The Indianapolis temporary staffing market is moving faster than our quickly changing seasons.
The last couple of months at That’s Good HR have been frustrating ones as it relates to the number of temporary and temp to hire job offers that have been turned down. This is proof to what I have been telling my temporary staffing clients, it’s a candidate’s market. Candidates have multiple offers and even more interviews. What can you do as an organization to get the talent you want?
- During the interview, sell the company and the position if you have a good feeling about the candidate. This would include telling the candidate what your company has to offer, growth potential within the company (very important to candidates), how long you have worked there and why you get excited to come to work everyday. This should also include a tour of your building because it’s very important for candidates to get a feel for the office and see their workspace. I understand as a hiring manager it is hard to pull yourself away from your daily responsibilities but you have to put your best foot forward during the interview just as we expect the candidate to do.
- Move through the interview process quickly. The longer it takes to make a decision, the better chance the candidate has to get another offer and/or get more excited about another position. In my business we know that time kills deals! The faster you can make an offer, the faster that candidate will commit to you and turn down other offers and interviews.
- When working with an Indianapolis staffing agency such as That’s Good HR, provide feedback quickly after the interview. Even if you still have several candidates to interview in the upcoming days, a little interest shown by the hiring manager right after the interview will get the candidate excited. Also, set expectations in regards to next steps.
- Consider offering a higher salary than what you have been offering in the past. And if you haven’t increased the pay rate for your position since the recession, it’s a good time to re-evaluate it. Companies have to make competitive offers given what the market is currently paying for the position you have open.
- Keep in mind that during a time with a low unemployment rate as we have currently, most likely we are trying to get candidates to leave their permanent position to move to a temp to hire position. This means we all have to be prepared for the counter offer from their current company and how to handle it. And if you have a temporary/contract position, you can’t be as picky as previous years because there aren’t as many unemployed candidates to choose from. Or if you do want to be as selective as you have in the past for a temporary/contract position, you might want to increase the rate.
Even though the last several months have been frustrating, I am grateful that we have this problem as it is always the result of a strong economy. It just means we all need to adjust. Hopefully we will be in a candidate’s market for years to come because it’s better than the alternative.
