BLOG – MANAGING YOUR APPLICANTS
Gone are the days where you could put up a job ad, wait a few weeks, then begin your shortlisting process for suitable candidates weeks later.
“You must keep up to date on new applicants every single day,” says Keira Maloney, beauty industry HR manager and brand ambassador at HeadHunter. “You are often up against 5 – 6 other businesses when it comes to finding a quality applicant.”
The hair and beauty industries are experiencing huge shortages when it comes to qualified and experienced employees. Client demand for hair, beauty, skin and laser services is through the roof and clinics and salons are struggling to keep up, so more than 30% of the industry is open to employing new team members. The problem is that staff movement has slowed right down due to the fear of losing job security during a worldwide pandemic, and there is also a severe lack of graduates who have had adequate practical experience due to the lockdowns during the year.
“When you receive a quality applicant, it’s vital that you are in contact with them as soon as possible,” says Keira. “Waiting even just a couple of days may result in you finding out that the candidate has already been offered a place elsewhere, so make sure if you are starting a recruitment campaign that you are setting aside 15 – 30 minutes every day just to contact, interview or trial potential hirees. HeadHunter has a system that sends alerts out to registered job seekers that match the criteria of the job advertisement, and it’s not uncommon for applicants to be coming through on jobs straight away as a result, so you need time put aside to manage that.”
Recruiting staff is a very important role in leadership, and it requires investment of time and effort to ensure that you get it right…because getting it wrong doesn’t only cost you time, it costs you money. To avoid wasting any time, consider putting together a list of essential, and desired attributes in a potential new staff member and work around that. You may be in a position where it is essential that potential new employees hold a diploma of beauty therapy, and a laser certificate, however it is only favourable that they have previously worked with the DMK product range, as an example.
“If you see applicant come through that meets your essential criteria, you need to get on the phone with them straight away to find out if they’re someone you can see yourself investing time and training in,” says Keira. “But if you see an applicant come through that not only meets your essential criteria, but also your favourable attributes, skip the phone interview, get them in face to face or use the HeadHunter video interview platform straight away. It’s becoming more and more rare to see your ideal candidate in one neat little package, so don’t waste any time!”