Too Many Empty Chairs?
The working world is obsessed right now with the availability of talent. Many companies just can’t get people into seats fast enough to meet the demand and frustration is boiling.
What’s causing this is debatable. Certainly there are market forces at work that are unprecedented (think for example about how many out-of-town competitors are now shopping for talent in your geographical pool for remote opportunities...)
But I believe the biggest challenge is this: the pandemic has changed the math for job seekers.
My personal belief is that people are going make different calculations post-pandemic as they think about ‘next’ for themselves professionally:
- What they want besides a paycheck in return for their efforts.
- The cost/value of earning vs. raising families or caring for elders.
- What kind of mission, work and culture they want to be associated with.
- Who they want to be around (and how often).
Each step and interaction in your hiring process sends signals to them that they’re taking in and evaluating with this new calculus.
As a hiring entity, your job is to figure out that math and align your messaging with it so that you're drawing clear steps from the market to your door based on your company and opportunity.
You’re communicating at multiple levels. Like human communication there are multiple communication channels (tone, non-verbal, body language) that are more important than the actual words you use.
When the signal is right, strong and consistent across channels, candidates will move from stage to stage with the predictability you're accustomed to and you will get the results you need. When your signals get mixed or convey they wrong things, candidates will step out (quickly) and your funnel is no longer productive or predictable.
If my organization was struggling to get people into and through the hiring process, I’d get as much data together as possible and then very pedantically go through it to see where the challenges are (one of which might be that our data is inadequate...a topic for another time, but a crucial one!!)
Then I’d think through what we’re ‘conveying’ to candidates in each major phase of the process.
1. What you convey in your marketing drives who chooses to enter your applicant process.
The words, tone, messages are all critical – and not just what’s in the job ad or description, but the words coming out of the mouths of your teams at the interest and screening stage. What others are saying about you on social media. Even the frequency with which you interact with niche professional communities might be communicating (are you there only when you have a need, or are you there serving that community?)
Consistency, good selling messages, transparency, goal orientation…if the top of your funnel numbers or quality are down, this is the first place to look.
2. What you convey through your evaluation drives who will fully engage.
Once you have applicants to evaluate, you need them to stick with you through the entire selection process. The focus of that process (is it all about you or them?), your in-flight communications and how well you help them see the start-to-success path are crucial. You’re evaluating them, but you have to facilitate their evaluation of you as well, or you won’t get the best ones to offer stage.
Ease of use, communication, speed and openness. If you are getting the right candidates into the process but they are not staying in it, this is the place to dig down.
3. What you convey in your decisions drives the momentum of a new hire.
Once you have applicants to evaluate, you need them to stick with you through the entire selection process. The focus of that process (is it all about you or them?), your in-flight communications and how well you help them see a path to success are crucial. You’re evaluating them, but you have to facilitate their evaluation of you as well, or you won’t get the best ones to offer stage. And the ones who take offers may well be starting with a chip on their shoulder.
Speed, transparency and sanity are crucial. If you are seeing a drop in your offer-to-accept ratio, or you’re getting to yes but then people are not showing up to work, this is the place to investigate.
Each step in the process is critical. Each must be purposefully designed to convey the right message to candidates. It takes careful design and a business willing to listen and adapt to the market.
Tell me below if you're struggling with this. Would you be interested in joining a Zoom conversation about it?