Recruiting in the Modern Day
Recruiting qualified and talented employees is an important task. In the recent past, employers appeared to hold all the power when it came to hiring. There were many excellent candidates competing fewer positions and as a result, they often took the first opportunity offered to them. However, today, due to extremely low levels of unemployment, the tables have turned and now candidates hold more power than they previously did. The competition to hire the best employees is between employers and candidates can afford to be choosy during the process. If you are hiring, you must find a way to set your company apart from the others.
Recruiting is no longer as simple as posting an open position on a website knowing that you will attract candidates. It is now necessary to market your company as a place that people choose to work. One of the methods used is known as inbound recruiting. This is a strategy that entices candidates into wanting to choose you as their next employer, whether that be by impressing them with a clean and modern workplace facility, making them feel at home and at ease integrating with other employees, or promoting a healthy and friendly workplace culture. Kristina Martic, an author at TalentLyft, says “If you are looking for a long-term solution to advance your recruiting and hiring strategy, inbound recruiting is the recruitment trend you should adopt.”
Another important term to keep in mind is “employer brand”. This is essentially your company’s internal reputation among employees. With the popularity of sites like GlassDoor, Indeed, and others, where employees can post anonymous reviews about a company, potential candidates are researching your company perhaps even before you’ve placed an ad. It is extremely important to maintain a strong employer brand. According to TalentLyft, “Research by LinkedIn has proven that more than 75% of job seekers research about firm’s reputation and employer brand before applying. Companies with bad reputation not only struggle to attract candidates, but they also struggle to retain employees.”
Another popular form of recruitment that has emerged recently is social recruiting. When used effectively, social recruiting helps spread your brand message across social media channels and gives potential candidates a look at your company culture. This includes posting job ads on your company’s website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. Studies have shown that around 49% of employers utilizing social recruiting found higher quality candidates. A survey done by Capterra showed that 73% of 18-34 year old found their last job through social media so this is an area that cannot be overlooked.
Lastly, data driven recruitment utilizes metrics to optimize candidate quality and provide hiring insights. By using applicant tracking systems and recruitment marketing software at the same time, you gain knowledge into the quality of a hire and how much the hire cost. By properly analyzing the metrics you can then determine where you are sourcing your high quality, effective candidates. While it can be challenging to pull all the data together, in the long run this provides a more streamlined, efficient process for hiring.
With the shift in employee/employer power, it is important to make your company desirable and stand out from other employers. Recruiting occurs over many channels. Using a combination of the ideas and methods above helps increase the chance that a candidate will look to your company first for their next opportunity.
