Last updated on March 22nd, 2022
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It might feel impossible to hire employees for your stores right now, but there are four easy ways to conquer the current labor crisis. Essentially, grocers should stop scrambling to find as many applicants as possible. You don’t need to get the most applicants — the key is finding the right ones. Casting a large net and hiring anyone that applies might solve staffing challenges temporarily, but this puts you at risk of making poor hires and dealing with costly employee turnover. Then, you’re back to square one in an even more dire situation.
If you’re struggling to maintain staffing levels, it’s time to take a different approach. These simple steps can help you hire associates who will succeed and stay long-term like your current top performers.
Hire Superstars for Your Supermarkets
1. Optimize Job Postings
You must first impress job seekers before they ever reach the interview stage to impress you. So, before making a job posting, ask yourself why someone would want to work at your store instead of one of the numerous other grocery stores hiring right now. After all, this is what job seekers will be asking themselves as they explore opportunities.
Since there are millions of job postings online, it’s crucial to create an attention-grabbing advertisement that would resonate with your ideal employee. Craft concise job postings while including essential elements such as a specific title, expectations, salary range, benefits, and company culture.
By the Numbers:
- There are nearly 11 million job openings in the U.S.
- 52 percent of job seekers say the quality of the posting is very influential in their decision to apply.
- 72 percent of job seekers find it important to see details about company culture in job descriptions.
2. Implement Screening Tools
Imagine that you only get two applicants for a crucial position. They both look the same on paper, but one is actually a much better candidate than the other. If you make the wrong decision, you end up wasting precious resources by interviewing and onboarding an employee that turns around and leaves in a month.
This costly mistake could’ve been avoided by using screening tools, like assessments that can predict applicant success and background checks to verify information and reduce liability. There are even tools that reveal which potential hires are eligible for Work Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC) to maximize tax relief for your business. Investing in these solutions could result in a positive ROI, even if they save you from making one bad hire. A labor crisis is no time to rely on gut feelings.
3. Rethink the Interview Process
Many applicants research interview questions ahead of time, and previous associates are often more than happy to share them on websites like Glassdoor, so they’ll likely have answers ready for the most common ones. If your interview process includes the classic question about a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, you should switch it up. The cookie-cutter responses that often accompany questions like this don’t provide enough insight into how well someone will perform in a particular role.
You need to rethink your interview process to get information that properly informs hiring decisions. Ask questions that help identify “soft skills” like communication and collaboration that people typically don’t include on a resume. For example, you could ask, “Have you ever had to deal with a difficult customer? How did you handle the situation?” This makes them think about a real-life example and reveals more about the applicant’s personality. It’s also good to ask questions that uncover whether or not a candidate will be a good fit for the current team.
Tip: Consider promoting from within for leadership roles. External hires tend to perform worse in the first two years and are 61 percent more likely to be fired or laid off than internal hires.
4. Maintain Employee Engagement
After hiring new associates, it’s important to make sure they stay long-term. It can be debilitating for your business (and mental health) to lose a top-performing employee and have to go through the hiring process all over again. Luckily, employee engagement initiatives can help prevent employee turnover. Companies with high employee engagement are even 22 percent more profitable. Conduct team-building exercises, schedule regular check-ins, and remember to recognize employees for their hard work.
The Future of Hiring Grocery Store Associates
While it’s difficult to predict when this labor crisis will end, these hiring practices should help grocers maintain healthy staffing levels for years to come. Remember, it’s just about finding the right candidates — not as many as possible. If you need help, Sprockets has a hiring solution that top brands trust to identify which applicants will succeed like their current top performers!
For more information, visit sprockets.ai.
