your customer. Frustrated workers are more likely to resign and seek a less stressful opportunity elsewhere, leaving you in even more dire straits. 

Proactively and intentionally approaching the recruiting process with an emphasis on the candidate experience is the best way to attract quality candidates.  

 

Would you like a seat at the next Roundtable Discussion? You’ll not only enjoy a wonderful evening networking with local business leaders over a savory meal, you’ll have the opportunity to hear expert insights and tips on how you can be in the best position to attract, recruit, and retain the top talent to grow your company. Let me know if you want to hear more about it. 

Want more on about this topic? Andy and Phillip will be joining Josh on February 8th at 12:30pm to host the Back to the Future of recruiting webinar. It will be a critical look at the last 18 months of talent acquisition and retention, the current state of the market, and what that means for you in 2023. There are options to join virtually or in person! Would you like to attend? Click the button below for registration.