With employment rates at the highest we’ve seen them since comparable records began in 1971, the jobs market is increasingly in the candidates’ hands, making the need for businesses to stand out to prospective employees more important than ever.
As a result of this shift, it’s no longer sufficient to sit back and wait for the candidates to come to you, regardless of the size or reputation of your business. To help your organisation stand out from the crowd, we’ve put together a few key areas that you should consider.
Assess the competition
You’ve advertised a new position with a great salary and benefits package and… nothing happens. Whilst this could be the result of a number of factors, it may be that your competitors have a more attractive proposition than you, which is helping them to take advantage of the talent pool.
If you think this could be the case, then now is the time to assess what they’re offering candidates. Have they just had an office upgrade that makes the work environment more interesting? Or do they promote a friendly atmosphere that is backed up by employee reviews?
With the workforce likely to be made up of as many as five generations by 2020, employees will have varying expectations of their employers, depending on their personal goals and priorities. From flexible working and parental leave, to upskilling and retraining opportunities, you should ensure that your benefits are proportionate to your workforce and the marketplace that you’re operating in.
Whilst you may not be willing or able to match what your competitors are offering – think about what it is that makes your organisation a good place to work. Or better still, take a survey of your current employees to find out what it is that attracted them to your organisation. The key here is to find a point of differentiation that will attract the talent to you.
Ensure you have a clear and genuine proposition
When it comes to attracting candidates, you should ensure that your branding and messaging are clear and consistent – with an umbrella proposition that guides your global, regional and divisional messaging and experience.
Importantly, you must take care to ensure that the story you’re conveying is genuine. With websites like Glassdoor becoming more widely used, your story should ring true with the majority of reviews that employees are leaving about you. Candidates have an increasing number of tools at their disposal when it comes to finding the right organisation for them, and they’ll soon establish if your office isn’t really the ‘fun and friendly’ place that you’re saying it is.
Who are you promoting to?
It may sound obvious, but do the candidates that you’re looking for actually exist in the pool that you’re recruiting from? Before you start promoting new roles, it’s worth doing your due diligence to assess what the talent pool looks like. Is the talent predominantly focused in one region? Are there other skills that you would consider to be transferable to the role that you’re promoting?
Perhaps you’re based in Cardiff where the skill that you require is rare. Rather than wasting time, money and effort promoting it in your office location, find where the talent is and give them a reason to relocate. It may also help to differentiate your business from the rest of the pack.
Managing the candidate journey
One of the most important things to consider in helping your business to stand out is what the online journey looks like for your prospective candidates.
With many individuals searching and applying for jobs across both mobile and desktop (and some doing both at the same time), the transition between the different platforms for your business should be seamless. Whether you’re directing candidates to your website from job boards, or managing the entire application process through external sites, make sure that you’re happy with the candidate journey. Are they able to apply directly on their phone? Or does it take them through an awkward application process which might lead to a high drop-off rate?
Once the application is submitted, what is your internal process? Do you send an automatic ‘thank you’ email to acknowledge receipt? And how long does it take to follow up with interview requests? Any unnecessary red-tape that prolongs the process at this stage may cause you to lose out on talent, as well as damaging your organisation’s reputation with the candidate and their extended network.
Whilst this might seem like a lot to manage, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to handle all of this on your own – you can partner with a workforce solutions company like Experis. We can take on anything from an employer proposition audit to candidate pool analysis, right through to the resourcing itself.
Get in touch today to find out more.
