Finding quality talent can be challenging. You need employees with the necessary skillsets for your laboratory and characteristics and values similar to others in your lab. Additionally, you don’t want to hire employees who are “just OK” for your lab. To ensure the success of your lab, you need employees who are excellent at what they do. Additionally, they need to communicate clearly with others and work as a team. With this guide, you can learn how to find the most qualified employees for your laboratory.
Search for the Right “Fit”
Sometimes, employers become so focused on finding talent for their labs that they forget to search for the right “fit.” In this context, “fit” means that they can communicate and work well with your current employees, respect the company’s mission, goals, and values, and provide valuable work for your laboratory. If they don’t fit in with your lab, they won’t last long.
Consider Their Values
As briefly mentioned, you need to consider the values you want your future employees to have. A few examples of values that are helpful in a workplace are:
- Integrity/Honesty
- Professionalism
- Assertiveness
- Loyalty
- Dependability
- Accountability
- Adaptability
These are some of the values to look for during your talent search. It’s important to note that the values you look for will change depending on the laboratory and its culture.
Look for Important Characteristics
Many employers confuse characteristics with values, but there is a difference. Traits or characteristics are descriptive variables, while values are motivational variables. For example, here are some common characteristics that employers search for:
- Critical thinking
- Communicative skills
- Teamwork skills
- Creativity
- Technical abilities
As you can see, characteristics are different than values, and they describe a person’s abilities rather than relating to a person’s character. The characteristics above are some of the top traits to look for in laboratory employees, so keep them in mind as you continue your search.
Find Flexible Candidates
Your employees may need to perform multiple jobs within your lab, so flexibility is important. You’ll need flexible candidates who can adapt to change. Laboratories are always changing by updating processes, acquiring the latest technologies, and learning about new restrictions. If your employees aren’t flexible, they won’t keep up with the constant changes in this field.
Remember that Competency Is Key
Every lab needs experienced, competent workers who can perform all their job responsibilities. They need to have experience, training, education, and more to perform their jobs correctly. Competency is key, so remember to take these factors into consideration when reviewing resumes, cover letters, and other materials. However, keep in mind that sometimes, even the most experienced employees might not be a great fit for your lab. Employees also need to have the characteristics, values, and skills necessary to perform their job well. Instead of focusing only on experience, look at everything an individual brings to the table. That will ensure you find the best fit employee for your lab.
Write an Accurate Job Description
Without an accurate job description, it’s difficult to attract the right talent to your laboratory. You don’t want to waste any time interviewing candidates who aren’t qualified or don’t understand the job requirements. An accurate job description should include the company’s mission statement and culture, job requirements and duties, specific education and training required, and the physical demands of the job. If there are any other important facts that a candidate should know before applying to your lab, you should list them on the job description as well. To incentivize potential candidates to apply, you can list the salary, benefits, perks, and other rewards that an individual will receive from working at your lab.
Use Recruiting Platforms
Now that you have an accurate job description, you can use recruiting platforms to bring the talent to you. You can hire employees from job-board websites, technology and medical laboratory schools, specialized recruitment businesses, and other professional organizations. There are also many experienced lab staffing agencies, such as Lighthouse Lab Services, that you can use to help you find the right employees for your lab.
Begin the Interview Process
It’s time to begin the interview process. After following the steps above, you will have potential candidates to interview for positions within your laboratory. There are plenty of questions you can ask during an interview. The main points of interviewing your candidates should be to see if they can perform the job responsibilities, if they have prior experience or knowledge to succeed at their job, if they are a good fit within the company, and what they expect from your lab.
Consult With Your Existing Employees
Before you make any final decisions after the interview process, it’s helpful to consult with your existing employees first, if possible. This will help ensure that the new team member will be a great fit with your current team. You can also ask a few of your managers to sit in during the interviews and help ask any pertinent questions. After all, these managers know your current staff and team the best, so they can provide helpful insight when hiring future employees.
Keep Your Employees
After hiring employees for your laboratory, you need to focus on keeping them. Competing labs always attempt to take valuable talent for themselves, and they’ll offer higher wages, more benefits, or more hours to add members to their teams. To keep your employees, you’ll need to keep up with the competition.
Hiring employees takes a lot of time, effort, and money, so it’s best to keep your current employees when you can. One great way to ensure that your employees remain satisfied at your lab is to conduct employee satisfaction surveys. These surveys will help you determine your employee satisfaction levels, and they also provide valuable information that you can use to improve your company.
These steps teach you how to find the most qualified employees for your laboratory. If you need assistance finding qualified candidates for your lab business, contact Lighthouse Lab Services. We help labs find and keep the talent they need to succeed.