It’s the goal of any recruitment process: you find the perfect candidate, one you don’t want to lose. There’s a catch, though. They don’t fit with the particular job you’re recruiting for.
Flexibility is crucial to long-term team building, so you want to target excellent talent. This is true even when great candidates appear at surprising times. To create the best team for the long term, you have to attract every excellent employee you can.
In other words, don’t let that stellar candidate slip away. But what can you do? You still have a specific role to fill. And you don’t have the resources to just add every good job applicant you meet.
First, it’s important to realize how these situations arise. This will help you find solutions. As such, look out for these common mismatches:
- Not enough practical experience
- overqualified
- wrong skillset
- overlapping skills with other team members
From there, you can identify your options. There are steps you can take when a candidate isn’t right for the specific job you’re hiring for, but you don’t want to lose them. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Rethink the Requirements for the Job
The right candidate can make you rethink your approach to the job. Of course, you can’t tailor every position to particular applicants. But you shouldn’t force employees into a rigid, unrealistic mold either. Keep an open mind. By changing some of the requirements for the position, you might create the perfect match.
Consider the Candidate for a Different Position
What other jobs do you have available? Now that you’ve discovered this impressive talent, you might be able to fit them into another open role. If you’re being really aggressive, you can even create a position specifically for the candidate.
Obviously, your level of flexibility will depend on the precise circumstances. But the general strategy holds: take an organization-wide approach to find talent. Don’t get so narrowly focused on the present position that you miss out on an excellent team member.
Find Contract Work for Them
You can form a relationship with a talented candidate without offering them a full-time position. Find out if they are willing to take on part-time assignments. This will let you develop a rapport and keep them in the fold. Down the road, the right permanent position could open up.
Stay In Touch
Even if you can’t form a professional bond in the near term, you shouldn’t lose track of the candidate. Maintain contact with them. Follow them on social media and keep tabs on their career. When the perfect opportunity becomes available, you’ll have the connection needed to hire them at that time.
Locating high-quality job candidates is hard enough. When you find one, you want to be able to offer them a job. A top recruiting firm, like PrideStaff, makes it easier to match positions with the right talent.
Contact PrideStaff today to improve your team-building capabilities.
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