Hiring Top Talent in 2020 – Improving the HR Process

On July 2, 2020, the Department of Labor released June's unemployment figures for the U.S., which showed a decline in the unemployment rate of 2.2 percent overall, bringing it to 11.1 percent. We certainly could not have predicted six months ago that the double-digit unemployment rate of 11.1 percent was a move in the right direction. Many companies both large and small are focusing on surviving this economic anomaly.

The keen evaluation of all operating costs is among those necessary steps. Your organization’s workforce is both one of the costliest and most valuable.

While initially, it may seem counterintuitive to consider investing in your workforce at this time, the current high unemployment provides a unique opportunity for businesses. The talent pool is now bigger and deeper than ever. Smart business leaders know and understand that it is the right time to take advantage of the market that is overflowing with experienced candidates. Making the right personnel moves may be one of the things you can do to propel your business objectives forward in 2020.

There are significant differences in the recruiting game that have come into play in the past few years. Hiring talent remains the number one concern of CEOs according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Conference Board Annual Survey.

Harvard Business Review reports on the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) estimates that say the average cost of hiring an individual per job is $4129, and that figure can go much higher for managerial roles.

The place to start is to assess the skill sets of individuals and the strengths of your current teams. Now is the time to discover the needs of your team that will lead to your organization’s stability and growth.

This year’s conditions have also accelerated the paradigm shift from telecommuting being an exception to the norm. Forward-thinking businesses have discovered that their employees can be productive employees without reporting to a traditional office location. Coupling this new opportunity to hire talent from any geographic location with the high unemployment rate, employers are now presented with boundless candidate possibilities.

The first step to effectively using the available talent pool is to ask employees for referrals. The second step is to recruit actively. Post newly created and/or updated positions that match your organizational needs. Use the major job boards to find candidates, remembering that your business no longer has to rely on geo-specific candidates. Reaching out to prospective applicants on LinkedIn and other social media sources is another way. There are dozens of places to post opportunities to recruit the right team members. With so many options, it makes sense to organize and track the process to make it as effective and efficient as possible. Human resources (HR) can manage the entire recruitment and onboarding processes for your organization remotely. Employing a recruitment software solution such as LightWork® Recruit and Onboarding can increase the return on your organization’s human resources (HR) recruitment efforts.

It is a powerful and flexible applicant tracking and recruiting software with a quick and easy set-up and implementation. LightWork Recruit allows HR to post openings to job boards and social media and track applicants through the interview process. Once an applicant is selected for hire, LightWork’s module assists with the administration and compliance concerns of onboarding a new employee. It also covers tax credit processing. Attracting and hiring top-level talent has never been easier or more efficient than with LightWork Recruit and Onboarding.