One of the hot topics for 2020 in recruiting remains candidate experience. This is not surprising given record low unemployment rates. Candidates have more choice than ever when picking the next employer. As a business owner, you may need to make significant adjustments to your hiring process to stay competitive and hire the talent you need.
For companies that don’t have a dedicated talent acquisition team in house, this may seem like a daunting task. Fear not, the recruiting team at Resourcing Edge has a variety of solutions to help businesses like yours with hiring needs. By partnering with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) such as Resourcing Edge, businesses have experts in HR, payroll, risk, benefits, and recruiting.
Knowing that help is available if you need it, let’s look at some of the trends in the world of candidates today.
Competition
If your business is feeling the pressure to hire the best people this year to fill key roles, it is likely your competitors are too. How is your company going to stay competitive to win the war on talent? Remember that candidates are likely looking at more than one job at a time. You must give them a compelling reason to choose your company. Don’t despair even if your organization isn’t the biggest and doesn’t have the biggest hiring budget in your industry. Being competitive means more to candidates than just money. In fact, this is often an area where small or medium-sized businesses can get creative and outshine their larger counterparts. Here are some areas to consider when looking at employee compensation, benefits, and perks and some questions candidates might ask as they consider the full job offer.
- Location – What is the commute time and how might that affect expenses related to wear and tear on a vehicle and gas? Is there public transportation available to a new employer?
- Benefits – Does an employer offer the coverage I need at an affordable price (PS – a PEO can help with that aspect as well)
- Flexibility – Can I work from home occasionally or telecommute? Am I able to take my PTO in small increments so I don’t have to burn a full day for a doctor’s appointment? (PS – the HR Pros at Resourcing Edge can help with drafting policies for more flexible work environments that are attractive to candidates)
- Mission – Is this organization mission-driven?
- Growth Potential – Is there an opportunity to grow within the organization?
- Perks – Does this potential employer offer healthy snacks in the breakroom, lunch & learns, company events, education reimbursement, or an incentive program?
Technology
In this tight hiring market, candidates expect employers of all sizes to embrace technology. The standard is for documents in the hiring process such as application and offer letter to be in an electronic format that is easy to use. Candidates also look for job ads that have an “easy apply” option with their favorite job board, such as LinkedIn or Indeed. Employers may find that using hiring technology, such as an applicant tracking system (ATS), makes life much easier when it comes to offering user-friendly hiring documents. Many ATS, including Resourcing Edge’sre360 Talent Connect, offer an easy candidate application process, document management, and automation for employers. With re360 Talent Connect, you can automate the offer letter and send it directly from within the system.
Communication
Embracing technology in the hiring process often helps address candidate communication, another trend in today’s hiring market. To be an employer of choice with a good reputation, you must provide regular updates to candidates, even if it isn’t good news. Providing clear time frames by which the candidate will receive feedback after an interview and then following through on that promise greatly enhances the candidate experience. Technology can be a great help in providing reminders about candidate follow up and even automating emails to candidates at different stages in the hiring process. Our team at Resourcing Edge can help you implement a hiring technology solution to make sure you never ghost another candidate.
Cultural Fit
Employers and candidates alike are focused on culture fit when it comes to hiring decisions. Employers want to know that a candidate will fit in well with their culture and has the personality traits and soft skills to do the job well, not just the technical skills required. Candidates want to know that they are working for a company with a like-minded culture. As an employer, your job posting should have already shared a bit about your company with a potential candidate. During the interview process, be prepared to talk about your culture, the good and the bad, as that is a top candidate question asked during interviews. When assessing cultural fit, there are hiring tools that can help ensure a consistent process that emphasizes your unique company culture. For example, using an interview guide, especially one that integrates with your hiring technology like re360 Talent Connect, can ensure you are asking all candidates the same questions that pertain to your culture.
Employer Brand
Of all the items on this list, employer brand is probably the most difficult for most employers to tackle. Employer Brand refers to how your company is viewed as a place to work. This is influenced by reviews from current and past employees as well as the opinions a candidate draws after reviewing your career page. As Warren Buffett stated, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Even if your company isn’t in a place to revamp your career page right now, you can at least vow to keep your employer brand in mind and not tarnish its reputation. The little things like how you speak of your company and the position in a job ad or ensuring you respond in a timely fashion to candidates during the hiring process can have a real impact on your employer brand. It’s no surprise that the use of technology tools as it relates to hiring can make this process easier and more automated.
Sales Mentality
The role of the recruiter or hiring manager is evolving to include more of a sales approach with candidates. If you plan to ask candidates what they would bring to your organization, expect that they will be asking you why they should bring their talents to your organization. Prior to any conversation with a candidate, be prepared to speak to what makes this a great opportunity and why this is a great place to work. Bonus points for taking a personalized approach and speaking to an individual candidate’s pain points during the interview. As an example, if a candidate says they can’t grow within their current organization, speak to how things might be different with your company, assuming that would be true. Perhaps you have career pathing in place that illustrates how the candidate could move from this position into others, a mentorship program or a history of promoting from within. Think of it as a sales pitch and look for opportunities during the interview to share why your company should be an employer for choice for them.
In today’s candidate-driven hiring market, employers must adapt their hiring process to remain competitive. Thankfully, the experts at Resourcing Edge can help your company with its hiring needs whether that is full-service recruiting or hiring technology tools that you can use yourself. We look forward to connecting with you to talk hiring! Email recruiting@resourcingedge.com for more information.
Marisa Horton is a recruiter at Resourcing Edge. She supports clients across several industries, including healthcare, sales, and business operations.
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