No matter the industry you’re in, finding talent, particularly high-end talent in fields like healthcare or technology is hard. When the job market is leaning in favor of the candidate, as it is today, finding, attracting, and then hiring talent is more than a full-time job. Attracting talent in this job market is almost impossible. The competition is just that fierce. But we have some tips to help you find that needle in a haystack and get the talent you need when you need it the most.
Make Your Company a Destination for Job Candidates
The best tip we can share with you is that the old days of just putting out a job description are over. Don’t assume anymore that employees will be beating down your door for a job, even if your company has good brand recognition as a “big name.”
Instead, we suggest you focus your candidate recruiting effort on what matters to your potential employees of the future. Every job description should be written from the perspective of “what’s in it for the candidate.” Your careers page should reflect the benefits, salaries, and perks, along with your mission and values. What does your company stand for? Why do your long-term employees stay?
The goal is for you to make your company a destination of choice for job seekers. But you should also spend time working the candidate recruiting process as hard as, say, a staffing agency does. It’s the only way you’ll find the needles in your own personal haystack. Here are a few things you can do right now to improve your chances of finding great talent.
What is your application process like?
Today, candidates have little inclination to climb through a difficult application process. Having a long, labor-intensive workflow for submitting your resume almost ensures you will have “cart abandons.” That’s because there are five other jobs just like yours that may be easier to apply to out there. If your website career page or the job board you’re using isn’t mobile-friendly and one click to apply, you’re not going to attract the talent you need.
How proactive is your candidate search?
Even if you have the best, the easiest application process, you still may not be getting resumes. That’s because firms like PrideStaff have a robust proactive recruiting process. Every day each one of our recruiters actively reaches out to new potential candidates on social media even before they’ve applied to your company. If you’re not actively building your pool of candidates proactively, you are going to fall behind the competition and not find the talent you want.
Look outside your comfort zone.
Recognize that your job requirements may be unrealistic and unnecessary. For example, we frequently see companies discarding perfectly experienced, solid candidates because they lack a bachelor’s degree. Hiring teams need to think this through carefully to determine if an undergraduate degree is truly necessary for the job or if equivalent experience would do. Also look at other types of candidates that you may never have considered. Some companies are looking at “second chance hiring” of candidates who have served jail time for misdemeanors, gotten out, and are seeking a second chance at a good job. Others focus on connecting with veteran organizations that put people to work. Still others look at low-income training programs to help them find talent.
As one of the leading staffing agencies in the U.S., PrideStaff understands your challenges. We’ve been finding that needle in a haystack for our employer-clients for decades. Call on us to find out how we can cut your time to hire.
