Owning a 3 season ice cream parlour my greatest challenges are finding teenagers that:

A: Want to work.

B: Able to work, without conflicts with after school activities. Today's youth are too busy with sports, drama club, cheerleading, dance and a myriad of other after school activities to be able to hold a part time job.

Actually, I believe the hardest part is understanding the company culture and finding the candidates who have the same values and who will "fit" in the culture. You can have all the skills and expertise ever needed, but if they can't fit into the culture, they will leave and/or the company will not be happy.

From my experience and the experiences of my clients, it's planning to hire. Most of them waited until an opening was created, then scrambled to find a suitable replacement. This last minute, hurry up approach, creates all kind of potential mistakes and oversights that lead to hiring disappointment and possibly having to hire again within the year.

As a recruiter, clients often share with me the challenges they face in finding good, qualified talent. I see my role as that of a partner ... really listening to what their needs are and then finding a way to meet those needs. Each business is unique and faces different challenges. There's really not one fix that helps everyone.

One bit of advice I'll offer here is that soft skills are just as important, if not more important, than hard skills. You can't train soft skills! Be open minded when evaluating candidates.

Today it seems as if no one wants to take responsibility for anything!! I find that because no one wants to be accountable and everything has to be done three times! It is very frustrating! Many companies today don’t seem to have the concern and care about their products let alone employee as much as they use too! In today’s world everything is disposable! Maybe that is whythe lack of care on the employees part!!

Skills and knowledge are the easy part, it’s the cultural fit that is the hardest. We hire on skills, knowledge and ability but fire for behavior and attitude

Great Survey!

the hardest part of keeping an employee is reliability.

One of the recruiters that I consult with told me if the client wants the candidate with green eyes he is going to find them the candidate with green eyes. Getting clear about the ideal candidate is the first and most important step to making a satisfying hiring decision.

This is the biggest problem I see. No one trains anymore! You sink or swim. Better to hire a trainable person that will develop into the position and stay with the company, be loyal and productive than someone who talks a good talk and does just enough to get by.