Every HR professional in the constructions trades sector, whether it be electrical, industrial, plumbing, HVAC or PVF is tasked with the daunting real world challenge of Attracting, Qualifying, Securing and then Retaining top talent. This ‘recruitment cycle” can become all too encompassing during a regular business month. These tasks are just a single component of what a typical HR department does and in essence can be a full-time job for multiple team members or outsourced partners. Let’s look at each component.
Attract:
You need to build your brand in the marketplace daily. You must sell the sizzle of your company and culture and make it look like a desirable place to work. Here are a few things you can do to enhance your image:
· Create regular custom video’s on your company, highlights employees at work talking about your company
· Use social media extensively, create upbeat posts on Facebook, LinkedIn and other platforms highlighting company events for customers and employees and their families.
· Link your posts on Indeed to company video!
· Make your job spec high impact, professional document which lots of links to online media.
Qualify:
At GRN Coastal will feel that the questions you ask for each role needs to be different, you need to build creditability on that first call and speak the language of the candidate.
Questioning/interview techniques for each key role in a distributor location has to be different. You need to share real-world distributor expertise. We have specific “must ask” candidate questions for each different role within a distributor branch and the projected outcomes based on this questioning technique. Each type of role, whether it be sales, operations or specialists, needs to have its own specific set of probing questions. Asking the right questions will help you qualify top talent quicker. This technique will help you raise your confidence in your hiring decision.
Secure:
Once the candidate is qualified, the speed of hiring is critical. We see clients that interview quickly and take into consideration the candidate has a job score points with candidates. It isn’t about the interviewer’s availability versus the candidate’s availability, remember the candidate is at risk here. So the smoother the interview process the better, respect the candidate’s position. Line up multiple interviewers for the same day visit or TEAMS interview.
Streamlining the interview process is critical and providing crisp, to the point, interview feedback shows what type of company you are.
· Offers need to have a expiration date.
· Having employees involved with this phase sometimes work, for example having a employee with the similar role in another location call the candidate to answer “real, on the job” questions and build relationship.
· Have multiple managers or the owner call the candidate.
Additional touchpoints in the interview process and post offer can make the difference. You want the candidate to feel good and confident about making the move.
Retain:
As a employer, you have to get closer to your employees, employers management has to make a concretive effort to get closer to their employees. It is the “stickiness” of that relationship and your company culture that creates a long-term employee relationship. How can you do this:
· Create a employee career roadmap of where that employee wants to see their career migrate to
· Support that roadmap with a plan of how to get that employee to that landing spot
· Plot a training curriculum for each employee.
· Maybe have job shadow days
We have seen some employers give “spot” bonuses, more vacation time, more PTO and even daycare funding to retain key hires.
Please give us a call and we’d gladly review these strategies in more detail with you.
