Recruiting Tips for Hard-to-Fill Positions

Hard-to-fill positions are just that. Hard-to-fill. They can keep recruiters up late at night wondering how they are going to find someone with the right skills or job experiences to work in certain roles. Here are some tips and advice on how you can fill these positions so you can get back to better sleep at night.

What is Considered a Hard-To-Fill Position?

It might seem obvious, but hard-to-fill positions are jobs that recruiters have a hard time finding the right candidate for. So what exactly is it about them that makes them so challenging? Well, there can be many reasons that contribute to why a position might be hard to fill. These can include:

• The coverage area or physical location of the position is not appealing to job seekers
• The company culture is difficult to match
• There is a lack of competitive salary, or otherwise low compensation and/or benefits
• There is an overly specific, too narrow, or too broad job description
• There is candidate scarcity; a lack of training, talent or qualifications in the specific field
• There is weak or compromised employer positioning and/or branding

But, the good news is that just because a position is hard to fill, that doesn’t mean that you should just give up.

Recruitment Strategies for Hard-to-Fill Positions

Here are some tips and approaches that you can try that might help you during your search for the  successful candidate. 

Look at both local and global

For roles that need to be local or have transportation concerns, try posting your job openings in local communications such as the newspaper or local flyers. Or, you might want to rely on geographically targeted advertising campaigns. However, when it comes to remote roles, never restrict your talent pool and job posting based on your timezone. If you can, open up your talent pool to include various geographic locations, and you can find hidden talent in underserved or untapped areas and save your time and energy. 

Use references or referrals 

If you have connections with hiring managers you have worked within the past, or you have current employees who might know someone who needs a job in the industry, then you can use these resources to help you in your search for candidates. Many people you come into contact within your industry will know talented people with the skill set you are looking for. Using employee referrals is an effective strategy, both in acquiring new talent now, or knowing of talent you can tap into in the future. 

Always have a concrete recruitment strategy to follow

By having a recruitment strategy in place, you can set yourself and your team up for success. You’ll be prepared to face any challenges along the recruitment process of your hard-to-fill position. Having a proactive recruitment strategy will help you save precious resources like your time and money, and it can also help you avoid making any mistakes that could cost you. Plus, it helps you make the most out of your recruitment team’s resources.

Having a strategy creates an opportunity to help you align your company goals and skill gaps with your team’s overall hiring initiatives now and into the future. You should take note of your hard-to-fill jobs and how they fit into the context of the coming year, and think about your upcoming recruitment calendar, as well as the tracking and assessment tools you will use, your budget, and your management strategy. In this case, the devil is in the details. 

Make sure you write an accurate job description

Writing a great job description that is accurate and compelling is important in any context, but especially so when it comes to hiring for a hard-to-fill position. It will help to have a job description that can attract the right attention. Readers will not appreciate a long and hard to read list of skills or experience qualifications required. 

Instead, it’s best to share the things that your company has to offer and why you will be a great company to work for. Share your company’s mission, values and any unique benefits that you offer. Don’t forget to mention any extra perks like social responsibility initiatives, or any challenging projects your company has taken on to help you stand out from the rest. 

Always try to use positive language in your job description and be sure to show off your company’s shining personality.

Be persistent

Focusing on innovation and branding can only take you so far. The key to filling hard-to-fill positions is to think outside the box and to be persistent. Communicate through all of your social channels, pick up the phone. Be relentless in your pursuit to recruit. Use all of the talent pipelines you have at your disposal, both big and small. 

Being able to network as well as put in the effort will be essential to your success, especially for hard-to-fill positions. And don’t let the new normal of fully remote workers get the best of you. Virtual recruitment is advancing every day, and has resulted in a huge number of new hires brought on fully remotely. 

Level Up Your Recruitment With 1Huddle

At 1Huddle, we offer cloud-based employee gamification software that can easily adapt to any employee training or onboarding strategy you want to implement at your workplace. You can customize your content for a seamless experience and all of your employees will be able to access their training anywhere, anytime and at the push of a button. You can use our gamification platform to measure their performance and make key decisions on where you should take your gamification strategy next. 

Do you want to learn more about how 1Huddle can help you level up your workforce? Request a demo today.

What is considered a hard*to*fill position? Why are they hard-to-fill?

Recruitment strategies for hard-to-fill positions: look local and global, use references or referrals, create a concrete strategy, write an accurate job description, etc.