The competition for talent is tougher than ever, and recruiters need to rethink every part of the process. Long gone are the days of hundreds of applicants lining up to try and land that coveted spot at your company. Now it’s more important than ever to be agile and adapt to the expectations of the new workers entering the workforce.
After working with thousands of job seekers we’ve found four key things you can do to simplify your recruiting strategy.
1- Connect to potential workers on the devices they have in their hands all day long. Just like the extinction of the classified job ad, the job board is going the way of the dinosaur. Extinct! Move your recruiting process to mobile and create an engaging user experience – not just another web page on a phone.
2- Ditch the resume and dig into the data that helps define a candidate and what they bring to your organization. Especially when hiring hourly workers, we find the resume is not a good reflection of the real job candidate. Use chat to connect and video interviews to understand the communication skills of a candidate and how passionate they are about an opportunity.
3- Ditch the e-mail and phone outreach. Especially for younger candidates, the key to connecting is to use the method they use all day long. Many high school-aged candidates don’t have an e-mail and would never answer a recruiting phone call. But send a text message and they not only are more likely to see it, they are much more likely to respond.
4- Be flexible and provide a candidate an opportunity to succeed. In the past, recruiters looked for all the reasons to disqualify a candidate as they worked the pile of resumes. With the list of available candidates at historic lows, think about how you can provide an opportunity to a candidate that has a minor blemish in their history. You may be surprised and find you’ve hired a grateful employee for life.
As we talk to employers it’s surprising how many are simply posting jobs in more places hoping to attract a candidate. If they don’t think through the entire recruiting experience the result is likely to be more of the same. Treat your recruiting like you would marketing to a customer. Clearly market your opportunity, make the experience of interviewing as friendly as possible and help the candidate understand what you have to offer them that improves their life. Good Luck!