Top 5 Hiring Challenges When Operating From A Coworking Space & How To Handle Them

There are countless benefits of coworking spaces. The costs are lower, the atmosphere is conducive to productivity, people have to commute less, there are ample networking opportunities and so on. 

That said, nothing is ever perfect and choosing a coworking space over an independent office has its challenges too. One of the times this becomes apparent is when hiring new talent for your team. The good news is that there are ways to cross these hurdles. 

Let’s take a look at the top 5 challenges faced while recruiting from a coworking space and how to handle them.

Top 5 Hiring Challenges When Operating From A Coworking Space

1. Engaging Qualified Candidates
2. Building A Strong Employer Brand
3. Providing A Good Candidate Experience
4. Losing Candidates To Competitors
5. Making Your Recruiting Process Efficient

1. Engaging Qualified Candidates

Finding the right pool of candidates can be a challenge in itself. But, the greater challenge is engaging with these candidates. Good candidates are often contacted by recruiters which can make it hard for your email to stand out. They’re also usually considering multiple offers simultaneously. Not having an independent office space can be a point that pulls you down unless you position it correctly.

To make your company and the position being offered lucrative, you need to put in extra effort to engage with the candidates. For example, before reaching out to passive candidates, do your homework and find out what motivates them. Personalize your emails based on this additional information. If you can find out where they stay, include the fact that they will be allowed to work from the Coworking office close to their place of residence (as a way to improve their work-life balance).

2. Building A Strong Employer Brand

Building a brand is necessary not just for sales but also for recruitment. Candidates want to be linked to brands with an established presence. Since you’re working from a coworking Office, when a candidate walks in for an interview, they’re not greeted by the typical branded décor. You can’t put your logo up on the walls or your company name on the reception area. But, coworking space challenges needn’t stop you.

You can still build a strong brand presence online. Showcase your company culture on your social media pages with regular posts. Always reply to comments courteously and encourage other team members to stay active on the company page too with posts and photographs. If you’re a good employer, they will be happy to say the same. You can also check with the coworking space provider if they allow you to put your logo at the building reception.

3. Providing A Good Candidate Experience

Just as you judge the candidate on how they dress and present themselves, candidates judge your company by the experience they have when they meet you. If they have a bad experience – they’re kept waiting for too long or their interview is canceled at the last minute, they may not be very likely to accept a position. On the other hand, if you treat them well, they will get past the challenges of coworking and accept your offer.

To ensure that your candidates have a good experience, you must respect their time. Tell them what to expect when they come for an interview and inform the reception about their visit. Book a meeting room in advance so that they don’t need to wait around. Within a coworking unit, you may also want to look into leasing out a managed space where you get a little more flexibility with branding your décor.

4. Losing Candidates To Competitors

One of the challenges faced by companies when it comes to hiring is that your working space is shared by people from other companies as well. So, when a good candidate comes in for an interview, other recruiters may want to reach out as well. Establishing meaningful business relationships takes time and you may lose a candidate to a competing company.

To reduce the risk of this happening, you need to be proactive in impressing the candidates with how your company has an edge over the competitors. Just as you want to know what they bring to the table, talk about how the company can help them grow too. 

5. Making Your Recruiting Process Efficient

Slow and steady doesn’t always win the race. As mentioned above, one of the biggest problems of office space shared with others is that your candidate may be contacted by competitors as well. So, you need to make hiring decisions fast. However, since your team may be working from different coworking units, coordinating communication may be a challenge. The time spent waiting for email replies is valuable time lost.

Investing in innovative technology can help you get past this. Rather than scheduling multiple interview levels, you could video conference with other people to make the process more efficient. 

You could also use shared online documents to keep everyone on the team informed about the status of the hiring process and to get their feedback. Calendar integrations are an easy way to ease administrative tasks and make sure everyone knows what’s scheduled for the day.

Scaling Your Team In A Coworking Space Doesn’t Have To Be So Difficult

Once you can identify the hiring challenges and how to overcome them, you’ll realize that an organisation’s growth in a coworking space can be as fast (if not faster) as in your own traditional office. The first step to building a brand where people want to work is to provide a good working atmosphere & facilities that make your company differentiated from others. 

Choose a coworking unit that prioritizes your employee needs – it should have ergonomic furniture and the necessary infrastructure, lockers and parking space, it should be safe and accessible and your team should feel comfortable working here. 

The Office Pass (TOP) offers ready-to-use coworking spaces in Noida, Delhi and Gurgaon. Call us at 08999 828282 to know more about our coworking offices.

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