Be Ready - Shift from Reactive to Proactive Strategy

Are you ready to revolutionize your hiring process? Join us, Max and Mike, as we navigate the often misunderstood realm of reactive versus proactive hiring. We tackle the common misconception many businesses harbour - that hiring is a task to be tackled only when a position needs to be filled. We shed light on the pitfalls of this reactive approach and argue that a proactive stance is key to a smooth and efficient hiring process. 

In the second half, we delve into the benefits of proactive hiring. We discuss why it's crucial to stay updated on your industry's market wages, understand the roles within your business, and be ready to identify the right fit when the time comes. With practical advice on how to prepare for inevitable staffing changes and tips on where to source potential hires, we equip you with the insights to finesse your hiring process. Tune in and empower yourself with the tools to create a hiring strategy that truly works for your business.

We love to hear your hiring experience, whether you're a hiring manager with 100s of hires, about to make your first hire, or an applicant that has a story to tell. Share your stories with Max & Mike at hiringexperiencepod@gmail.com

This podcast and the matters discussed herein are for informational purposes only and should not to be construed as advice for a particular company or person. This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional or legal advice.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

This is the Hiring Experience the podcast that helps you break down the art and science of hiring. Hosted by Max and Mike friends, founders and creators of rapid hiring, on a mission to bring an end to the resume, bringing you tactical advice to help you attract, select and retain the best talent. This podcast and the matters discussed herein are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as advice for a particular company or person. This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional or legal advice.

Mike: 0:37

All right. So today we're going to talk about reactive and proactive hiring. It's something that I've been hearing quite a bit lately when I speak with different businesses. I mean both in what we do and in general conversation about, you know, not requiring help or not looking for improvements until it's time to hire, with the you know thought process that we're not hiring right now being a reason to not look at the process right now.

Mike: 1:05

When we view it that way, there's a little bit of this contradictory thought process where we're both being optimistic in the sense that we think that nobody will ever leave our team and that we don't need to address our hiring process, and we're being pessimistic, on the other hand, thinking we're never going to grow our company, where we'll need to hire more staff members and team members to be able to service that growth.

Mike: 1:34

So when we, when we think about the hiring process and we think about how we're going to bring people into our team, it shouldn't be something that we only consider when it's actually time to do that task and that job, because at that point that's when we need to do it quickly. That's when we need to either, you know, replace a role yesterday or service a new contract or what have you, and that thing needs to happen quickly. And when something needs to happen on a very short timeframe, you don't have time to put resources into efficiencies and into improvements. You only have time to do the task the way that you know how to do it already.

Max: 2:13

Right. Like Mike said, this is a dichotomy that we come across pretty often with people, especially in the small business world, that they've got a lot of long-term staff sometimes five, 10 plus years and maybe a few new people, but the average is up there, and so what they've missed over the years is typically that the new people are almost always new, in that there's usually some level of turnover, but also outside of that that their hiring is banked on, like Mike said, no growth outside of what they're doing right now, and some companies don't have that. There are a lot of industries that are lower growth, slow growth or completely comfortable with where they're at, and we understand that. We get that. Not everyone is just going for growth at all times and at all costs. However, knowing what it is that your people still do, like we've talked about before, understanding the roles in your business, is an important part of proactive hiring, as well as avoiding getting caught flat-footed when that inevitable day comes. And it's not a complicated process. We're not advocating that you should be putting up ghost positions, like some people have started doing now, or engaging with candidates just because you never know who comes across If you're not looking to fill that role, there are still things you can do to keep yourself ready and take ownership of the fact that people inevitably will leave.

Max: 4:05

Whether it's retirement If you've got a long tenure, sometimes people move on or if it's simply just that your business now has a different change or a different need and skill set and so it's not growth by any other means, then you need a replacement for somebody who's not going to be up to the task of some new idea or new service that you're providing.

Max: 4:31

And all of that just comes around to the fact that, as we go through the hiring process, the beginning part of understanding what it is our company does, what it is, all of the roles that you do are, and having a general understanding of what those are and, at another level, also the compensation set up and schemes for those roles, is important. Understanding where and what it'll cost to replace or hire new people is a large part of it, because we get that pushback from people that when you go to talk to them it's the first time they're hiring this role in a long time and they don't know what market wages are. They don't understand what the market looks like at all for this role that they're now looking to fill for the first time in 10 years.

Mike: 5:24

Yeah, and I mean we're not saying that when you're not hiring, you need to be spending a ton of money on making sure that you can hire. That's not what I'm saying with don't be reactive in your hiring process. What we're saying is stay up to date on all, like some of the things that Max mentioned, with knowing the market, for what these positions pay, knowing what your positions are they may have changed over time so staying up to date with that. If you hired a role four or five years ago and that person's still there and you need to add that position again, I'm sure that person's position has changed in four or five years and you need to be able to reevaluate that and then know what you're looking for in your next hire. These are things that, when you have all of this set up properly, when you come to bring new people in, the process will be a lot smoother.

Mike: 6:12

You'll find the candidates that you're looking for, you'll be able to ask the questions that matter to you, and the other thing, too, is you need to stay up to date on where to look for specific people that you're trying to bring in. So do you know if people are hanging out on? You know if you're going to have more success in some localized job board, or if you're going to have more success on, like, a community bulletin? Or do you know if you're going to have success on Facebook, or indeed, is it a role that you take to LinkedIn, like? You need to know where the demographic is for the people that you're looking for, and that's something that you only know through staying up to date on this and not just figuring it out on the fly when it's time to hire.

Max: 6:56

Staying up to date is a big part of it, while someone listening to this is immediately going well, I can research all of that when the time comes, which sure you can. But if that role needs to be filled yesterday and now, if you're a small, like a lot of small business owners, you're going to be the one filling.

Mike: 7:17

Yeah and the time comes is more of like you know when I have time when the time comes. So you know, a lot of small business owners are tasked with a million different things and when the time comes is never convenient. So when it is convenient, leading up until that point would be a great time to do all this stuff.

Max: 7:35

Being ready is worth all of the effort and, as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Something like that. I probably butchered it royally.

Mike: 7:46

You made that one up. Maybe, I don't know.

Max: 7:49

Yeah, what are you going to do?

Mike: 7:51

But yeah, I think overall, the general theme of what we're trying to talk about here is just be proactive, like you would with all things. Like if you're bidding on a contract and you need to know what equipment and what type of you know tools you're going to need to be able to service that contract. Those are things you look at in the bidding process. Imagine that you're, you know, bidding for new staff members and you need to coordinate yourself effectively. Being ready is worth it.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Thank you for listening to the Hiring Experience. We hope you enjoyed this episode and learned something new about the art and science of hiring. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast player. This helps others discover the show. Share with a friend, colleague or anyone going through the hiring experience right now. Share your hiring experience with us at hiringexperiencepodcom.