If you’ve ever been through the process of hiring a new employee, you know how time-consuming it can be for everyone involved. First, you have to write up a detailed job description that covers everything you require in a candidate. Then you or your HR team will spend the next several weeks or months screening applicants. You’ll spend time studying resumes and scheduling interviews. And, of course, holding interviews requires valuable time away from other managers and team members who have to join in the interview process. When you’re all done, you cross your fingers and hope that you made the right choice.

No matter how tedious it can be, finding and hiring new employees is still a critical task in any business. That’s why many companies decide to engage a staffing service or a dedicated recruiter to help them with ongoing hiring. A staffing service can provide you with a steady, reliable pipeline of qualified candidates. Here are three situations you should consider if you’re wondering whether you should be hiring now.

Your Busy Season Is Just Around the Corner

Most businesses know that the time to hire extra resources is well before their busy season begins. But the problem is, other companies in your field know this as well. If you work in a financial services company, you’ll be looking for accountants and tax preparers in January. If your business is in retail or manufacturing, you may be planning to ramp up your hiring in the fall for the holidays. But if other companies are doing the same, you’ll find yourself competing for limited resources while the clock is ticking. Don’t let seasonal work control your hiring schedule. Instead, take steps to always be evaluating reliable candidates so that you can be one step ahead when you’re ready to hire.

You Have a Big Project That Needs All Hands on Deck

From time to time, your company may face a huge project with a deadline set in stone. You need everyone on the team to pitch in, and then some. It’s times like these when you wish you had a dedicated quality assurance tester or an experienced network implementation consultant. You may turn to a consulting company to provide some emergency contractors, but you’ll still need to spend time training them on your product or your business processes. The problem is that you can’t always predict when a huge business initiative is going to fall in your lap. That’s why it’s important to always have qualified candidates ready to interview and hire at short notice. And the way to achieve this is to always be hiring.

You’re About to Lose a Subject Matter Expert or Experienced Employee

Many companies have subject matter experts (SMEs) in their ranks: people who know everything there is to know about a certain product or process that is essential to the company. It may have taken years of training, or maybe these employees were hired on as experts to begin with. But you know that losing one of these SMEs would be a huge blow to your team. While you may try to keep your experts and your experienced employees happy with high pay and extra perks, there’s always the chance that they will one day leave for another position elsewhere. Don’t be left scrambling when that happens. Always work to hire and cross-train your people on each other’s skills. Set up a system where employees work as each other’s backups when one of them goes on vacation. And always be on the lookout for job candidates who can support your business-critical products and systems.

Conclusion

At Bishop & Company, we understand the ups and downs of hiring, and we have experts who can help you get the process started. Contact us today to learn more about your employment needs in Hawaii.