Even in this day and age where most companies still have to carefully watch spending and sometimes “do more with less,” there are still times when they will have to bring on new candidates — but when? Is there a right time to start looking? Two answers stand out: On the one hand, that time would be specific to your company’s needs. The bottom line is that sometimes your requirements go beyond what your current staff can do. On the other, experience has shown there is an optimal time of year for recruiting.

Every place of work wants to manage its employees, costs and needs equally. While one of these three factors may need more attention at one time, all of them influence the others. When it comes to hiring, it helps to keep track of these factors:

• Hours required. Look carefully at the time required for work, either in the office or working with clients elsewhere. Keep a record of hours required and divide that by (for example) a typical 40-hour work week. When that number is greater than the number of staff you have, you may need to look for candidates.
• Payroll percentage. If a sudden boost in business catches you off-guard, you may find yourself paying your current employees some serious overtime, which can become costly. By carefully tracking monthly and comparing gross earnings to payroll revenue, you can figure out what percentage you should allocate to payroll (15-30 percent generally will keep you on even ground). If you generate more in revenue than you did previously, you can afford to look at adding someone on.
• Common sense. If you begin building up a serious backlog of orders and requests, and the response time to customers extends past what you (and they) consider reasonable, you probably need to hire more employees to help with the flow. And if — while the numbers don’t show it — a supervisor comes to you and says he needs more staff, listen to him and see about getting new candidates.
• New year, new hires. The trend for finding the best candidates, according to the numbers, shows that the first three weeks in January are optimal for recruiting. During December, fewer employers recruit — but fewer candidates seek new work. Many places retain January (read: after the end-of-the-year crush and annual budget has been worked out) for the little, time-consuming tasks such as writing job descriptions. Yet many job seekers, possibly refreshed from taking time to consider what they want for the coming year, look at that same time. So if you can get the candidate prep done early in December to be ready for that prime time in January, you may pick up candidates others will miss.

Some of your best hires will also come from a place such as PrideStaff — work with us to have a list of qualified candidates on hand whenever you’re ready to add on quality employees. That way you’ll always be prepared.