Qualified Staffing: How to Find Qualified Staff In the USA

Whatever the nature, geographic location and size of your business, and whatever the product or service you offer, the one thing that impacts the health, growth and longevity of your enterprise is your staff.

While management gurus may stress the value of knowing your customer, it’s equally, if not more important to know and value your employees. Qualified staffing is the biggest asset that your business has.

When you get the right candidate to fill a position in your company, it brings a host of benefits, both long and short term. Maintaining a high level of performance and efficiency, balancing the costs and ensuring a good cycle of growth can be traced to having qualified staff on board.

What’s The True Value of Qualified Staff?

 What do we mean by “qualifications?” Degrees and diplomas conferred by recognized, authorized and accredited institutions or training organizations are generally considered to be the evidence of being “qualified.” Qualifications are supported by documentary evidence that can be verified and trusted.

Today, there is another area of qualifications that is equally valued and that is in soft skills, communication abilities and emotional intelligence. While these are difficult to measure, they are usually identified during interviews or in job situations.

Adaptability, thinking out of the box, passion, strategic thinking, ability to innovate and inspire, leadership qualities and a strong ethical foundation are as equal as academic qualifications and experience.

The benefits of hiring qualified staff include:

Productivity Boost: When you hire staff with the right qualifications for the job, you ensure higher productivity and performance in the company. Competency and capability are assured when you hire a person with the right qualifications.

Reduced Training Time and Effort: Qualified staff are more job-ready and require less effort and time spent on being trained.

Morale: Co-worker morale is higher when they know they’re working alongside people who have the right qualifications and credentials. Qualified candidates are likely to be more committed and dedicated. They also tend to last longer.

Cost Saving: Qualified staff can cut costs because they are productive from the word “Go.” They don’t need to be trained, make less mistakes and are better equipped to deal with customers.

 Skills: Qualifications and degrees equip the worker with better theoretical/practical skills and knowledge. They are also more confident and able to quickly spot and solve problems.

Safety: This is an issue that most enterprises face, no matter what business they’re in. Having a qualified and trained workforce helps you to implement health and safety guidelines more effectively. Educated workers are more likely to understand safety protocols and regulations, and are more likely to comply.

How To Recruit Qualified Staff?

Every company has its own tried and tested methods of identifying, locating and recruiting qualified staff. Some of them may rely on their in-house recruitment or HR department, while others prefer to employ an outside agency. Some decisions are based on the operational level of the staff being hired. Executive search firms help to recruit C-suite candidates and their process is quite different from the process of hiring staff at lower levels of the hierarchy.

1. Be clear about the position: It’s important to slot the requirement correctly within your staff framework. This helps you to clarify the positions above and below, chain of responsibility and reporting and also the potential for growth.
2. Salary and perks: Once you are clear about the position and designation, it’s easier to fix the compensation and cost to company. Your company may already have the range of perks, stock options, retirement benefits and statutory payments that such a position calls for.
3. Advertising: You have a range of options available when you need to advertise the position. If it’s an entry level one, you can rely on campus recruitment, walk-ins, flyers, ads in the local papers or job recruitment sites. Other positions may require more niche messaging such as word of mouth referrals, passive hiring, executive search etc. It’s important to search in-house first, within your own talent pool. There may be employees working with you who can be upgraded, or are looking for a change of department.
4. Social Media: Today, a huge chunk of business happens on social media. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are great places to find the right candidates who match your requirements. Advertising on social media can also pay rich dividends, while helping to build your brand.
5. Connections and communication: While you may be presently on the hunt to fill a particular position, it’s wise to stay networked and connected with candidates who had applied earlier for other positions as well. Staying in touch with candidate pools can also help you tide over emergencies.

READ ALSO – Amazon Outsold Walmart For the First Time Ever, after Racking Up $60 Billion In 2020

Hiring Qualified Staff in the US: Tips and Tricks

Hone your hiring skills with a few simple strategies. This can help you to pick the perfect candidate every time. The cost of a bad hire can be quite high in terms of money, time, effort, training, re-hiring, and your company’s reputation can also take a hit. Disgruntled employees who have been fired to poor performance tend to lash out on social media and this can damage your brand.

1. Check for “invisible” skills: While academic qualifications get the candidate to the interview room, you need to probe for certain other skills that will give you a better idea about them. Commitment and loyalty are important skills to have, so be wary of frequent job-hoppers and lack of loyalty to their previous employers.

2. Learning and Analytical abilities: The candidate’s basic qualifications provide the foundation, but they will also need to demonstrate learning and analytical skills to grow and thrive in the company. Don’t believe everything that’s written on the resume, because these are usually inflated and professionally written.

3. Culture and Compatibility Fit: Ensure that the candidate is a good fit with the culture, ethos, values and traditions of your firm. Someone whose thinking is radically different could cause immeasurable harm, polarization and friction.

4. Improve Your Recruitment Processes: Stay in touch with the latest technology, information and techniques in human resources, management and recruitment studies. Involve your key team members from across different departments in the hiring process so that there is a synergy at the end of it. You will also get the benefit of different perspectives and points of view.

5. Set the Right Recruitment Goals: Use the SMART framework to set the right recruitment goals. Make sure that you look in the right places, consider hiring interns and campus recruits, look at temps who can be bumped up. Identify the skills gap that you want to fill and ensure that it’s being filled accurately.