Tag: hiring

Should you Approach a Company that isn’t Hiring Right Now?

Should you approach a company that hasn’t posted any job openings, and is clearly not hiring right now? If you do, is there a right way to do it? Read on.

Job postings and advertisements about openings help companies to do exactly what the words suggest- advertise that they are hiring and applications are welcome. But is it a good idea to approach a company that hasn’t advertised that they are looking? Would that mean that there’s no chance of getting a job there even if you got in touch with them?

Many candidates may have thought of approaching companies that they have always dreamed of working at but may be hesitant because of an absence of advertisement. Does approaching them still work? Is it a good idea? Let us quickly delve into this!

There’s No Harm:

The straight answer is this: there is no great harm in reaching out to the company, via mail or LinkedIn. The most that might happen is that you don’t get a response. There’s nothing to lose as such. On the contrary, if your approach is compelling enough, you might get on the company’s radar (in a good way) and they might consider your ‘application’ if there’s a relevant opening in the future.

But as mentioned, the approach has to be compelling enough. Many companies do get emails and enquiries about potential job openings even without them advertising, so it’s crucial that the way you approach them is memorable. You don’t want your message or email to get buried in deluge of enquiries.

How to do it Right:

Say, you want to approach a company but maybe not directly ask if they are hiring, but you wish to show interest in working there. Or maybe, you are feeling adventurous and you simply want to take that leap of faith by asking them directly that if there’s any chance that a position might be available. Whichever of the two approaches you take, you need to be very specific.

  • One way, is to email them directly, telling them why you are emailing, let them know that although there isn’t any opening declared, you are laying out your introductions, experience, skills and qualifications, and what you can offer to the company, in their present setting. You can look up a few of their ongoing projects on their LinkedIn page or their website, and describe how you’d be able to contribute in those. You can provide examples of your own work to further make your point. Don’t forget to link your resume in the email!  
  • Another way, is to find the right person who is responsible for hiring for the company (most likely a recruiter) and get in touch with them. A slightly less direct approach, here you show interest about the industry in general by asking very specific questions. No matter how good of a candidate you might be, a recruiter may or may not be able to straight away create a position that doesn’t really exist at the company but they might be able to say ‘yes’ to certain questions. Instead of directly asking if their company is hiring, you may first establish a professional rapport with the relevant personnel, ask specific and informative questions about the industry, to let them know that you’d like their help to gain insight into it, and then let them know you’d be interested in working at their company if the opportunity arises.

In the age of talent crunch and skill-gaps, companies would welcome interest from candidates who genuinely want to make a difference. There’s no harm in reaching out for what you want, and you never know- the right approach may give you a pleasant surprise, even without any advertisement!

Keys to Retaining Talent

Global trends  say ,when it comes to talent and hiring point that there is a shortage of talent. Correction: there is a shortage of talent that stays. As discussed in one of our earlier articles about candidate experience, the new generation of employees and job-seekers have their expectations set, and are not afraid to walk away from an offer they do not like. Companies and organisations are facing challenges in retaining talent.

One part of the challenge is to find skilful talent. Often ignored, the next part faced by employers, and by extension recruiters is to find talent that stays, as we already mentioned in the earlier article(link).

Let us quickly take a look at what one can do as employer, or ‘talent-finder’ to retain talent.

Combat Quiet-Quitting:

Late in 2022, this buzzword came about. It is a phenomenon where employees are becoming increasingly disengaged with their jobs, and are doing just the bare minimum.  The term thus refers to how employees are so disengaged that it feels like they are quietly drifting away, quietly quitting. Burnout, stress, low levels of motivation are often been attributed to it.

At some point, burnout and low motivation are bound to make the employee finally quit. At some point, the talent might walk away. Or a new talent hired might drift into these patterns. Low motivation doesn’t just mean a lack of motivation to work, it also means a lack of motivation to find ways to prevent stress and burnout.

To prevent this, the organisation and the employee need a little realignment to ensure the motivation levels remain optimal.

It is important companies take necessary steps. As an article by People Matters puts it:

‘…employers must shift with it and understand that if their employees’ goals align with company objectives, engagement and productivity will follow. If this isn’t accomplished, companies will have to get used to facing a low return on their investment when it comes to hiring staff. Retention levels will plateau or continue to fall, and collaboration and engagement will become something to strive for rather than a cultural baseline.’

