Everyone involved in hiring has been in this scenario – you have roles that need filling yet for some reason, you either do not seem to be able to get candidates to apply for your roles or they are the wrong types of candidates altogether!
Thousands of organisations seek out Webrecruit’s support to help them with their hiring needs, so we are well-versed in what to look out for to help make your recruitment strategy a success.
To get started, here are Webrecruit’s 3 top tips on how to finetune your hiring efforts to make sure you are an employer of choice from the outset, not just an employer by chance:
Employer Brand
Many organisations, big and small, may not always have a set proposition regarding their identity as an employer and what their USPs (Unique Selling Points) are to differentiate them from competitors (who may be trying to recruit in the same talent pool as you!). People do buy from people, so working out why you, your colleagues, and your teams like working for your organisation is a great place to start.
From there, do not forget the ‘whys?’ as well! For example, you may think your people are a great reason and USP for why anyone should want to work at your company, but you need to explain in a bit more detail. For example, instead of your USP being, ‘our people make this a great place to work’, your reasons for saying this are actually ‘our talented and committed teams make this a great place to work, as we thrive on a challenge and encourage diversity in the workplace to support achieving our goals’…sounds better right? This helps paint a picture in a candidate’s head of what is truly like to work for your organisation, and why they should want to join you.
The Job Advertisements
What next when looking to hire? Job advertisements should be an extension and reflection of your employer brand to create a seamless candidate journey from the get-go. Painting an accurate picture for prospective employees through the description of your organisation and the role is vital to help set expectations as well as sell the role itself (don’t forget that a key purpose of any advertising is to sell!).
In addition to this, there are some other key pointers to consider thinking on when putting together a job advertisement:
Salary –job advertisements that feature and advertise the salary are often up to 60% more successful in attracting candidates to the role
Benefits – if you have a great pension package or even free tea and coffee, include in the advert! Salaries are important but candidates are more and more looking for packages
Working hours – sometimes, working hours (incl days required) can be an important part of a candidate deciding whether a role will truly work for them or not.
The Candidate Journey – Careers Sites & Applicant Tracking Systems
Great news, you now have a prospective candidate interested – how do you turn this into an application? A navigable and attractive careers site is an important part of the process. This is where you can truly show off your organisation’s work culture, goals, and job advertisements to help capture the attention of candidates. It is equally as important to make sure that your website is easy to get around, clearly signposted and guiding prospective candidates through to your application process/pages so that website visitors turn into future talent for your organisation.
The application process is also important to securing the best talent and filling your roles – utilising an ATS [Applicant Tracking System] that makes a candidate’s experience of submitting a CV and you then capturing any data you may need for the hiring process (including screening questions) easy and intuitive, ensuring candidates are not then being put off by clunky systems or laborious processes.
