With an average of 657,000 job vacancies advertised every month in the UK from February to April 2021, it would be fair to say that there is a lot of competition to secure talent.
It is, therefore, vital to pay attention to your recruitment strategy and ensure you are attracting good candidates to your roles. It is particularly important when you are recruiting for popular types of roles where there is a skills shortage. These are some steps you can take to entice candidates to your roles.
1. Build Your Employer Brand
One of the most important steps you can take to entice candidates to your roles is to ensure you build a positive employer brand. Your employer brand is the perception others have of your company as a place to work. When you have a strong brand, it makes it much easier to recruit, as people are aware of who you are, and they have a positive impression of what it would be like to work for you. Google is one such company with a strong employer brand. Not only are they an instantly recognisable brand, but they also offer lots of benefits to their employees. These include free food; on-site health care and they also allow employees to bring their pets to work. You can start building your brand by, firstly, finding out what previous employees and candidates think about your brand. You can do this by looking on Glassdoor and searching on social media to discover what people are saying. Then, you can take steps to address any concerns and also find new and creative ways to make your brand more interesting.
2. Refine Your Recruitment Strategy
You should also consider refining your recruitment process to ensure it’s not putting candidates off. For instance, making sure that the process is not too long and that you are providing feedback to candidates. Candidates don’t want to spend 30 minutes or more filling out application forms. If this is part of your process, consider asking for a CV instead. Make sure you are always responding to candidates when they apply for a job. For instance, using an ATS to automatically reply to candidates at different stages in the process. It is also important to ensure the process from recruiting to hiring is timely and you don’t leave candidates waiting for months to start. This is where an ATS can be useful. You can use this recruitment technology to reduce your time to hire.
3. Consider Remote Work
Depending on the role, you may want to see if you can open your pool of candidates by providing an option for remote working. It may be the case that you will need to persuade managers or clients to consider this option, but it could really help with your recruitment efforts. With technology as it is and the capabilities we have understood from the pandemic, many jobs can be done completely, or partly at home.
4. Understand Your Audience
Think about the market you are targeting and try to keep this in mind when you are advertising and speaking to candidates. Try to relate to your candidates in some way, otherwise, they will be unlikely to engage with you. Candidates want to feel that you relate to them, and it will help your recruitment efforts if you know where to find them. For example, if you are looking to recruit someone at Director level, you will want to focus on the elements of the role that will be particularly interesting to them, such as the type of company it is and the employees they will be responsible for, as well as the salary and other benefits. If recruiting a graduate, you may want to partner up with Universities and focus on the opportunities for progression as well as any flexible working opportunities. It is vital to understand the type of candidates you are recruiting and tailor your processes to suit them.
5. Value Candidates
If you value your candidates in the same way as clients or customers, you will leave a better impression on them. This can be as simple as keeping in touch with them, ensuring you offer them feedback on job applications and interviews, and answering any questions they may have. Most candidates are just looking for you to be available to them, and communicative. If you ignore their calls and generally don’t value their time, it will put them off joining your company.
It is often the simplest steps that make the biggest difference when attracting candidates for your roles, especially simplifying, and speeding up your processes. This can be achieved with the right ATS or Recruitment CRM. At Rectec, we provide recruitment technology comparison services allowing you to quickly and easily compare recruitment technology solutions offered by a wide range of vendors. In fact, you can find your perfect ATS in as little as 15 minutes.
Rectec Compare is a completely free service for employers and recruitment agencies, which saves enormous amounts of time and effort and provides greater confidence in your technology buying decision.
A quick, responsive process is what you need to attract and engage the best talent.
At Rectec we help organisations to find the best Applicant Tracking System or best Recruitment CRM to suit your needs, accompanied by our unique complimentary tech marketplace, to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business.
You can click here to register for Rectec Compare – and best of all, it’s completely free of charge.