Is Your HR Department Overlooking Qualified Job Candidates?

A recent article in USA Today discussed how businesses are struggling to find qualified candidates for job openings, despite the 8.2% unemployment rate. Although there are many job openings in high-skilled positions—including health care, technology, engineering, and others—unemployment remains high because employers cannot find the right candidates.

What Has Led to This Problem

According to a survey from Beyond.com, this problem largely is due to poor communication from hiring managers on what qualities they are looking for in a candidate, which limits human resource staff. If an HR member cannot identify a viable candidate, then the hiring manager will not find the right person for the job.

A key problem is that job descriptions often are too vague for HR officials to find a qualified candidate. On the other hand, if a job description is too specific, it could cause an HR staffer to rule out a qualified applicant because the HR staff person may not understand the specifics of the job. 

Sometimes HR members believe a candidate must possess all of the skills listed by a hiring manager, so candidates who don’t mention those skills on their resume are quickly weeded out. However, hiring manager often are open to hiring a candidate who possesses only some of the desired skills and who also is highly teachable and likeable. 

Another issue HR staffers are guilty of is performing specific keyword searches in electronically submitted resumes. If a qualified candidate used an abbreviation or a different term to describe the same keyword for which the HR staffer searched, it could easily be missed.

What’s the solution?

HR staffers need to take the time to ask hiring managers questions about a job posting so that they are familiar with the position and the expectations of the job. In the same manner, hiring managers should make sure the human resource person who is responsible for helping to fill the job position understands what the hiring manager desires in a candidate. 

For help with your Austin human resources planning needs, call the Posey Law Firm today.

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