The continual evolution of hiring and staffing managers

Hiring managers now face a “seller’s market," where talent is driving the market, compensation is on the rise, and there’s strong demand for remote work.

Hiring teams will need to balance their “nice to have” and “need to have” role requirements and accept some tradeoffs if they want to hire someone quickly. (Image: Shutterstock)

In business, evolution comes in response to change. The current state of business in the fall of 2021 exemplifies change, from the “Great Reshuffle” to millions of people working from home. According to Department of Labor data, a record 2.9% of workers quit their jobs in August. This represents a massive number of people who left jobs they didn’t enjoy, or those without attractive pay or benefits. People are not just leaving jobs, they’re also leaving their towns and cities. Research firm The NPD Group found 20% more Americans are looking to move this year (2021) compared to the prior year. It’s a transformative shift of people choosing to move and work for personal instead of professional reasons.

Remote workforces have varying needs and expectations, placing unique strains on hiring managers. Hiring is always a supply and demand equation, but as of the fall of 2021 and into 2022, demand is outstripping supply. It’s a period where workers for once have leverage, and they’re awakened to using their power to find jobs with better pay and benefits. The shifts in worker expectations and locations require evolutionary thinking by hiring and staffing managers. With the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) noting firms spend between 40% and 80% of gross revenues on salaries and benefits, it’s imperative hiring managers find the right people during tumultuous times.

Strategies for hiring managers

Hiring managers now face a “seller’s market,” where talent is driving the market, compensation is on the rise, and there’s strong demand for remote work. However, hiring managers must always check their expectations depending on the role, as some roles like developers or software engineers are competitive and require a different track than some others.

With candidates holding leverage, they don’t have time to wait for hiring managers to make decisions. Managers must reduce time-to-hire metrics and act with urgency, which is crucial for third-party recruiting. Hiring teams will need to balance their “nice to have” and “need to have” role requirements and accept some tradeoffs if they want to hire someone quickly. They’ll need to work closer with business leaders to determine talent gaps and what type of hires best will best fill those gaps.

Hiring teams will also broaden their thinking about remote working. It opens global talent pools, which can improve a company’s culture and give them more opportunities to hire top talent. It also brings challenges such as compensation, where staffing managers need to consider how much to pay a software developer in the Czech Republic compared to one in San Jose. This is a growing concern for employees, with a SHRM study finding 67% of polled employees expect compensation to reflect their location, raising “geographic pay” as an important issue for hiring teams.

Once they’ve hired someone, hiring managers also need to evolve their retention strategies. The current business environment means some talent will leave, despite a company’s best efforts. Hiring teams should accept some human capital losses while building avenues for social interaction among employees, adding recognition achievements, or partnering with charitable organizations that bring workers together as volunteers. Benefits factor into retention and hiring managers will need to push benefits such as expanded family leave, paid leave for same-sex couples or elder care, and other benefits that align with what employees value.

Proactive pipelines

Managers need candidate pipelines so they can act proactively ahead of business needs. It’s an essential practice in competitive markets, and involves informational interviews, building a network based on skillsets, and using LinkedIn to both grow the brand and attract top talent. Hiring managers will evolve by contributing blog content through social channels, so they sell themselves as industry leaders while also improving an employee-focused brand. They’ll need to build a sense of the company culture and showcase fun activities and business highlights.

Hiring managers should ask if their company can make opportunistic hires. If someone great comes along who has hard and soft skills, can the hiring team and business leaders make a position for that candidate? If so, then it only works if the business has a plan, and the hiring department knows how to keep these potential hires engaged and interested. Forecasting is an essential complement to pipelining and requires hiring managers to understand business needs and better predict short and long-term hiring trends. They’ll need to evolve their knowledge to include broader business trends such as AI and IoT and others and consider how they might impact hiring in the coming years.

Moving ahead past COVID into 2022 and beyond

Hiring and staffing managers need proactive tactics and technologies. They need to sit in with senior leadership to understand and guide the businesses’ strategic goals, which are unachievable without the right talent. Retention is also crucial, so hiring managers will need to ensure an engaged and brand-building experience throughout the hiring process and onboarding, and throughout the employee’s entire tenure.

Jake Siudzinski is vice president of partner growth at arex Consulting Group, an Inc. 5000 award-winning healthtech staffing and recruiting agency.

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