Avoid the hiring mistakes of 2024 in the year ahead.

When it comes to hiring professional staff locally, it is rarely quick or easy.  Northern Ireland has the lowest rate of unemployment of any region in the UK, it has done for the last 2 years. This trend is predicted to continue.  In the post-covid era, there have been very few conversations with contacts wherein they state they can easily identify and appoint Accountants, Lawyers or Associated professionals – but then again I am a Recruiter.

Nonetheless, some businesses (not just large businesses) seem to be able to attract the right candidates with ease.  Why is this?  In my opinion, as a Recruitment Professional with more than 25 years of experience, it is not just one thing that needs amended to improve your returns from efforts. More than ever you need to adopt a ‘Marginal Gains’ approach to your recruitment efforts.  Look to improve and upgrade in as many areas as possible and you will see improvement.  Improve 5 items by 1% or 2% each and you are well on your way.

Below are some pointers I would provide to any internal recruitment team that wants to attract and engage with the best candidates.

Plan, plan and plan some more

Yes, it is basic and straightforward but so often, recruitment plans are become fluid and often overrun.  Some questions you need definitive answers for:

• Who is leading the exercise? Who is part of the recruitment team from the hiring department?
• Where are the applicants coming from? Which resources provide the best returns?
• What are the timescales? Are all relevant people available throughout the schedule?
• New role or replacement? Has the job been re-analysed and verified?
• Is the budget pay range set? Has it been benchmarked effectively?
• What is required from the recruitment process?

There are lots of questions to ask and answer,  the big mistake is going to market and not being fully prepared.  You only get one chance to launch a position, do not waste it.

Learn the lessons from previous hires

As part of your preparation, review the outcomes from recent hiring exercises. 

• What worked?
• What did not?
• What surprised you?
• Are there common reasons for success or failure? 

This primary feedback is so very valuable to making informed decisions.  This point is particularly relevant if your business is based outside of a major town/city or the position requires regular travel.

Research the talent pool

Unfortunately, NISRA (NI Statistics and Research Agency) does not have information available to the granular detail we would like, think people employed as X in Y region.  An imperfect but very useful tool is LinkedIn, even a free account will allow you to undertake some basic searches using job titles and locations.  It is fair to assume that small levels of results mean few people available to you and vice versa.

When you review your results how many potential candidates do you see?  Is it a large talent pool? If not, you need to get creative and start thinking about to attract and engage these people.

Benchmark your offering – not just the financial.

99 times out of 100, when professional people leave an organisation they gain an improvement in terms.  Improved terms are not solely financial aspects, it could mean a shorter or lesser commute (Belfast traffic in recent weeks has certainly taken away the joys of travelling!) or a more flexible working pattern/hybrid working. 

Reward is of course very important, typically in 2024, a 6-12% pay increase on basic salary has been common in professional sectors (5.4% nationally across all sectors).  If you are seeking to replace like for like, you need to consider the package the previous post-holder accepted when exiting.  Add your core benefits to this financial offering to present the best possible package.  Now look on-line and measure if your offering stacks up to other businesses hiring for the same or similar position.

Ask ‘Why should top talent join your business’

An Accountant or Lawyer undertakes (in the main) the same job when they make a move.  What changes is the people, the leadership, the vision and mission.  A key determinant of the levels of response you will gain to your opportunity, and the duration of time you have to maintain interest from your target audience, is greatly affected by these items.

These are the questions top talent want to know the answers to when assessing your organisation:

• Where is your business going?
• What opportunities is that creating?
• What role do I have in this journey?

Senior appointments must be actively supported by senior people

The more senior an appointment, the higher the expectation with the applicant to engage with other senior level staff.  Especially in situations where hiring for specialised/technical positions, senior candidates want to talk to the leader of the team they may potentially join.  In many instances, the candidate is joining the leader first and the company second. 

The lead recruiter will have to control which candidates may be invited to such discussions.  For niche requirements, applicant numbers are often at low volumes. Support from technical colleagues is paramount.

Personalise every applicant journey

To be clear, this does not mean that the recruitment process changes for each applicant.  Not at all, consistency is really important.  What we mean is that, after all the hard work on generating interest from relevant applicants has taken place, you should ensure person to person communication. 

Use warm and friendly language, if using email use a personalised employee account, not an info@.  Aim for engagement and interaction, for example offer a range of interview dates or schedule a call to explain how a presentation will be assessed.  Make the applicant feel special!

Draw your red lines early

Striking the balance between setting strict goals and maintaining a flexible approach is challenging in the current market.  Clearly budget setting is difficult, in the last 2 years we have witnessed reward levels change and increase almost each quarter. 

But other aspects require ongoing consideration, how long do you keep a vacancy open for applications when it is obvious the responses are not up to standard?  How many times do you go to market before reviewing your efforts?

In my experience, going to market for a third time with the same job is pretty pointless, either ratchet up or down on the requirement and adjust the offering accordingly.  Candidates become nervous of positions that are advertised repeatedly.

And finally…

I got this far without mentioning the dreaded ‘Counter-offer’. I could (and probably will) write an article on this item alone. In short, before you make an offer to your preferred candidate, take account of all the aspects of value in that candidates current package. I mean everything, put a monetary value on salary + pension, insurances, parking, bonus, car allowance, shares, etc and then add it all up. This is the total you need to work from when calculating your offer.

A large number of clients have come to me in the last year frustrated that they have concluded a recruitment exercise, made an offer, had the offer accepted, then they find out that a counter-offer has been accepted. Often the candidate disappears from contact just weeks before planned commencement. This is the nightmare scenario, all hiring momentum is lost, you are right back at square one.

Making the right and best offer does not guarantee candidate commencement, but it does maximise likelihood. Add in a scheduled number of pre-start check-ins and virtual coffees and you are in the best position possible.

So another year gone by, what were the lessons you learned?  Does this article resonate with you?

What will you definitely not do again in 2025? Be honest!