The highly competitive job market makes the hiring process much more complicated. With thousands of applicants submitting their resumes to present the best of their skills and experiences, companies might struggle with distinguishing employees that would be properly qualified for the job opening from employees that merely present themselves in an appealing manner.
And even if companies do manage to select great candidates from the pool of applicants, it’s an entirely different matter to actually keep them happy and satisfied within the company.
Why Companies Should Prioritize Quality Over Quantity
The belief that employees are disposable and are merely there to perform tasks that can be accomplished by anyone else is incredibly outdated. Companies are now realizing that employees are valuable assets that benefit them in irreparable ways, but some still don’t see the detrimental effects of a high turnover rate and believe that it doesn’t matter in the long run so long as the positions get filled once again.
However, having a high turnover rate can actually reflect poorly on the company both as a brand and as an employer.
For prospective applicants, a high turnover rate can immediately translate as a red flag because it reflects that the company’s former employees didn’t have a positive or meaningful work experience with the company, with worse cases being that the company fostered a toxic environment that was overall unsustainable.
As for the audience and consumers of the company’s brand, a high turnover rate doesn’t normally grab their attention or make prominent headlines. However, the testimonies of former employees regarding the work culture and environment of a company could dissuade these consumers from supporting the company moving forward, especially if these are extremely bad.
Implement Assessment Tests During the Application Stage
The screening stage of a candidate’s application is incredibly crucial not only for the applicant, but also for the company and employer. Even early on in the process, the employer can already start gauging the applicant’s past experiences and skills, as well as see whether the candidate would be a proper fit for the culture of the company.
However, these steps in the hiring process aren’t the best ways to gauge whether an applicant can properly perform the responsibilities that the position entails. That’s why it’s best to also add an assessment test in your hiring process to really see how an applicant will do with the specific requirements of the job.
Apart from that, it also prevents the very common phenomenon of a job mismatch. This is when the skills required to succeed in a job position and the skills that the candidate possesses don’t actually align, which leads to employees struggling with their tasks, as well as their motivation, and inevitably leave the position completely.
In this regard, implementing an assessment test will give candidates a glimpse of what would be expected of them should they get accepted and allow them enough time to consider whether it is right for them.
Consider Internal Referrals as a Recruitment Method
Rather than going through numerous applications from job portals and other third party agencies, companies should consider internal referrals as an alternative yet viable method of recruitment. Internal referrals work by advertising a job opening internally among the company’s employees before releasing it to the public, then employees are free to recommend any candidate that they feel would best fit the requirements of the position.
Internal referrals are an effective way of hiring new employees because the applications are coming from existing employees that are familiar with the skills required to succeed in the company, as well as the overall culture of the workspace. Aside from that, internal referrals also allow the company to tap into their employees’ social network, which could help them access a demographic of applicants that they would have never had access to otherwise.
Another way that internal referrals help ensure good applicants is that employees are incentivized by a reward with the condition that their applicant successfully gets hired. By only rewarding them with every successful applicant they bring, employees are more inclined to recommend quality candidates.
Train Both Hard and Soft Skills
While job applicants are expected to already have certain skills when entering into a job, it’s also important to provide them with opportunities to further develop these skills and help them learn even more. Any prospective employee will naturally have both hard and soft skills, with hard skills being abilities that will help them handle tasks and responsibilities specific to their job and soft skills being attributes and characteristics that help employees thrive and succeed in a workplace.
Both candidates and employees naturally find their work more meaningful when they feel that they’re actually learning something substantial and developing these skills, but companies can also find benefits in investing in the upskilling of their employees.
Not only can it help increase employee productivity and efficiency, but it can also improve their quality of work. Apart from those, employees will also feel more motivated due to the feeling of their successes.
Prioritize Employee Engagement
Employee engagement refers to any activity or effort done by the company that is geared towards eliciting positive emotions from their employees. These engagement activities actually help employees form a more meaningful attachment with their employers and co-workers, while also helping them feel valued and appreciated.
With sincere efforts on the part of the company, employee engagement can actually help workers perform better and more efficiently, while also inspiring more loyalty that will make them voluntarily want to do better for the company. It also inspires more constructive attitudes that will be more beneficial for both the employer and the employee in the long term.
Employee engagement can range from different efforts like exploring employee interests and hobbies outside of work, holding workshops and training programs, having casual social gatherings with co-workers or even something as simple as arranging regular one-on-one meetings to check in with employees’ mental health and happiness levels. The important thing is that these efforts are genuine and sincere.
Apart from higher employee retention, as well as a return of investment in regards to the resources spent training them, another benefit of prioritizing employees’ satisfaction through a more personal approach is that employers become more familiar with employees’ strengths and capabilities.
Other than employee satisfaction, it’s important for companies to ensure that all their legal requirements are in order, especially for Singaporean companies that need a nominee director. For Singaporean companies that are looking for a nominee director, visit https://www.wealthbridgecs.com/sg/nominee-director