So, what concrete steps can be taken to ensure these motivation levels remain high?

Make them feel heard:

The same article by People Matters continues how companies can be more ‘listening’ in their approach. Sometimes, employees might be going through events in their lives that demand that the company extends some flexibility to them. Having company policies is necessary but if a little tweaking can improve someone’s productivity, maybe it’s not a bad idea to consider it without changing entire policies.

 In other words, companies can make sure that the individual needs of employees are being met so that family situations, life emergencies etc do not become the reason that an employee becomes demotivated, or can only manage to do the bare minimum.

So many times, good candidates might get away due to location issues, or/and employees might quit because of aforementioned reasons. So many women and new mothers might quit the jobs they loved because of lack of flexibility and options. Truly, a little flexibility can go a long way in retaining talent.

One-on-one meetings, time-to-time company-wide surveys, and just general wellness check-ins are some steps to gauge individual situations pertaining to company policies.

Of course, there’s only so much a company do about flexibility. What are some other ways companies can ensure motivation levels remain high and talent stays?

Combat stagnation, provide opportunities:

One of the major reasons companies are unable to retain talent is because at some point an employee can feel stagnated in their career. They might be looking for new challenges.

New candidates might be hesitant to apply if they think there won’t be much professional growth in future.

To combat both these scenarios, organisations can offer various upskilling and reskilling opportunities so their employees don’t have to look elsewhere unnecessarily. Options galore, based on the scale and capacity of the organisations. Right from sponsoring further education, to offering certificate courses, organising seminars, and other L&D workshops. Many large companies like have set up initiatives to sponsor college fees, and many apprenticeships have also been set up.

On a similar tangent, companies can also offer more opportunities for internal mobility.

As mentioned earlier, top talent sometimes cannot be retained for the simple reason that they jump ships for ‘better opportunities.’ It is the fear of stagnation. This fear can be combated when the employees know that there will be opportunities within the organisation to grow. Opportunities within the organisation means instead of jumping ships, the employee can continue to climb the ladder within. Isn’t that a great source of motivation?

In this era of the Great Resignation and Quiet-Quitting, companies and organisations need to look beyond the hiring process and think long-term. Thinking long-term means companies think how they can retain the talent they hire. Talent will be retained when their levels of motivation continue to remain as high as they were when they first joined. Long-term thinking ensuring opportunities for growth and a sense of being heard could be major leaps into retaining talent.

Start-up and Recruitment Firms

Start-ups have been springing up all around since many years now. As we have discussed in one of our earlier articles, it is actually a good idea for start-ups to take the assistance of a recruitment firm when it comes to hiring.

Times have changed a little, and now more candidates might be ready, even enthusiastic, to work for start-ups, especially the millennials and the Gen-z who are (in)famous for jumping jobs, looking for better opportunities. They want purpose and meaning, and not just a stable job.

Let us see how recruitment firms can further help start-ups when it comes to hiring.

Helps in establishing the credibility of the start-up:

Start-ups are generally in the process of creating their ‘brands’ as we have discussed in the earlier article. A ‘reputation’ is still a work-in-progress thing. A recruitment firm, with its proper process, right from the initial job-posting, to the client-network that it taps into, will help the start-up to establish credibility.

Despite the progressive attitudes, it is still tricky for many start-ups to be taken seriously. A start-up is much more likely to be taken seriously when it is backed by the strong hiring process of a recruitment firm, which is well-established and has a client network that trusts its headhunting.

Helps in identifying the start-up’s place in the market:

A start-up is an adventure. It is a product of drive, passion and dedication to be a changemaker. There is the motivation to do whatever it takes. But things can get tricky when one tries to figure out: what exactly does one need to do?

You might work 16 hours a day and still not generate the revenue you want.

You might network with a hundred people, pitch in your brand and perhaps get only one application.

A recruitment firm on the other hand, with its understanding of the market and where your start-up stands within that market, and what kind of talent would be attracted the most to your brand, can get you multiple applications with its one job posting.

Moreover, experienced recruiters have the wisdom of what the competition looks like, and what candidates are looking for, and they can guide the start-ups accordingly in tweaking job profiles and managing their expectations.

Recruitment firms can add the touch of smart work to that hard work.

Helps in understanding the smaller details:

Running a start-up comes with its own legalities and technicalities. Recruiting for a start-up too comes with its own legalities and technicalities.

