At times of labor shortages and higher numbers of unfilled positions than ever, you need reliable, high-caliber employees as quickly as you can get them. Getting those employees into your warehouse starts with the screening process.

If you can’t effectively vet candidates for your open positions, there’s a good chance you could end up with employees that, at the very least, reduce the potential productivity your business could achieve. Vetting candidates the right way becomes much easier when you know what you should be looking for.

In this blog post, we’re going to cover 3 key factors to consider for pre-employment warehouse screening in St. Louis.

1. Look for specialized skills

When you’re considering someone for a job, you need to know they have the skills to thrive in your work environment and help your overall business perform at a higher level.

For a warehouse job, there are a few different positions you may be considering applicants for, and many of the skills they’ll need proficiency in will be fairly obvious to you. A forklift operator, for example, needs to be certified to use that kind of equipment.

When labor is becoming more costly or workers are harder to find, though, there are other, less obvious skills you want your employees to have.

In St. Louis, for instance, warehouses are combating worker shortages with automated solutions like self-driving carts in order to prepare and ship goods to customers more quickly, but these solutions still need human labor to facilitate and maintain them. A potential employee you’re considering hiring should have some familiarity or experience working with automated systems relevant to your business.

2. Assess their grasp of general skills

A lot of recruiters and interviewers ask for "flexibility," "problem-solving skills," and other general traits conducive to positive performance, no matter the industry. What do these terms mean in a warehouse setting?

A warehouse is often an important midpoint between vendors and their customers, and one where a certain level of urgency is always present. An employee needs to know how to deal with unanticipated problems before they become major disruptions. Sometimes, that might mean taking on responsibilities someone in their position wouldn't normally deal with.

The basic ability to think on your feet, learn quickly, and adapt to the needs of situations as they appear is key to the success of someone working in your warehouse in any capacity.

3. Get a sense of the candidate as a person

Determining whether a candidate’s personality and habits would mesh well with your business and workplace is also an important part of figuring out whether they’d be a productive member of your team. There are a few different factors to keep in mind for this point.

Always drug test. Drug use may indicate how well a job applicant may be able to perform their job, interact with your other employees and how safe they'll be. It’s especially important for positions that involve operating heavy equipment with clear safety considerations. At Action Logistix, we are laser-focused on protecting our customers' work environment and people from injury and accidents.

Aside from that, though, you also need to pay attention to how well they interview. Their interview skills can help you determine how well they communicate in a high-pressure situation. When job applicants are disrespectful during the application process at Action Logistix, they are not hired.

Make sure you’re making the right hire

Action Logistix considers all of these points in our 3 Point Employee Verification System, which we use in our St. Louis warehouse pre-employment screening process.

Our goal is to find the highest caliber of employees for the employers that work with us, and we’re ready to do the same for you. Contact us or call directly at 314-293-4210 to learn more.