When you have an employee suddenly quit, it’s never a fun experience. However, when one of your best employees quits, it’s a whole other story. Before you panic, there are a few steps that you can take to make sure that the transition is as smooth as possible.
First, in an ideal situation, your employee will have given you at least two weeks’ notice. This will give you some breathing room to fill that position before it goes vacant. However, if the employee left suddenly, there are a few steps you can take to minimize the damage.
- Contact a recruiter. Not only will a recruiter be able to help you fill a position with another qualified new hire quickly, they may also have access to temporary workers who can fill in until you find someone to hire. This is quite often the best choice if you had someone in a key position leave quickly.
- See if you can spread duties around. In most cases, there will be at least a few other competent employees you can rely on until you can find someone new. Split up the former employee’s duties among the most suited co-workers, but make sure you do not overload them. You don’t want other departments falling apart if they are trying to take on too much.
- Make the most of your hiring avenues. Working with a recruiter is a great step and will ease this transition. However, if you prefer to find your own employees, you’ll need to be open to new ways of finding employees. For example, utilizing social sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook is a great way to quickly source for qualified candidates. Most of today’s top talent rely on social media for just about everything, including finding a job.
- Streamline your onboarding process. In this position, you need to be able to bring your new hire up-to-speed quickly. This may mean consolidating your training and onboarding processes to make them more efficient and cover more ground in less time. In most cases, just be honest with your new hire and inform them that you need them to catch up as quickly as possible. They’ll be driven to succeed in their new job and they’ll be willing to help you.
Quick action is your best course when you need to fill a vacant position quickly. Even if you don’t have a position open right now, there’s always a chance you might have an unexpected opening. By setting up a plan to deal with this eventuality, you’ll be taking charge and minimizing any future issues that could arise.
As Kansas City’s leading staffing firm, we have helped thousands of businesses find and hire the talent they need. Whether you need help recruiting talent in a pinch, or are looking to hire for a new position, our expert recruiters can help. Contact our team today to learn more!