Navigating the Modern Recruitment Landscape: Strategies for Attracting Top Talent
The Richmond Group USA
Where talent and opportunity have connected since 1967. 57 Years Strong.
Written by Justin Hubbard , Vice President of Construction & Heavy Equipment Search Division
Why is it so difficult to find and recruit top talent in today’s marketplace?
The answer is simple: prospective employees have changed how they look for opportunities and evaluate potential employers. Job descriptions are no longer effective in attracting and hiring strong candidates. These shifts in the contemporary employment marketplace have left most companies struggling to find the right employees to help grow their businesses. Employer branding has become one of the most critical factors for companies looking to bring on new talent. Below, we take a closer look at these new challenges and how companies can position themselves to take advantage of these new opportunities.
Identifying and Attracting Top Talent
Attracting the attention of talented candidates is a difficult task. Most talented professionals are currently employed and experiencing a certain level of success with their current employer. These candidates are best described as passive candidates, meaning they are not actively searching for new employment opportunities. Traditional methods of identifying and recruiting talent, such as job postings and career advertisements, result in little to no interest from these desirable candidates. Companies are adapting to this lack of interest by engaging this passive pool of candidates through direct and indirect methods.
Job Descriptions VS Job Opportunities
Job descriptions are no longer effective in today’s employee marketplace. While job descriptions can attract active candidates conducting local job searches, they are not reaching the pool of talented professionals that companies should target. According to a report from Monster, 64% of 2,030 job-seeking survey respondents said they would not respond to an ad with a poorly written or confusing job title, and 60% found jargon in job ads annoying. Most employed or passive candidates have little incentive to apply formally because they are currently employed. Discrepancies in the desired background contained in a job description dissuade otherwise qualified applicants. Many potential candidates do not apply because they disqualify themselves by determining that they are not a match. Companies must shift from posting narrow job descriptions that cause potential candidates to self-select out of the process before the company has even had a chance to engage the candidate in a conversation. Job opportunity postings engage both passive and active candidates. They focus on the candidates and how the available career openings can benefit them. Highlighting the position, the company, and the rewards of a career change gives passive candidates a reason to explore potential career changes. Making this small change can have a dramatic impact on the quantity and quality of candidates applying directly to your postings.
Application Abandonment
An organization's abandonment rates could be anywhere from 60-90%, depending on the application process and candidate experience. Common reasons candidates abandon applications:
What can you do to decrease application abandonment?
Streamline Applications. Your top priority should be to limit the number of screens applicants need to navigate. Find a way to whittle down the number of questions needed at this stage of the process. Make it user-friendly for those applying, but comprehensive enough to get a sense of the applicant’s skills and background. Ensure candidates only need one account to log on throughout the entire process.
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Keep it Short and Sweet. Reduce the time it takes to complete your online job application to five minutes or less; this is particularly important for applicants using their mobiles. The longer it takes, the greater the chance they’ll drop off. Stick to the basics; now is not the time to be asking for references.
Don’t Repeat Yourself. Applicants find it extremely frustrating when asked to enter work histories. Scanned or online resumes or links to a LinkedIn profile should suffice.
Write Concise Job Descriptions/Opportunities. Job descriptions that come in somewhere between 250 and 2,000 words appear to have the highest conversion rate. Include important details, but don’t overwhelm with the tasks the position requires. Instead, focus on company culture and the team they’ll be working with.
Employer Branding
Did you know that 75% of job-seekers consider a company’s employer brand before even applying to a job (CareerArc.com )? How about that 80% of millennials look at people and cultural fit with prospective employers (Inc.com )? Employer branding describes an organization’s reputation as an employer. The availability of information via the internet has made employer branding one of the hottest topics in our marketplace. A company's reputation or outside perception has become one of the most important factors a candidate considers when interviewing and deciding whether to join a new company. Employer branding must be a company-wide effort. The employer brand is maintained and preserved by the entire organization. Technology provides access to information about your company generated by your company and third parties in the form of reviews, news, and other press. As a result, candidates researching your company form their own opinion about the organization before their first interview. In this age of information, your company’s website must accurately describe your culture, the story of your organization, and any other factors important to attracting talented professionals who will be a good fit for the organization. To build your employer brand effectively, the information, message, and culture your company conveys through its website and marketing materials should be consistent, motivating, and positive. Including employee testimonials and why your current employees and new recruits join and stay with your organization will strengthen your employer brand. Encourage your employees to share their stories and experiences with others. Your employees are the voice of your employer brand.
“An employee advocacy program is an excellent way to amplify your brand message on social media…Your advocacy program content and brand channel content should work together to support mutual growth. Start at the beginning. When planning new content, evaluate existing content to discover which pieces had the biggest impact. Empowering employees to create original content can have a bigger impact than having them share company content alone. In a study of 11,107 LinkedIn posts from 2023, company culture and employee-generated content (EGC) dramatically outperformed other content types when generating comments.” (Forbes )
Knowing Your Audience
Before you can properly define your employee value proposition and employer brand strategy, you must know your audience. Who do you want to hire? What are their interests? What can you offer them that makes you an attractive company to work for? Define your audience and then focus on targeted messaging to that audience. Will a local, regional, national, or global message be most effective? Different messages should be used to target recent college graduates as opposed to experienced professionals. Knowing your audience and investing in the most effective messaging will improve the quality of the people you hire and reduce the time spent in the hiring process and hiring costs.
Companies must acknowledge the shifts in how potential candidates determine if and why they should pursue a career change. Understanding what is most important for the desired candidate audience will allow companies to engage with candidates that can contribute to their organizations and support growth. Focusing on your employer brand will play a major role in your ability to engage potential candidates. The time is now to embrace these contemporary recruitment strategies so that you can hire top talent today.
Partnering with a reputable recruitment firm provides you with a trusted resource and consultant to navigate these challenges with. Our expertise in modern recruitment strategies ensures that your organization can efficiently fill roles with the right talent. Contact The Richmond Group USA today and let us help you find the top talent that will drive your business forward!