How many times have you heard a business leader, entrepreneur or manager of people say, “We just can’t get the staff,”? Hiring is an ongoing, ever-challenging activity for employers to undertake. Building a solid talent attraction strategy isn’t the half of it – there’s finding them, managing the process, and all the paperwork that goes with it too.

Needless to say, it’s an undertaking you’ll need to be prepared for ahead of time.

Which is why, in many cases, it’s already too late. When hiring becomes a definitive need instead of a would-be-nice or even a slightly more urgent must-do-soon, your chances of a successful hire with longevity become far more narrow. Not only that, you’re now in a potentially tight spot with critical business outcomes on the line – all of which could have been avoided.

At this point, it’s too late to start recruiting. Of course, that’s exactly what you still need to do – but it won’t be easy. Here’s why it’s already too late to start recruiting.

You’re feeling the effects of this individual’s absence

While we as business leaders can’t see every upcoming hurdle and plan for every eventuality, what we do need to be is cognizant. Cognizant of the workforce we have, the gaps we see, and the potential challenges posed should someone in a specific role or responsibility leave. If you’ve been unable to get down to doing some solid succession planning and a crucial member of the team ups and leaves unexpectedly, it can be tough to manage. Things only get worse as, while you’re busy scrambling to fill the space left and ensure that productivity doesn’t decrease in their absence, hiring either doesn’t get the focus it needs to find the right person, else it takes a backseat altogether. If you’re already feeling the effects of there being no person able to fulfil, if even for the meantime, the duties of the job you’re trying to replace, this recruitment campaign could prove to be a tricky one.

You misjudged the talentscape and your person isn’t available

You know how we’re always preaching about how candidates need to do their research ahead of an interview? You, the employer, also have a responsibility to know what you’re coming into. The talent marketplace is an ever-evolving, fast-moving place. Skills shortages happen unannounced. The keys that keep you competitive come and go in popularity, requiring constant adaptation. Whatever the reason, the fact of the matter is, you’ve begun a recruitment campaign and swiftly found that the person or people your business needs simply aren’t available. Whether they’re not looking, non-existent, or simply not interested in your offering, this slip in judgement means that you’re already late in the game.

You find yourself ready to recruit, but you’re not sure who for

At this point, it may be that you’ve survived without backfilling a role for a while but know you need something different altogether. It could be that you simply find yourself in a position financially to add talent to the team, but are unsure of what will take things to the next level. The fact is, if you don’t know who you need to hire, your campaign will simply be more ineffective.

With efficiency in mind – both in terms of time and costs – coming into a hiring campaign with moving goalposts just isn’t going to perform.

And that’s really part of the beauty of partnering with an agency like ours. With recruitment being what we do year-round, through changing seasons, shifting talent pools and ever-evolving markets, you could say we’re always ready. We’re never too late to the game – we’re always in it.

Get in touch to talk recruitment solutions by NLG today.