If you think about it, Mass Hiring is nothing difficult. Companies hire a lot of people every year. Similarly, new businesses need to hire a whole bunch of people when they are just starting.
But the problem arises when the timeframe for mass hiring is relatively short. Companies who weren’t anticipating a mass hiring need might struggle to execute it adequately.
Also, when hiring that many people, your office culture will be drastically affected by a sudden influx of different people with different values, principles, religion, age, ethnicity, and ideals.
Don’t worry! In this article, you will see when you need to do a mass hire, and how to do it properly.
When Do You Need Mass Hiring?
There are a couple of scenarios that might call for a mass hiring. Have you started a new project? Is it too big for your current manpower to handle? If yes, you need to do a mass hire to stick to the fixed deadline.
Have you started an outsourcing company? Are you getting more and more orders from your clients? Only a fool would refuse to take up the new projects. No matter how big they are, if you can do a mass hire in time and finish the project, you are going to make big profits. The profits will cover your additional expenses of conducting a mass hire.
5 Tips to Help with Mass Hiring
Assemble a Team
If you are determined to do a mass hiring, you need to assemble a team responsible for overseeing the entire project. Who should you include in this team? Obviously, an HR team. But you should also add a current employee, who works in the same department where the mass hires are about to happen.
Ask this team to set a timeline for the project. Also, for better management, make sure they divide the entire work into smaller parts. If you need to withdraw an employee from an ongoing project and place him in this team, do it. If you have to request this team to work extra hours to pull off a certain project in time, make sure you are paying for those extra hours. This will keep people motivated.
Decide Where You Would Look for Candidates
You need to have a clear direction about where you are going to get your candidates. You might pick only one source or a combination of sources to filter out only the best talent.
Before the internet was this prevalent, referrals were the top method for curating a list of eligible candidates. Companies used to ask their employees to refer people who they think are a fit for mass hiring.
But now we have the technology. Many platforms can connect you with thousands of talented candidates who have the right skills and the expertise you are looking for. The most obvious platform is LinkedIn. It is the number one social media platform for professionals. No wonder that it is Microdot’s most expensive acquisition of all time.
You can get a list of people’s profiles for the mass hiring, but how do you contact them? You can use https://www.signalhire.com/ for that. Using this tool, you can find a Linkedin profile by email address.
Moreover, it comes with a browser extension. When you find a LinkedIn profile that you see as fit for the job, hit the Signalhire icon, and it will reveal all their contact information.
Define your Needs
The next step is to define your needs. Start by picking a number for the mass hire. However, you can also have a policy of hiring as many if candidates meet the required criteria.
Note down all the skills, professional qualifications, and educational background you are looking for. See if experience can add value to a candidate’s CV. Finalize whether you need remote workers or the ones who can do desk-job.
While preparing a plan, you should try to form an idea about how much more expenses you will be incurring as salaries for this mass hire. How will you get the funds? Can you sustain if the project fails? What is your backup plan? These are all important questions you should ask yourself.
You should remember that the need for mass hires aren’t for diverse roles. You will rather be doing a mass hiring for people for the same post. This brings us to the next aspect.
Pick A Standard Application Process
You need a structure for the application process. Go over the topics of what personal information you need your candidates to provide and what documents you need them to add as an attachment. Also, decide whether you will collect the applications yourself, or should the candidates send you the complete application in separate emails.
If you undertake a mass hire with a non-structured application format, you will be leading yourself to misery.
Screening Tips and Tricks
In any mass hiring situation, the most time is spent on this stage. So you should come up with a way to keep it short and reduce time waste.
Once you have all the applications, it is time to assess them. Create a clear and concise assessment criterion, and use it to assess all the applications you have received.
If you are planning on doing a phone interview for all shortlisted individuals, create a set of questionnaires beforehand. This way, the interviewee can bring out the information he is looking for in the shortest amount of time.
Mass Appointment
Now comes the onboarding stage. Once you have informed all those people who have made it to the final stage, it is time to prepare yourself to handle the sudden increase in human resources.
As said earlier, mass hiring usually takes place for the same positions. So, for better management, you should first divide all new recruits into different groups and then assign the groups to different projects. This will help with delegation and performance monitoring as well.
Finally, once you hire all the people you need, make them feel welcome in your team. Prepare any info new employees will need (passwords, etc.) and get ready to send it over email.