How to Staff Hard-to-Fill Essential Roles

Not all roles at organizations are easy to fill. And for roles that require unique skills or odd hours, it’s especially difficult to find qualified candidates. In sectors like manufacturing and utilities, however, it’s crucial to have trained employees ready to intervene so operations can continue running smoothly.

Regional competition for specialized roles can add to the challenge, as can specialized educational needs for certain roles. Fortunately, though, it is possible to find strong candidates. Read on as we outline the best ways to find and keep employees in hard-to-fill essential roles.

Determine What Success Looks Like

You’ll have a better chance of attracting good candidates if you develop a more precise job description. Understand what your expectations look like, and know what you’re hoping a potential new hire can do. Avoid simply creating a laundry list of vague duties that don’t amount to a bigger purpose.

Define preferred outcomes for anyone holding the exposition. Maybe a utilities technician should be focused on limiting outages or creating more efficient internal systems. Or perhaps someone in maintenance should be implementing a rigorous maintenance schedule to avoid costly equipment problems.

Identifying the key expectations in a job ad can entice more qualified candidates to apply and interview. Candidates will know what to expect. And they can see purpose in their potential contributions.

Build Realistic Job Qualifications

Job ads are often the first point of contact for a potential applicant. If they see lengthy lists with wide-ranging requirements, they may click elsewhere. In other words, well-qualified candidates may decide that they’re not actually viable.

Instead, build more realistic job ads. Prioritize one set of essential requirements. Maybe a candidate needs a particular license or experience with certain types of equipment, for instance.

Identify other requirements that the candidate doesn’t need to have, but that could be helpful. Indicate that the selected candidate could learn these skills on the job to grow professionally. With this approach, you won’t lose out on good candidates.

Turn to More Specific Recruiting Channels

When you’re trying to fill a unique role, the standard job boards might not cut it. You may end up with hundreds of applications that don’t seem well-matched to the position’s requirements. Individuals with specialized training may not be searching those boards, either.

Look for job boards specific to the industries you’re targeting. Wastewater Jobs, for instance, appeals to engineers and operators with skills related to managing water systems. Individuals may have experience adjusting machinery to clean waste or addressing pipes and pumps.

Turning to specialized job sites can help connect the best candidates with the best opportunities. Rather than receiving an influx of mismatched applications, it’s possible to receive a tighter collection of relevant applications.

Work with Local Talent Pipelines

Hiring takes time, and tracking down good talent for hard-to-fill roles is even harder. That’s why working with local community colleges and workforce development leaders can be a big help. When local entities know that they can funnel students toward in-demand positions, it’s a win-win situation.

With time, vocational programs can tout their partnership with your company, and the partnership can grow. Part-time work or internships could lead to full-time jobs, for instance. On-the-job training can be a part of the strategy, as well.

Students will feel motivated to pursue training when they know it can lead to a stable job. And community colleges that can show good placement rates will attract more students.

Additionally, you’ll help keep young talent in your community. Yes, partnering with local workforce-focused organizations can help your business. But it can also help your local economy.

Incentivize Staying

When you’ve gone to the trouble of crafting precise job ads and interviewing candidates, you want your new hires to stay. Watching good employees leave can hurt your bottom line and create extra work.

Help your best employees stick around by being flexible and encouraging. Employees want to know they can advance within the organization, and they want opportunities to grow. They should have flexible work schedules, too, to ensure they’re not always working the least desired shift.

Give employees professional development opportunities and a clear path toward career growth. Be clear with job expectations and recognize employees when they hit benchmarks and demonstrate success. These gestures will help employees feel valued, and that can improve retention.

Create a Stronger Workforce

Hard-to-fill essential roles can create challenging hiring scenarios, but it is possible to find a well-matched candidate. Make a clear job ad, partner with local workforce training programs, post on specialized job sites, and provide flexible perks.

With a focused approach, companies can attract good candidates and help their best employees want to stay.