The first thing to remember is that a role that might not appeal to you, will appeal to someone else. Everyone is different and one task that is tedious to one person can be a gratifying to task to someone else. So you should be able to find someone to fill a position. What you need to concentrate on is making sure you find the right person for the role, otherwise you will find yourself having to recruit for that position time and time again.
Here are some points you should consider when recruiting for roles, particularly if you are concerned that they are less desirable.
Recruitment process
Be clear and honest in your advertising and throughout the recruitment process. If the work isn’t very exciting then include some of the position focused benefits in your job description, perhaps the hours are flexible or it offers some other kind of flexibility.
Don’t sugar coat the role or make it sound more desirable than the reality. You need to manage people’s expectations from the outset or they will become easily disgruntled, and quite rightly so if they have been misled during the recruitment process. You will then find it difficult to earn their trust and are more likely to have a higher turnover of staff.
Don’t just sell the role, sell the entire package that the company offers. Highlight the benefits package and any other perks your employees benefit from. Make use of company promotional material such as videos or literature, which they can take away with them, to promote the workplace culture.
Talk about the people in the company, and the team they will be working with. If there is great team camaraderie highlight this in your discussions.
What training, mentoring and continued professional development do you offer? This can really help to sell a role if people see that the company will continue to invest in them after the recruitment process.
There are some creative ways that you can use to make a role and company appeal to someone. For example, offer them someone’s personal perspective, you could get someone in from the team to speak about the department. Someone could also speak about the development opportunities within the company.
The line manager
If the right manager is in place, then they can really make a job enjoyable. As a leader, you need to make sure that the manager has the right support and is the right fit for that role. Many people cite the reason for leaving a position is because of managers.
Always keep in mind that is easier to sell a role and retain your people when you have effective management in place.
For long term success, don’t be rushed in to filling a role, take the time and recruit the right person. If you settle on the wrong people you are setting them up for failure and the company too. It will also end up costing the company far more in the long term.