How to Find Employees Who Will Thrive at Your Company

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Understanding the recruitment process is a necessary skill for any successful manager. After all, the cost of a bad hire can be significant, not only in terms of time and money spent searching for a suitable candidate, but also by negatively affecting team morale. 

Robert Half Canada is an expert at helping companies and clients find employees that will thrive at their company. That is why we are sharing our top tips on how to find employees, so you can achieve the business targets you need. From knowing what you're looking for in your next hire to recognizing those qualities when you see them in candidate interviews, our resources can help you feel capable and confident throughout the employee recruitment process.

In today’s complex labour landscape where employers are finding it challenging to retain employees and navigate hiring for skilled talent, there are a few tried-and-true methods for finding employees that can thrive at your company.

While hiring is expected to increase in the new year, finding the right talent may not be easy. In the most recent Robert Half Canada State of Hiring survey, 89 per cent of organizations report difficulty finding skilled professionals, and 64 per cent of managers said it is taking longer to hire for open roles compared to a year ago.

"The first quarter of the year often brings with it newly approved projects and budgets," explains David King, Senior Managing Director, Robert Half, Canada and South America. "Combined with company growth plans and ongoing skills gaps in the labour market, employers need to be strategic to attract and retain top talent, in order to meet staffing requirements and fulfill business needs."

Here are our Robert Half Canada’s recommendations for where and how to find employees:  

General job boards — There are hundreds of online job boards out there. That means a lot of applicants generated for hiring managers, both qualified and unqualified. To help you start your search right now, Robert Half has prepared this useful guide on the 12 Best Job Sites in Canada.

Specific job boards — For companies that need specialists with specific skillsets, hiring managers will benefit from posting their job ads and open roles on industry-specific websites so they get seen by the right audience.

Current employee referrals — Soliciting recommendations from your own team members or company colleagues is a great way to find new applicants. Leveraging the company’s network internally is not only effective but it can help to speed up the overall process for hiring.

Your own networks — Reaching out to the external contacts you have developed over the course of your career could also generate good leads, especially when you are hiring for management positions.

Work with specialists — Partnering with a talent solutions firm who specialize in recruitment can take a lot of the pressure off you and your team to find the right people.

Robert Half Canada can help match companies with skilled contract and permanent talent in finance and accounting, administrative and customer support, legal, technology, and marketing and creative fields. Let us help you. Connect with a recruitment specialist today.

Recruiting might seem straightforward, but it can quickly become complicated — especially when you consider the variables unique to each hiring situation. Highly skilled candidates with lots of experience, for example, are often in demand regardless of the economic climate. With today's low unemployment rate and uncertain economic times, top candidates are hard to find, and those who are looking for work may find themselves navigating a competitive hiring market.

Successful employee recruitment requires more than just placing a job posting on a job board. Finding and hiring the right people for your company requires diligent preparation, thorough execution and a clear understanding of your hiring objectives.

If your company doesn't have a dedicated recruiter or HR department, recruitment can be especially tricky. Plus, the recruitment process has changed a lot in the past decade, and your old hiring methods may no longer be as effective as they once were.

Follow these steps to help make the right additions to your team:

Consider your actual needs. Think about the big picture of your business needs when creating a hiring strategy. What proportions of your team should be permanent or contract positions?  Robert Half's career professionals can explain the benefits of addressing your hiring needs with a flexible staffing strategy.

Promote your opening. Posting the job on employment websites, your company’s own career page and all of the outlets listed in the section above is essential. And don’t forget to advertise the position internally —  creating opportunities for advancement helps create a culture of loyalty.

Judge candidates by the same standard. Determining which people to interview is a different game than selecting which of the candidates is best for the position, but devising a strategy to fairly evaluate all applicants is essential. Eliminate bias from your recruiting by holding all candidates to the same set of standards.

Conduct interviews with top applicants. The job interview is the most revealing part of the hiring process, and the trickiest. You must make every person's interview count, with a set list of thoughtful, standardized interview questions if you want to compare job candidates properly. 

Don’t take too long to hire. Job seekers, especially top talent, are likely to get frustrated and lose interest in the job — or accept another offer — if the hiring process takes too long. It's a tough balance to strike: Move too fast and you could make a bad hire but move too slow and you could miss out on a good employee. 

Making the offer. After the interviews, be sure to check job references for your top candidates. Before you make an offer, set a salary range you're willing to work with so you're prepared for any salary negotiation.

Finding employees who will thrive at your company can be a difficult process. Employers often find that a talent solutions firm or managed solutions partner makes the recruitment process easier, less stressful and more effective for their companies. Here are a few of the benefits a talent solutions firm can provide when finding employees for your team:

Tighten up your hire time. Robert Half’s latest State of Hiring survey revealed that 49 per cent of hiring managers anticipate not hiring quickly enough to land the best talent as a top challenge in 2024.

Spearhead your recruitment strategy. A specialized recruiter can help you craft a job post that’s more likely to draw the attention of the best applicants – leveraging industry data and experience to inform your hiring need.

Scout the talent. The best talent managers have access to a large pool of skilled professionals, including passive job seekers — professionals who are not actively searching for a new position but would be open to changing roles for the right opportunity.

Make your workforce agile. A talent solutions firm can help your business recruit contract, seasonal, permanent, contract-to-permanent, project-based, remote, on-site, one employee, an entire team — and advise on the best mix for your company's specific needs and business cycles.

Decrease turnover costs. Dealing with a bad hire takes up too much of management's time, especially in a small business. When you engage a talent solutions firm, you know the talented professionals we connect you with have been evaluated.

Try out a new person for your team. A contract assignment with the option to go contract-to-permanent after a certain period is a great alternative method for evaluating a candidate's skills and work ethic before committing to a permanent arrangement.

As you continue to build your team or strategize for your hiring needs, consider the expertise and resources a talent solutions firm like Robert Half Canada can provide you. To explore how a tailored hiring solution can meet your unique needs, visit our Hire Talent page today.

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