The 4 Reasons You’re Struggling with Entry Level Hiring

Employers struggling with entry level hiring may need a hiring strategy "Reality Check."

Every business, no matter what you’re selling or making, ends up struggling with entry level hiring sooner or later. As a staffing agency, we’ve seen it all, and we’ve tackled the issue from every angle. Instead of spinning your wheels in frustration, take a moment to review this list. You might find you’re caught in one—or several—of these hiring traps.

1. Your Numbers Don’t Match Your Expectations.

The hiring process is just another business funnel, you need to anticipate outcomes based on real conversion metrics. For every 100 candidates, you might like 10 or 15. Out of those 10 or 15 offers, maybe 5 will actually take the job and show up. this is a pretty broad, non-specific example to illustrate how important it is to recognize the numbers you’re working with. So hypothetically, if you’ve only interviewed 20 people for 5 positions, it’s no wonder you’re struggling. You simply haven’t cast a wide enough net.

All of this is to say: Your intake needs to be orders of magnitude greater than the number of positions you’re genuinely looking to fill. If you’ve got five entry level labor position for which you’ve only interviewed 20 people, the obvious feedback here is that you simply haven’t interviewed enough, not even a fraction of the number you’re going to need to interview.

In the case of partners we work with, it is a regular occurrence for us to cast a broad net and bring in as many candidates as we can for a client to review. We’ll even hold consecutive days of onsite hiring events. If you have the ability and the network to do that on your own, you should! If you’re struggling with entry level hiring and don’t have that network, you should consider getting some help.

2. You’re Fighting for Retention Where It Doesn't Exist.

The second problem, which is related to the first, is retaining your new people. We see companies burn cash onboarding new hires who bolt within six months. That’s not just frustrating—it’s fiscally reckless. Struggling with entry level hiring can often take the form of constant turnover.

If this sounds like you, it’s time to change your strategy. Instead of agonizing over why people keep leaving, start developing strategies to work with the turnover, not against it. We’ve helped many clients with this problem by implementing on-demand, contingent labor services.

We’d also encourage employers who are struggling with this to consider temp-to-perm tracks for some of their positions. By implementing a temp window for your open slots, you will effectively increase the quality of your onboarded candidates without the burden of unending hiring cycles.

3. The Gig Economy is Your Competition, Like it Or Not.

You’re not just competing with the guy down the street. The gig economy is out there, offering people flexibility and freedom that traditional jobs often can’t match. If your candidates aren’t sticking around, it’s time to rethink your value proposition. We think it’s incredibly important for employers to understand who their competition really is.

The idea that “no one wants to work anymore” is just wrong, believe us, we have people in our offices everyday looking for work. This is not an easy problem to solve, but you may have to revise the value proposition you’re offering to potential employees.

This doesn’t mean you have to throw money at the problem. Flexibility in work schedules, remote options, or other perks can be just as compelling. The key is understanding what today’s workforce values and adapting accordingly.

4. Your HR Team is Drowning.

Overworked HR teams are the silent killer of effective hiring. If your team is barely keeping up with daily tasks, there’s no way they can handle the extra load of a staffing surge or constant turnover.

When it comes to our partners, offloading some of the hiring, and other HR responsibilities, has been a major factor in our success and client satisfaction. This brings us to the real question you must ask yourself; is my current team equipped to handle whatever hiring needs we currently have? Unless you’re willing to ask your team about this, you may not know the real answer.

Depending on your needs, there may not be an easy internal solution here. You may need to consider expanding your team or bringing on an external partner to provide seasonal assistance or on-demand staffing services.

Reflect and Reboot Your Hiring Strategy

The solutions to struggling with entry level hiring problems can be quite varied, but they will be impossible to find if you don’t know what those problems really are. In summary, identify the root of the problems accurately, and then develop solutions accordingly.

At Career Start, we help our partners with staffing solutions designed to address many of these specific problems. Everything we’ve mentioned, like On-Demand Staffing or Temp-to-Perm hiring services, can help employers find the talent and employees they need without pouring extensive resources into the onboarding process.

To learn more about our services, or to see if Career Start can help with your staffing needs, contact us today here on our website or reach out directly here on our site or by email at contact@careerstartusa.com.