As a business owner, having a strong team is essential to your success. But what do you do when one of your key employees goes on leave or quits unexpectedly? This is where bench hiring comes in. The bench hiring process involves sourcing, screening, and interviewing candidates on an ongoing basis so that you always have a pool of qualified talent to draw from when needed.
With today’s technology, it’s easier than ever to build a deep virtual bench of top talent. Here are four tips to get started:
Bench Hiring Process
Bench hiring is a way for companies to identify and hire top talent. The bench hiring process involves identifying a pool of potential candidates, assessing their skills and qualifications, and selecting the best candidate for the job.
The process can be lengthy and complex, but it is an effective way to ensure that the best candidates are hired.
Most businesses today are passive in their recruiting efforts, meaning that they wait for candidates to come to them. Instead, they should be proactive in their search, reaching out to potential hires and building relationships with them. That way, when a job does become available, they already have a list of qualified applicants.
4 Tips For Building a Strong Virtual Bench
The most successful teams have a deep bench.
Even if you’re fully staffed, not paying attention to your recruitment efforts signifies complacency, which can affect your business’s success.
What if your star employee decides to pursue another opportunity? What if your top executive gets sick or has to deal with a family emergency?
Companies that are constantly looking for talent have an advantage over their competitors. These companies are always looking for new talent, allowing them to easily replace employees when they leave.
Here are 4 ways to build a strong sales team
1. Target Passive Job Seekers.
70% of the world’s workforce comprises people who aren’t actively looking for a new job but might be willing to listen.
Most high performers are probably already working, so passive recruitment is important.
Build your reputation in the industry. This will attract people who are already happy in their current jobs.
Make your application as seamless as possible. Companies like Facebook and Netflix have one-click applications, making it easier for candidates to apply.
Use a third-party recruiter. This will keep you from dealing with any accusations of “poaching” from your current employees.
2) Utilize New Technologies:
Using AI, companies like Unilever have cut their average hiring times by 75%.
Rather than going through the process of interviewing candidates, consumer-goods company Unilever announced 20 job openings via their social media channels. They then used artificial intelligence to sift through the thousands of applications they received.
AI-enabled predictive analytics software for HR effectively streamlines candidate sourcing and filtering. The company screened 250,000 applications over 15 different languages and 68 different counties.
Using big data, recruiters’ time to review resumes has decreased by 75%. And just last week, Linkedin announced the launch of a new product called “Talent Insights,” which will enable HR professionals to dive deeper into data to hire better.
Data can help you identify which schools graduate the most students in certain fields. Analyzing your hiring trends compared to your competitors can help you improve your process.
Using analytics, you can predict which areas will have the most growth in certain skill sets. Analytics can help your recruiters plan their strategies more effectively.
3) Become a great employer who people will want to work for
84% of people would jump ship if offered a position with a company with a sterling reputation for treating its employees well.
Millennials, in particular, place great importance on workplace initiatives that promote health and wellness, environmental sustainability, and gender equality.
A clear company culture, values, and mission statement are critical to attracting and retaining top talent.
Companies like Google, Facebook, and Bain offer employees various benefits, from on-site laundry services to generous paid time off.
Student loan debt is at an all-time high, and companies offer repayment assistance programs to help employees pay off their loans.
The size and structure of your business will determine how much you can invest in employee policies, but adopting ones that show you care about your employees will make them feel valued and encourage them to become your strongest advocates.
4) Try to attract diverse candidates.
To expand your pool of potential candidates, you need to cast a wider net and reach out to people from diverse backgrounds.
A recent study by PwC found that an overwhelming majority of respondents (71%) who have implemented diversity practices in their companies reported positive impacts on recruiting efforts. This suggests that implementing such practices can benefit companies in terms of attracting a wider pool of talent.
The study mentioned above from 2016 by global consumer goods company Unilever resulted in a more diverse class of entry-level hires. The number of colleges represented in the 2016 applicant pool increased from 840 to 2,600.
To grow your team of remote workers, try offering flexible holiday schedules.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to build a deep virtual bench of talent, following these four tips will help create an effective bench hiring process. By sourcing, screening, and interviewing candidates on an ongoing basis, you’ll always have a pool of qualified applicants to choose from when the need arises.
And with today’s technology, it’s easier than ever to connect with top talent worldwide. So don’t wait – start building your killer bench today!
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Go through a variety of filters to zero in on the leads you want to reach. This is crazy specific, but you could find all the people that match the following:
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