how to shorten the time of searching for employees for new investments?

As it stems from the Work Monitor (44the edition), our cyclical survey that interviews the employees about their perspectives on the labor market, the average time spent on looking for a job is 3 months. Of course it differs depending on the age, education, gender or region where the candidate is looking for a job. Young people, people with primary education and men find new work faster. Employees looking for a job in the north and south of the country also find a job faster than those residing in the western voivodeships and in the center of the country. If your company is growing intensively is looking for employees, you should consider the factors that may reduce the time needed to obtain a candidate willing to work.

efficiently and effectively conducted recruitment process

What may significantly extend the process of obtaining a competent employee is improperly conducted recruitment, which may lead to hiring a wrong person. In effect, a person who does not entirely fit in the organizational culture of the company will resign from their position shortly after being employed, and the employer will have to open the recruitment process again and search for a relevant candidate, which is time- and money-consuming. How to avoid such recruitments? Conclusions should be drawn from any such situation to avoid similar mistakes in the future. Recruiters should focus on finding people that the organization needs. During the recruitment process you should make sure to e.g. prepare brand materials to give the candidate an opportunity to make an informed decision to join the company; create attractive but true job posting descriptions in order to prevent a situation where the candidate’s perception of what they will do at work differs from reality.

Among future employees you should not only look for competencies useful at a given position, but also make sure to adjust the candidate to the future manager, team and organizational culture of the company. If the recruitment process is significantly extended, consider seeking experts’ help.

employee notice period

A lot depends on the position we are recruiting for. If you want to obtain qualified specialists with long track record, we need to remember that such people probably have an employment contract with another employer. In the case of a track record of more than three years, such an employee has a three months’ notice of termination. This means that the employer will have to wait longer for the candidate to be hired. One of the ways to bypass the notice period is a situation where the employee terminates their contract with their current employer with mutual agreement of both parties. However, this is not always beneficial for the company, especially if the employee served an important role there So as an employer you have to be aware that after finding a relevant candidate well-suited to your company both in terms of competencies and the company’s organizational culture, you will have to wait for the candidate to start working at your company.

Your employer branding

Of course a strong employer brand may help in obtaining the most talented employees. If the candidates apply to your company by themselves and the organization has a reputation of a good and reliable employer, here is a higher chance that the company will not complain about employee shortages. How to work on a strong employer brand? It is vital to start with employees’ and candidates’ expectations. The next step is to undertake activities to meet such expectations. You should remember that building a strong employer brand is a long-term activity. Thus as soon as possible you should start to improve the company’s reputation as a reliable employer that can be trusted and that people simply want to work for.

When it comes to the expectations towards the employer, the Randstad Employer Brand survey report is an excellent source of current factors that are the most desired by employees and candidates. An interesting conclusion drawn from the report is the fact that for the first time in Poland in the entire 11-year history of the survey, a pleasant work atmosphere at work is #2 in the ranking of the most desired aspects of employment. Only remuneration is more important for Poles. It is worth stressing out that pleasant work atmosphere is equally important for blue collar (68%) and white-collar employees (69%).

company’s location

Location may be crucial for a part of candidates when it comes to the decision to take the job offer, so the location of your company may affect the time you dedicate to find a qualified employee. Undoubtedly, the pandemic has changed the habits of both employers and employees. For many employees, remote work has become a more convenient way to work efficiently. An interesting solution that may help to tackle the employer’s challenge, namely the company’s location and lack of qualified employees nearby, is to hire remote employees.

However, remote work is not an option for everyone. Some of the employees may simply feel bad without contact with their team and line manager, which may translate into the efficiency of the tasks they perform. Moreover, the nature of work may simply not allow this. Physical workers or production employees cannot take their tasks home. How to deal with employee shortages then? Many employers ensure transport for their employees to the workplace so they more willingly undertake employment with that employer, even if the work establishment is far away from their place of residence. This is a costly solution but it can be optimized, as you can read here –  how did we manage to save PLN 230 thousand for a food sector leader?

availability of skilled workers in the region

The company’s location may be a disadvantage. As the company will develop it may turn out that there are not enough of employees with certain skills. What to do in such situations? It is vital to think about the solution mentioned in the paragraph above – ensuring employee’s transport from places located far away from the company may significantly affect the process of filling vacancies. You should also consider long-term actions. Cooperation with a nearby university may be one of the solutions to improve the situation in the region in terms of availability of competencies required by the company. By offering trainee programs at the organization, the employer obtains access to the pool of the most talented students to whom they can offer a job.

Before making an important decision abo the company development, it is vital to read the available publications on the accessibility of specific competencies in a given region. Such data may be found e.g. in the Occupational Barometer (Barometr Zawodów), which is a Polish nationwide survey developed by poviat labor offices in collaboration with staffing agencies and constitutes a forecast of employee demand in particular professions. More information on labor market that may be useful for employers can be found here.