For example, the various labour laws that are governed by particular countries, laws about hiring if you plan to hire international employees, laws about contracts, laws that govern full-time and part-time employees and so on. A recruitment firm can help the start-up in ensuring that these legalities and technicalities are being followed and complied with.

The importance of hiring the right people:

It is important, correction, more important for the start-ups to hire the right people. Bigger brands and companies have the advantage of higher scale operation and more manpower. This means that the company will function fairly well even with a few vacancies if someone decides to leave suddenly. There will not be any major dent on the overall functioning of the company. The workload will also be distributed in a just manner.

A start-up on the other hand, is much more volatile, and chances are, the workload may fall on a few individuals in case someone leaves. The smaller-scaled operations also mean that a few disruptions about roles and functions here and there might leave the start-up in shambles.

With such a glaring contrast, it is definitely important that the start-up hires the right people who will help in driving their mission forward and who would help in running it well. This is why a recruitment firm, that understands their brand, requirements and expectations would help the start-up in saving much time, resources and money that might go in the costly trial-and-errors of hiring the wrong people.

A start-up may decide to hire a recruitment firm, or an individual consultant. In any case, following a structured recruitment process is likely to help save up time, money and resources. It is likely to help the start-up channelise their labour smartly into more useful avenues. The recruiters will do the job of establishing their credibility, understanding their brand and tapping into the relevant market. The start-up can continue to dream and work on that dream.

Benefits of Hiring a Candidate with Limited or No Experience

Is hiring a candidate with less or no experience a good idea? Amidst the pandemic induced talent -crunch one could argue that hiring a candidate who can knows how to handle the pressure, the workload, in other words, a candidate who has some experience sounds like a good idea. After all, it takes some wisdom of experience to cultivate that adaptability, that attitude of anything-can-be-figured-out. On the other hand, the talent-crunch also means that companies could be looking for people desperately and amidst it all, hiring a candidate with no or limited experience might be one of the few options they have and could feel like a gamble. Companies, managers might be hiring such candidates reluctantly, and/or might be having major doubts about their competence, preparing themselves for the worst.

Turns out, companies can heave a sigh of relief, because hiring candidates who have limited or no experience has its own set of benefits, as these two articles by CiivSoft and Millennial Magazine point out. Let us quickly have a look!

A Blank Slate:

Candidates with no or limited experience are much more receptive to new ideas. Their lack of experience means they will be eager to learn and get some of that experience. They could prove to be excellent persons to be mentored. Be it learning a new skill, or cultivating a certain work ethic, they are the ones who could be the starting points of the establishing a company-culture you desire as a manager, or as team-leaders.

They are determined to prove themselves, and hence are likely to be much more proactive and hard-working.

Best of Both Worlds:

Some of the candidates with limited experience may have done internships. Or they may have a good hold on the ‘theory’, for example, they might have recently finished their education, leading to a freshness of relevant concepts in their minds. In other words, they would have acquired the relevant skills and knowledge and they would be itching to apply those to practical, real-world use. What’s more, their skills and knowledge might actually be more updated when compared to those of the older more experienced candidates.

The combination of fresh skills and knowledge, coupled with an eagerness to apply is a recipe for getting fresh perspectives and approaches.

Practical Considerations:

Beyond all the considerations about skills, competence, fresh perspectives and approaches, lie the practicality of hiring a candidate with limited or no experience. A candidate with more experience will demand more salary, because they will have the credentials to do so and naturally, the cost of hiring them would be more.

A candidate with less or no experience would be motivated by finding a job in the first place, and they might actually not demand a high salary. Their motivation is to learn and gain experience; the motivation of an experienced candidate is to get a better job, a better pay. (We will go into the nuances of this in our coming articles. Watch this space!)

Of course, it is to be noted that this does not mean that companies should use that as an excuse to exploit the lack of experience through unfair compensation.

What does this mean for the candidate with no or limited experience?

 Well, apply! Apply without worrying whether you have the necessary experience or not. As long as one is willing to learn, adapt, it is never a bad idea to dream big!

Hiring a candidate with limited or no experience can work well for the company in terms of offering fresh perspectives, of moulding the company- culture in the desired direction, of mentoring the workforce of and for the future. Hiring a determined young lad now could prove to be a springboard for a future leader.