Eight weeks ago, the labor shortage was crushing businesses everywhere evidenced by historic levels of low unemployment. As we stand today, America is experiencing historic levels of high unemployment with 33 million workers having been laid off, furloughed, or permanently cut.
This means that millions of people are—or soon will be—back in the job market. As a result, your application flow has—or is about to—increase dramatically. But more applicants won’t automatically result in better applicants, and if you’re not prepared for this potential onslaught of job seekers, you’ll likely miss out on the best opportunity you’ve had in the past twenty years to significantly upgrade your workforce.
Build or Rebuild Your Hiring Funnel
The better your staff, the better your odds of bouncing back to where you were before you first heard the term COVID-19. To get to that place quickly, you will need more than just warm bodies, you’ll need employees who possess the right skills, the right training, and the right work ethic. Even with a surplus of job hunters, hiring those that are right fits for your business is no small task.
To staff 3 or 4 right fits for your business, you may need as many as 30 people to apply. Of those 30, you’d be ahead of the pack if there were 20 that you liked enough to invite to take an online assessment. Of those, let’s say that 15 are worthy of an interview. Of those 15 interviewed, it would be astounding if you liked 10 enough to invest in doing background checks. Let’s say that six of those applicants pass the background check, and you offer all six a job. Three of those who meet your right-fit criteria may accept your offer – but, as you know, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all three will actually report on the first day.
Visualize the narrowing process that takes place in the preceding scenario and you’ll see why the term ‘hiring funnel’ is used. It takes a lot to get good candidates into your funnel and it takes even more to get them through.
An efficient, well-oiled hiring funnel will enable you to invest in the two most important resources you have—time and money—to ensure you secure the third most important resource—people.
Speed and communication will be your best weapons in the post-Covid war for talent.
Feel the Need; The Need for Speed
Remember that more applicants in the labor pool offers no guarantee that you’ll have better applicants in your funnel. Skilled and motivated workers will still be in high demand and short supply, so unless you’re paying two-to-three times the going wage or offer some kind of perk your competitors can’t match, the best will be poached from your hiring funnel before you even know they’re in it.
You can optimize the speed of your funnel by eliminating those that aren’t a fit before they enter.
At the old amusement park in my hometown, there is a 4’6’’ wooden clown positioned at the entry point of the roller coaster holding a sign alerting guests that they must be as tall as the clown to ride the coaster. This clearly stated criteria is designed to prevent small children from entering the queue allowing the appearance of the wait to be shorter and enabling the line to move much quicker.
An effective hiring funnel discriminates, but it does so fairly, ethically, and legally. Establish objective criteria to assure that the majority of the applicants for each of the positions you’re looking to fill meet the minimum qualifications you demand.
For example, if you’re hiring drivers and your insurance policy states they must be at least 25 years old, have a clear driving record, and will consent to periodic drug testing, that criteria should be clearly stated on the sign the clown is holding at the entrance of your job funnel.
Go Out of Your Way to Keep Them in the Loop
A very common reason candidates give for jumping out of a company’s hiring funnel even when they are a great fit and moving through the process is that they “don’t know where they stand.” In other words, the employer is not keeping the candidate in the loop. In this age of instant messaging, social media, texting, email, etc., this is a stupid and costly mistake.
Your hiring funnel needs to be transparent, making it easy for each applicant to know exactly where they are in the process. If their application is under review, let them know that and provide them with a deadline that they’ll be contacted with the outcome regardless of what the outcome is (i.e., an assessment, an interview, or even a rejection). There’s nothing worse than indeterminate waiting, so give all applicants the courtesy of up-to-the-minute transparency of where they stand. And the more personal and less automated this communication phase can be, the better you will look to all applicants.
Without question, there’s never been a better time to hone your hiring funnel.
You’re going to need it.
To put Eric’s expert insights and strategies to work in your organization, contact 303.239.9999.
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Should Employers Rejoice Now that the Labor Market is Suddenly Flooded?
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10 Ways to Encourage Employees to Take Ownership in Their Work
