GHOST-BUSTING STRATEGIES FOR RETAIL TALENT ACQUISITION

Think you’ve got that “perfect hire” starting on Monday morning? They may not show up. A look at the post-Covid increase in employers getting ‘ghosted’

Ghosting is not only a modern dating term, but employers are similarly getting left in the dust after candidates are going silent on communications, skipping interviews, or simply not showing up for the first day of work.

That was the blurb for a “ghost-busting” seminar at the recent Retail Council of Canada (RCC) Human Resources Conference in Toronto. The conversation touched on employer branding, varied approaches for in-store and hybrid (part work-from-home, part work-from-office) employees, and the expectations of a value-driven workforce.

Kelly Mawhinney, a partner at Toronto HR consultancy Mercer Ltd., was interviewed on the topic by Michael LeBlanc, senior retail advisor at the RCC.

When it comes to ghosting, there are things that those who are hiring can do. Complacency is the number one enemy, Mawhinney said.

“You can’t be blasé. You can’t just say, this is our stuff: we are a great company.” You have to constantly market yourself as an employer, reach out to prospects, and enlist, enlist, and enlist.

If you’re an HR professional, you have “internal clients,” Mawhinney said. These are the people within your company who candidates will be reporting to. HR professionals need to get them to “narrow down the three things they need [for a position].”

It’s important for the HR people in a firm to “influence what the employer values process is going to be, what the company is.” Mawhinney said the days of being an “order taker” as an HR specialist are over. “You guys (HR professionals in the audience) are in a leadership role much more than you ever were before… You’ve got to be professional and say, ‘I can do this for you.’ ”

Why is hiring so difficult nowadays? Part of it is that a company’s values and secrets are openly available online for perusal by candidates. Glassdoor—the heavily-visited website where employees talk about what it’s like to be a worker at a firm—is just part of

Human Resources

the equation, but it’s a crucial one. “Make sure your Glassdoor is clean,” Mawhinney said. Which means checking it frequently and addressing workplace issues that could make your company look bad.

“You have to be proactive there. You may not realize how many people actually go online to see what people think about your brand—or the CEO! There’s a lot going on [online]. People are much more aware about what they’re getting into.” And what you stand for, as an employer. Things have changed a lot from a decade or two decades ago.

When it comes to a “values proposition,” a company has to know what it values in an employee and it needs to communicate that to prospective employees in a way that is compelling, Mawhinney said.

Timing is also really important. “We all know that the hiring cycles are way too long.” Mawhinney said she recently visited a client and had to tell them, “You guys are killing people. There’s no way people are going to this panel, and this test, and this panel, and this test… I said, ‘No!’ It’s got to be compressed. You’ve got to streamline the process.”

You have to follow a game plan when hiring and you have to tell the people hiring what the game plan is going to be.”

“You really have to be proactive, you really have to be streamlined, and you really have to get bums in seats quickly.” Then the retention game plan has to kick into gear, because you don’t want recent hires deciding, “I really don’t like this job.”

Mawhinney concluded her remarks with the “ultimate piece of that value proposition.” Which is compensation. “Nobody works to not get paid.” The pay package has to be flexible, meaningful and competitive.

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How many times have you gone through the hiring process, set up a new worker in the schedule, then waited on Monday morning for them not to show up? You are not alone. A study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has determined that small businesses across Canada are dealing with this growing trend in the hiring process. More than one-third of small business owners said they’ve hired people over the previous 12 months who never showed up or stopped coming into work shortly after starting. If that isn’t concerning enough, some job candidates stopped responding before they even got the job, said 37 percent of respondents, who found that job seekers failed to reply to requests for interviews or further information that would have secured them a job.

“Employers are already having an incredibly hard time filling certain positions. Ghosting is not only a frustrating waste of their time, but it’s a big drain on their already limited resources,” said Dan Kelly, president of the CFIB. “Job candidates and employees don’t have to take or stay in jobs they don’t like, but they should at least communicate their intentions clearly to their employer instead of leaving them scrambling and wondering.”

Shortages of skilled labour continue to limit business growth for 53 percent of companies, according to the CFIB’s Business Barometer. 38 percent of businesses reported shortages of unskilled or semi-skilled labour. Over half (52 percent) of small businesses have yet to return to normal revenue levels and 58 percent haven’t repaid their pandemic debt.

The CFIB has speculated that many unemployed persons are happy to remain on EI and apply for jobs even though they have no desire to get hired. As the federal government is working on potential reforms to the Employment Insurance system, the association has urged Ottawa to take into consideration the impact of potential EI changes on small businesses.

“We’re hearing from business owners who have experienced ghosting that some candidates prefer to stay on EI for as long as possible and may be applying for or taking jobs just to satisfy the requirements of the program,” said Kelly. “While the vast majority of EI recipients may be looking for work in good faith, any changes the government is considering making to the program should not disincentivize people from accepting or starting jobs, especially with the current labour shortages we’re experiencing.”

—Geoff McLarney

BY STEVE PAYNE