The labor market has been volatile for employers over the last few years. To fill empty roles and prepare for an uptick in consumer demand, hasty employment decisions were made to keep business going, leading to a few bad hires. Some candidates didn’t work out, weren’t satisfactory, or the employee left for another opportunity. Such circumstances have encouraged employers to be more deliberate with their hiring in 2023 and beyond, but there’s one BIG lingering problem… The pool of skilled and qualified candidates is shrinking. Recruiters often report they can’t find quality candidate profiles—24% of companies listed labor quality as one of their primary concerns of the year. It’s even worse for employers in industries that require employees with licenses, certifications, and degrees since there are more jobs available that don’t need such credentials. To find qualified candidates, organizations are shifting their attention toward the quality of their hires, hiring from within, and using HR technology that expands their candidate selection.

Focus On The Quality Of Hire

Focusing on quality rather than someone to solve the organization’s labor problems can generate better results, increase retention, accomplish company goals, and improve the team or department. To land high-quality candidates, hiring managers and recruiters are taking a two-pronged approach:

• The Hiring Process It’s essential for recruiters to review their recruitment process to ensure they have the best tools to recruit in today’s job market, an effective hiring process, and the right people are hired for the right positions. Employers are evaluating the company’s job descriptions, applications, interview questions, and follow-up procedures. These elements can significantly affect the number of quality candidates an organization receives.
• The Candidate It’s easy to get caught up in the fluff of a resume. The greatest question is to determine whether the candidate can complete the job at hand. Pay attention to their skills, qualifications, and experience. Ask questions that relate to the role they’re being considered for to gain a more in-depth look at their experience.

The Quality of Hire (QoH) HR metric takes both aspects into account and helps to track the success of a new hire and evaluates the effectiveness of the organization’s recruitment strategy. For recruitment, QoH assesses how candidates are sourced, the interview process, employment decision-making, and onboarding. On the other hand, it also looks at the new hire’s impact on the organization, e.g., the candidate’s performance, productivity, and overall contribution. HR experts and professionals utilize the QoH metric to spot deficiencies in a company’s hiring practices and improve upon them.

Hiring From Within

Organizations are increasingly hiring from within to negate the impact of a smaller candidate selection—73% of organizations say that internal hiring is becoming a prime solution to finding quality candidates. The employee is already an asset to the company, has a vast amount of company knowledge, is faster to hire, and costs significantly less. The risk of getting stuck with a bad hire is reduced because the employee has a proven track record. Although the search for quality is a primary focus, retention is too, and hiring from within helps tackle this feat. It encourages company loyalty and employee engagement as new opportunities are created for current employees to advance.

An Optimized Candidate Search

Sourcing skilled candidates is a growing problem, with 91% of business owners receiving only a few qualified candidates to fill available roles. To bridge the gap, company leaders are adopting AI talent acquisition tools to help them expand their candidate pool, many using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). There’s no debate that an ATS cuts down the time it takes to screen resumes and candidates, but it can also have the adverse effect of limiting the talent pool. Most job-matching technology configuration often rejects viable candidates that may not fit the company profile programmed into the automated system, bringing employers back to square one, a shortage of skilled applicants. In that case, business owners may be investing in technology that won’t give them a full return on their investment. To optimize the candidate search, company leaders are equipping hiring managers and recruiters with AI talent acquisition tools that actually work to increase the number of candidate profiles. Employers are implementing HR tech that uses AI and automation to eliminate bias and boost the number of applicants in diverse communities. The primary focus is centered on the applicants’ skills, qualifications, licenses, and degrees by redacting the name of the college or school, gender, age, etc.. The AI system won’t disqualify applicants due to employment gaps either. It even considers applicants that have experience and expertise but no degree. That breaks many barriers to accessing more diverse candidates. Due to a lack of job security and an uncertain economy, the job market is shifting back in favor of the employer. Candidates are available, but is the company’s hiring process or talent acquisition tools hindering recruitment success? ThisWay’s talent acquisition technology assists recruiters and hiring managers by broadening their applicant pool and truly increasing diversity in the workplace. Whether you need an AI system to get started or integrate with what you have, ThisWay can help.  Contact us today or schedule a demo to improve the quality of your candidate selection.