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Tips for recruiting great employees in supply chain management
Recruiting talent in the Supply Chain industry is no easy business. There is a shortage of talent stretching across the supply chain, from manufacturing, logistics and in the warehouse, making it especially difficult to find good people. But when you do, they can make a big contribution, enhance productivity, shore up gaps and weaknesses and liven up the culture. So it really pays to find the right individuals with the right skills and personality. Here’s how to do it.
You need a clear image of what kind of person you need, the skills they should have, an idea of what kind of personality is going to fit into your business culture, and the particular role your business is looking to fill. That’s a lot of boxes to tick.
Today, we’re going to explore the ins and outs of this kind of recruitment drive, giving you everything you need to find the right person for the job and your business.
Why Is It So Difficult to Find the Right Person?
There are many reasons that could come under this header. First and foremost, as you understand, people in the supply chain industry typically have to wear a lot of hats and carry out a lot of different tasks very quickly. You never know when a problem in the supply chain may occur, so it’s important you have someone who’s fast on their feet.
This means you’ll need an individual who is innovative and thinks logically in a sense that they can solve problems and issues that arise, rather than letting it get to them and breaking them down. Of course, your business is ideally going to want someone with experience in supply chain.
Don't underestimate the power of company culture in attracting top recruits to your company, says @BrendaJBerg #supplychainmanagement #logistics Share on XYou’ll also want to think about kind of person will fit into the nature of your business. This is because every business has a different mission or vision and beliefs and you’ll want to make sure that the final person that you choose is able to fit into this position, for both themselves and the business.
With this in mind, it’s easy to see why it’s so challenging to find the right person.
So, how do I go about finding the right person? Here are a number of ways you can boost your chances of finding the right person for your company.
Highlight Your Company Culture
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly to a lot of the job seekers that you’re going to be looking to engage with, is your company culture.
“Nowadays, employees are looking for companies that look after them and have a good culture which includes a healthy work/life balance. This is a serious expectation in most modern businesses around the world, especially in the management section,” says Darren Harper, a recruitment manager for Paper Fellows.
According to report published by IZA World of Labor, a healthy and happy individual is a productive worker. Highlighting this culture in your job description is a great way to attract the right people for the job and will drastically reduce your employee turnover rate with people who leave because the company is not what they expected.
Think about leading global companies like Google who are renowned for their sushi bar offices, flexible working hours, light offices with plants and chill out areas. Now consider how this has affected the overall success of the company and how they secure the best talent for the job, simply because they highlight their company culture.
It’s also wise to mention that flexibility is an essential factor for both parties, meaning that the company can be flexible with hours as the candidate should be.
Hire Using Social Media
Social media has been all the rage for the last decade, and if you’re not using it during your recruitment drive, you’ve been seriously missing out. According to Global Digital Statshot report published on The Next Web, over three billion people are connected to social media, meaning the chances are high that you’re only a few clicks away from the ideal candidate.
Of course, out of all the social media channels, LinkedIn would be the best for hiring a professional since it’s designed in this way, but there’s no reason you can’t advertise and reach out to people on Facebook, Twitter, or even Pinterest.
Writing Perfect Job Descriptions
Whether you’re posting your job post in the form of a website page, a social media post or even in a newspaper or magazine, it’s important to make sure that your job description as detailed and as accurate as possible in order to attract the right people.
Jennifer Andrews, an HR manager for Big Assignments, says, “…[Y]ou should include a list of all the responsibilities the employee will have, the list of essential and desirable skills they should have, information on your company culture, the pay range, list of benefits and any other important information you may need to include. The more complete your job description package, the more likely you are to find the ideal candidate.” You’ll also want to consider the accuracy of your description. Be sure to proofread and edit your work. Tools like State of Writing, Australian Help and Via Writing can help. If your description is full of poor grammar, typos, spelling mistakes and misplaced punctuation, a successful manager looking for a new job will simply leave and move onto the next description.
According to study, 59% of people state that mistakes and errors drive them away from a company. Regrettably, typos are not the only mistake which occurs in job descriptions. Other mistakes are connected to using negative words such as ‘always’, ‘refuse’, ‘never’; words that might turn off people, using third person language (such as “the company”), omitting wage information, and using too much jargon.
Search Internally
There’s no-one that knows your business better than the people who are working there already. When it comes to recruiting, especially for a management position, it’s always wise to start your search within your company to see whether there is somebody suitable for the role.
Talk to your existing management team and employees to see whether there is anybody suitable for the role. If it is for a management role, some employees may need some kind of management training, but the cost of this training is insignificant to the opportunity to use their knowledge and experience.
Identify and Recruit
There are many processes and channels you can follow when it comes to finding the right person for your supply chain department. Just to recap, keep these key ones in mind and make sure you are:
- Detailing your company culture to attract the right kinds of people
- Implementing your search across a wide range of channels, including social media
- Providing a detailed and captivating job description for your channels
- Searching internally for potential candidates, and training where necessary
All this combined can help ensure that you find the right person for the job that can take your supply chain department to new levels of success.
- How to Find Top Supply Chain Talent - May 25, 2018