For many companies, the summer signifies peak season for production and profit. With COVID backing off, and with an unprecedented labor shortage, it’s high time you get started on hiring and onboarding new employees. How can you prepare right now for what’s ahead this summer?
Preparing Now for Hire Times
Investing in an applicant tracking system (ATS) is one important way you can prepare your business for peak hiring times. You can subscribe to these databases online and most have a monthly subscription fee. An ATS cuts down on the time you spend processing applications. These tools use automation to help you engage candidates more effectively. Even better, an ATS offers you a way to house all of the resumes you receive for open jobs. They also automate your processes for posting jobs on job boards.
Also look at your hiring and onboarding processes now, before you are too busy later on. Here are some crucial questions to ask when evaluating these workflows:
- Is my online application process easy to use and mobile-friendly?
- Are the people participating in the interview process fully trained and aware of the latest changes in hiring compliance laws?
- Am I making the best use of online video technology to speed up my hiring process?
- What are my hiring goals?
- Do I have solid descriptions for each position that can be communicated in a job ad?
- What is my onboarding process like? Does it need a makeover?
- Are my hiring processes compliant with the latest in compliance rules? (Note both state and federal regulations are constantly changing.)
Also give some thought to how you’re going to handle two things related to COVID: Health/safety concerns as well as the lack of qualified candidates in the market. This next section will tackle both areas.
Handling Hiring in a Post-COVID World
Candidates are increasingly concerned about how your company will handle health and safety on the job. We’ve lived through the ups and downs of COVID, and while most mask mandates have been lifted, you may require employees to be vaccinated (or federal guidelines may dictate this in the future).
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported in January that the latest mandates requiring vaccinations for federal employees was blocked. The U.S. Supreme Court also blocked the vaccine-or-testing requirement. But that doesn’t mean that this could change in the future, should a new COVID variant emerge. It’s a good idea that you look at these issues now, along with your commitment to cleanliness and safety in the workplace, before your peak hiring season kicks in.
Then there is the huge issue of labor shortages to tackle. We could write an entire blog around this issue right now, but suffice it to say that there simply aren’t enough qualified workers to go around. How can you mitigate a tight labor market? The answer is to partner right now with a staffing agency with a proven track record of results. PrideStaff offers companies a roadmap for reducing their time to hire, strong networks, and client-centric support for even the toughest jobs to fill. Call on us today. We are the number one way you can prepare right now for the busy hiring season to come.
