The hiring market for employers seeking maintenance support continues to be challenging. Across the country, employers are in a race for talent – whether they’re seeking maintenance support in commercial real estate, education, healthcare or elsewhere.
To ensure they meet productivity goals and deadlines, many companies are beginning to reevaluate their hiring practices to get workers to their jobsites more efficiently.
One solution that is catching on is the easing of hiring requirements. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that employers are easing their requirements for education and experience along with reviewing their approach to background checks.
Which hiring requirements are companies adjusting and why is speed-to-hire becoming a primary concern for potential candidates? Here are a few ways how easing hiring restrictions can help companies get talent to work more quickly.
A candidate’s market puts emphasis on speed-to-hire
Employers were beginning to ease hiring requirements prior to the labor shortage, but the trend is gaining traction as the shortage lingers.
Workers currently have plenty of options and companies with antiquated hiring processes are finding themselves at a disadvantage as roles go unfilled — jeopardizing their ability to meet goals and deadlines.
It’s a candidate’s market right now. The candidates that do want to work and are looking for new opportunities, to make a move quickly and aren’t willing to wait long periods of time.
Speed-to-hire has always been important, but it’s now a critical deciding factor for eager talent seeking quality work and to begin earning quickly.
Identify which hiring procedures can be eliminated
Some testing and background checks are mandatory, but there are measures employers can take to expedite the hiring process.
The loosening of state and local regulations has created new opportunities for companies to expand their talent pool and meet their hiring goals. Many employers have updated their drug testing policy to eliminate pre-employment THC testing in states where marijuana is legal. Some companies will still need to perform post-offer, pre-employment tests for THC. These employers can make the process quicker by using oral swab testing. Oral fluid testing — where permitted — offers a testing process that produces instant, reliable results for companies who require workers to start immediately.
Reducing the timeframe for background and credit checks is another way companies can create a wider selection of candidates. We’ve seen several examples of companies lowering their criteria for background and credit checks from seven to five years.
Stringent background checks whose screening criteria are not closely related to the duties of the job can also hinder diversity initiatives. National data supports a finding that criminal record exclusions have a disparate impact based on race and national origin
Businesses hesitant to alter their post-offer, pre-employment drug or background testing policies still have other opportunities to condense their hiring process.
It’s not just about drug test and physicals. It’s also about recognizing you’re putting a candidate through too many interviews before making your decision.
When attempting to speed up the onboarding process, outdated internal processes are sometimes easier to change than how a company conducts background checks. Try condensing your screening and making it about the candidate and the position that needs to be filled.
We’ve worked with clients where they have candidates for a maintenance role take a maintenance test. If the test hasn’t been reviewed internally for five to 10 years, is it still relevant and necessary? Does it still give you the information you want?
How to ensure quality talent with eased requirements
Adjusting hiring requirements doesn’t mean businesses must compromise on candidate quality. They can optimize their internal hiring processes for the current market conditions.
Companies can condense the process and make it about the candidate and the position that needs to be filled rather than relying on older processes that may hinder progress.
The labor shortage and the trend of easing requirements are both expected to continue throughout 2022. Take the next step in increasing your company’s speed-to-hire.
Quinn Heimann is Director of Strategic Sales at Aerotek.
