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The job market continues to tighten as unemployment remains below 5% and job creation expands. We are starting to see the real effects of a worker shortage in the market. The decrease in applicants is problematic enough without contemplating the lower percentage of qualified candidates currently available.

Pensions being a thing of the past and benefits moving towards employee contributions, the younger workers are looking more towards short-term rewards as opposed to long-term. This usually translates to increased compensation or, more often, a more prominent position. This *free agent* mentality has led to workers changing jobs with greater frequency after less tenure.

The shift towards personalization has produced bolder candidates and employees who are not inhibited when it comes to pursuing career opportunities. They tend to be more candid in their requests. They consistently look for better opportunities. They approach their job without a hierarchal mindset * to them, they see corporate structure as a flattened organizational chart. Yet they still long for a strong long-term opportunity that will provide job security and personal growth.

Now that you have a lot to think about, let's cover some items we have discovered as we have adjusted our hiring process for many different positions. Here are 5 tips that can turn your hiring process into a corporate asset in today's evolving marketplace.

1. BENCHMARK KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS. This statement could use some clarification in that benchmarking is a widely used word. The context here is to identify what job-related abilities lead to success in the role. Companies can get caught up in the outcome of a good benchmark as opposed to the source. For instance, being an Excel ninja may be a key performance indicator for a statistician, but it most likely is not for an inside salesperson. Typing is a hard skill and something to be considered but normally not as a key performance indicator. A good rule of thumb is to use this question when benchmarking * What would happen if this job did not exist?

2. SPECIFY JOB REWARDS. The younger generations are motivated and rewarded by different values than the Baby Boomer generation. We read article after article about elucidating the rewards of the position for which you are hiring. This information should be written in a personal manner that speaks to the candidate's growth. This may be in a specific skill area like managing distributors, in a career area like advancing to the management team or even as simple as offering telecommuting to allow them to balance their life. Do not underestimate this shift in writing effective employment ads. We made a conscious shift to this approach last year and the responses to our ads have almost doubled.

3. ASSESS FOR MOTIVATION. The conventional wisdom states that money is the main motivator for all employees. This statement was more valid 25 years ago as opposed to today's generation X and Y workers. A shift has occurred and the outcome is a young worker who strives to find work-life balance. Here is where a disconnect occurs - a talented interviewer can uncover a candidate's communication style in a face-to-face meeting. Far more important is understanding the candidate's reason for communicating in that manner. Their motivations unlock their decision-making process, their values and their drive. A candidate's communication style is analogous to the tip of an iceberg * it is above the water and easily observed. The candidate's motivations lie beneath the water line. You can get a glimpse of it at times, but the vastness of it remains unseen until you run into it.

4. BACKGROUND VERIFICATION. To be brutally honest, the majority of resumes contain embellishments of some form. We have experienced a wide variety of *mistakes* in recent years as we have reviewed resumes for accuracy. Many of these discrepancies are easily exposed by using a third party verification company. The number of companies that continue to make offers to candidates without verifying their resume information is astounding. For a nominal fee, a candidate's criminal record, driving record, credit score, work history and educational degrees can be professionally validated.

5. CAREER PATH FOR EMPLOYEES. Onboarding is the hot buzzword for ramping up new employees. Career paths for new hires begins on their first day. From there, employees need to understand how they will grow in their career with their employer. In fact, the career path topic is appearing in negotiations with candidates before they accept the offer. 66% of all employees keep an eye out for new opportunities through online job boards, personal networking or message forums. A good rule of thumb is to grow your employees or they will take it upon themselves to find new opportunities elsewhere.

Successful hiring becomes a corporate asset when the process becomes refined and repeatable. These five items are focal points for reinforcing your process and adjusting to the new hiring landscape. Implementation of these items will positively impact your success rate when hiring a new employee from outside your company.