#1. Develop your brand
No matter a job seeker’s situation, the first thing they will consider is your brand. Just as you are seeking a good candidate, they are shopping for the best employer. When you need something appealing, dependable, with proven success, do you choose a brand you’ve never heard of? Of course not.
According to LinkedIn, an overwhelming majority (75%) of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job. Results of a survey by Corporate Responsibility Magazine also indicate 75% of people would decline a job with a company that has a bad reputation--even if they are unemployed.
How can you manage this? In order to build your employer brand, you must define and implement an effective employer branding strategy. You need to tell a compelling story about your company, showcase your company culture and get candidates excited to join your team.
This marketing effort is not as hard as it sounds. Using your website, career pages, and social media channels, you can present attractive photos of your employees and your office. Sharing employee testimonials is important, since 3rd party endorsement is greatly beneficial. Consistently posting current, timely content on noteworthy projects and new technologies being used is also key. Interesting and entertaining videos are popular (and fun!) ways to showcase your company and develop your brand.
#2. Go beyond the active talent pool
According to LinkedIn’s research, 70% of the global workforce is made up of passive talent, workers who aren’t actively job searching, while only 30% are active job seekers. The good news is that up to 90% of all candidates still want to hear about new job opportunities and learn more about your company, as reported by LinkedIn.
Since passive candidates aren’t actively looking for a job, you won’t find them checking out your career site or job boards. Instead, you must go where they are - on social media. According to a LinkedIn survey, half (49%) of all professionals are following companies on social media with the intent to stay aware of their jobs. You need to utilize the power of social media and start promoting your employer brand on its networks (see Challenge #1!).
This doesn’t mean simply posting your job openings across different social media channels. You should also share stories, photos and videos that present and promote your company as a great place to work. You should also organize different recruiting events (such as meetups, workshops, etc.) and invite potential candidates to attend them. Using event posts (on Facebook, for example) can help you track interest, attendance, field questions, get feedback and learn how to improve promotion of these gatherings.
#3. Offer a positive experience
CareerArc’s “Candidate Experience Study” revealed that nearly 60% of job seekers have had a poor candidate experience. As a result:
- 63% of these candidates reject a job offer (Source: Software Advice)
- 72% of these candidates tell others about it, either online or in-person (Source: CareerArc)
- 64% of these candidates might even stop purchasing goods and services from that employer/company (Source: CareerArc).
Some ways to improve a candidate’s experience are to make sure your recruiting technology or online application is working properly and easy to use. Is your application too long? How can you abbreviate it without losing important queries? Make sure to include essential job details, such as salary range and related benefits, required and recommended experience and skills, a hiring timeline. Include contact information for an actual person on the hiring team who will respond in a timely manner.
According to a CareerBuilder survey, an overwhelming 81% of candidates say the one thing that would greatly improve their overall candidate experience is good communication, with responsive employers offering job status updates and answering questions.
In short, if you don’t improve your candidate experience, you risk not only losing your top candidates, but also your reputation, customers and money. On the flip side, offering a positive experience increases your brand value in your applicants’ eyes even if they don’t get the job.
#4 Streamline your interview process
It’s amazing how long it takes to place the right person in an available position. While some companies can attract top talent, they still aren’t able to streamline, simplify and automate their hiring processes. This often results in a candidate either losing interest in the opportunity or accepting another offer from a company whose process was more efficient. You snooze, you lose… so the saying goes.
According to ERE Medias’s research, top candidates stay available on the job market for just 10 days and a whopping 57% of job seekers lose interest in a job if the hiring process is lengthy. Unfortunately, 70% of companies take anywhere between 1 to 4 months to make a new hire, as reported by LinkedIn.
Start by finding your hiring bottleneck and improving it. Are all parties involved in hiring a new candidate aware of the urgency and value in retaining this person? If not, make them so. Streamline your hiring workflow and simplify candidate tracking. Through extensive automation,your hiring process can shift from an arduous practice to a consistent and streamlined process.
By improving these four common hiring challenges, your company can be on the road to hiring the best talent with ease, thus further advancing your reputation.