Recruitment has never been more competitive than right now. Here are our top five tips for employers, big or small, to stand out from the crowd.
Open yourself up to passive candidates
Invest in using a recruitment agency on a sole basis. There are many advantages of taking this route. The predominant one being the recruiter is more likely to prioritise your role and spend more time sourcing potential candidates on it. According to LinkedIn, 87% of its members are potentially open to new job opportunities and attracting these types of candidates is a great way to get better talent into your business. If you can attract a candidate who is working in a similar role, or with a competitor, their spin-up time will be less than someone who is not coming from similar work. Having a new employee who can hit the ground running sounds appealing right? Of course it does! – but you will never get their attention unless either your company or your agency are putting in the hard work to capture them.
View your company as an outsider
A high number of job seekers want to research a company before having their CV put forward to a job. Having a strong brand and recognizable culture is very helpful in attracting potential talent. If your company does not look better than the one they are currently employed at, it is harder to get them to jump ship! I would suggest looking at your company through the eyes of someone looking for a job – does your website reflect a fresh and modern place of work? Are you marketing your company on social media reflecting company culture? Do you have a Glassdoor account with positive reviews from employees? (Only last week I had someone bring up negative reviews on Glassdoor!) These are factors you would probably be looking at if you were applying for a job, so try and answer “yes” to all those questions.
Make sure your job description looks great
You need to capture the attention of your ideal candidate, encourage them remember the role, or make a passive candidate reply to your approach. To do this, the whole job spec needs to be written in an upbeat tone. Start with the job title, naming the role something that will match most of your target audience. Say why your company is great to work for as this may act as a hook to entice the reader in. Follow this with a job summary painting a picture of the role, its purpose and, importantly, its impact. List responsibilities the hire will take on. Then list a few specific skills/qualifications required to be considered. Lastly, a summary of all the benefits and perks included, ending as you started …selling! Your job spec should reflect your company brand and the personality that your business has worked hard to grow. If what is posted online is over three quarters of a page, it is too long.
Appeal to candidates
High calibre jobseekers are seeking out a company that provides benefits beyond a pay cheque.. These can be tangible benefits such as health insurance or flexible working, or they can be the intangible aspects of spending their time in a good working environment. Be clear with what your company can give a potential employee and make your business stand out as opposed to those who think a high salary is the only factor.
Treat interviews as a two-way street with candidates
Have part of an interview with specific questions that you can use to assess candidates’ responses against others interviewing. A second part should feel like a conversation rather than an interrogation. Your company will be more memorable to a candidate if you both challenge them with questions that makes them think, as well as showing them that you are engaged in a way that other companies are not. A jobseeker is also interviewing you just as much as you are interviewing them, so be sure to use that time to really feel each other out and make sure it is a good fit for both parties.