In their recent Labour Market Outlook, the CIPD said that over half of organisations surveyed were struggling to fill their vacancies, with a quarter also saying that they believe hard-to-fill vacancies will increase over the next calendar year.
With the effects of Brexit, Covid and other economic factors being felt downstream, a decreasing talent pool versus increasing hiring needs is causing a talent shortage that is prompting many organisations to look at outsourcing their recruitment to best secure candidates for their roles.
So, how can you stay ahead in a competitive recruitment market? Read on to find out Webrecruit’s top tips!
Get Your Roles Out There
The adage goes, “If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound?”; it might seem a bit of a stretch, but the same thought process refers to job advertisements. You might have a great role that needs filling, but if not advertised and positioned correctly, nor given the right exposure, how will candidates know about your vacancies and how to apply?
With this in mind, it is important that your role really pops in a competitive job advertisement market – this can be achieved by good formatting, openness surrounding salary and benefits and the utilisation of keywords to make your role searchable and appealing. The job advertisement is just one step, however, and you need to consider where best to advertise your roles to get the best exposure and candidate throughput. Generalist job boards, undoubtedly, play a part in many recruitment drives; you may also want to consider specialist media or social media to get your job advertisement in front of vocationally qualified candidates as well as passive candidates to increase the likelihood of your roles being filled.
Automated Administration
Recruitment can be administration heavy at times, and any time taken away from processing and speaking with your candidates can be the difference between you successfully filling your vacancies or not. In addition, administering candidates via email and database sheets alone can also cause further complications, with the potential for those valuable candidates being missed.
This is where cloud-based technology solutions can help – an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help you collect, collate, and administer candidates in a data-secure space that can also automate specific areas of communication and expectation setting. For example, an ATS can send an automated email that recognises receipt of an application or automatically inform a candidate that post-filtering they will be invited for an interview. This clarity via automated communications means candidates are kept abreast and engaged with their application and your hiring process, meaning candidates are less likely to drop out (after you have fought so hard to obtain them!).
Timely Responses Are Key
Great! You now have candidates, so do not keep them waiting. A key mistake many businesses make when hiring for hard-to-fill roles is waiting to contact suitable candidates; this can sometimes be down to waiting for other suitable candidates to come through or to have the bandwidth to contact said candidates. Waiting, however, can be a mistake. Whilst it can seem like a good idea to wait for more candidates to come through, if you have a difficult role to fill, it is advisable to get in contact with suitable candidates straight away and start the process. It only takes one right candidate to fill your role, and who’s to say that one candidate you process isn’t the right one? It is also important to remember that if you aren’t contacting your candidates, other organisations might be (whether due to direct applications or prospecting via talent pools) meaning you could lose out on top talent to your competitors.
If you are struggling to get the right candidates for your roles, Webrecruit is here to help! We offer a hiring platform that includes Job Advertising Packages, as well as a comprehensive ATS and Careers Site solution that supports thousands of organisations to successfully hire, every day! Get in contact to find out more.
