Donna Bourdeau shares why small businesses struggle to hire, using her son's job search as an example. She argues that many companies complain about labor shortages while rejecting qualified candidates, and that expanding your hiring pool matters more than you think.
If you're like most small businesses, you're probably looking to hire some employees right now, but having a tough time. Well, are you having a tough time? Are you following up with all the applicants? And have you opened up your options enough to find the right candidate? I'll tell you a quick story. My son, who is 17 years old and going to be a senior in high school next year, wanted to get a summer job. A friend of his did as well. They applied at 14 different places. He applied at 14 different places and received no callbacks. One of them was even a shop that opened from 5am to 2pm for their shift. And he was definitely willing to work those hours. He kind of liked that idea. Not a callback in sight, no communication. He presented a professional resume, completed all the information through, indeed got everything set up just the way it should have been, and in my opinion would have been a pretty good candidate. And those people missed out. But he received no callbacks from any of them. Why? Why is that? What was the stopping point? Are people just in the mood that they are looking for work but not willing to talk to anybody about it? I know that's an extra task that has to be done, but if you really want to find good employees, make sure you're sifting through those candidates. His friend also applied and had two interviews, one at a fast food restaurant. He went there for the interview professionally dressed and on time and the only question that the manager asked was what time can you work? She was also 30 minutes late for the interview. So I feel like there are many places who are looking for employees but are not really putting forth the effort to review the candidates and assuming that everyone who is applying isn't a good fit anyhow. So make sure you take the time to sift through those. His friend also had a second interview. He showed up at a Hardee's restaurant and was interviewing again on time, professionally dressed, ready to interview as a young professional. The whole restaurant was closed. There was no one there. They never communicated with him, even to let him know to reschedule. He showed up for an interview and there was nobody there. So make sure that when you are looking for employees that first off, I encourage you to widen your pool. Make sure that you are looking at all of the candidates and not leaving this task up to a manager or someone else who may just feel like everybody gets checked off the list very quickly. There are decent kids out there and decent people out there looking for jobs. So please be open and don't just account that no one's going to show up. I know it's a tough market and there are a lot of no shows. There's no doubt about it. There are also a lot of people who are very unqualified for jobs that they're applying for. But don't let that sour you on looking at the ones who may be your perfect candidate. I'm Donna Bourdeau from campgroundaccounting.com Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Make sure you check out our blog and our website from the link below. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when we post. To contact me, email me@donnacampgroundaccounting.com.
