Attract Talent with these 4 Top Trends

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Capturing People With Marketing The Job Search Television Network (JSTN) recently released a whitepaper, “Top Trends in Talent Attraction for 2014.” The paper offered great data and recruitment trends that I know will benefit any hiring manager, recruiter and/or HR professional.

But, before we jump in, let’s examine why these trends are so important. It’s obvious why any employer would want to invest in talent acquisition and attraction, i.e. to draw in the brightest and most talented candidates to enhance the company. Utilizing the right tools to attract candidates is crucial because it ultimately affects a company’s employer brand.

The whitepaper explains, according to a recent Gallup study, that the benefits of a strong employer brand include:

  • Higher quality candidate pools;
  • Increased attraction of passive candidates;
  • Decreased applicant-to-hire ratios;
  • Decreased time-to-fill and cost-per-hire ratios;
  • Lower turnover; and
  •  A greater likelihood of employees being brand ambassadors for your company.

Each of the above not only benefits your employer brand, but inevitably affects your bottom line. To make it simple, attracting the right talent can ensure success for your business.

So, exactly how can your company bring in today’s top talent? Below are 4 vital recruitment strategies that will help you attract the top of the job seeker market:

1. Video

This was a huge talent attraction trend for 2014 that the whitepaper detailed. And it’s plain to see why: Video is everything (and everywhere) nowadays. Just look at the stats:

  • According to Postwire, video increases retention of website concepts by up to 300 percent.
  • Socialtimes.com infographic says that when a website contains a video, viewers spend an average of 5.33 times longer than on a text website.
  • Comscore found that brands using online video have seen lifts of 20-40 percent in incremental buying power over other ad forms.

When seeking to attract candidates, be sure to include video messaging. JSTN is a perfect example of this. The company features 60-second video clips of an employer explaining a job opening. This is paired with the regular text job description and job seekers can even learn more about a business through 3-minute employer profile clips.

Incorporate video into your job postings, add video to your website on the “About Us” page, include video links on your social media. There is an array of possibilities where your company can begin using video to enhance your employer brand and appeal to top talent.

2. Social recruiting

If you want to attract top talent, you’ll have to meet these types of workers where they thrive—social media. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all great social networking sites to discover today’s brightest workers.

It’s no surprise that the majority of job seekers have social profiles and use them during the job hunt, but did you know implementing a social recruiting strategy also helps your business? According to a mashable infographi c, companies that use social media to recruit experience improvements in:

  • Time-to-hire (33%)
  • Candidate quality (49%)
  • Candidate quantity (43%)
  • Employee referral quantity and quality (32%)

3. Mobile

Mobile is only going to continue expanding in 2014. Brainshark report s:

  • 92 percent of adults in America now own cell phones
  • Studies show that 25 percent of all smartphone owners do most of their online browsing on their mobile phones instead of computers or laptops
  • 70 percent of all mobile searches result in action within one hour

This last bullet point is crucial. Seventy percent of all mobile searches result in people acting upon their search within one hour. Can you imagine if talented job seekers were researching your company on their mobile devices and came across a job opening?

What am I saying? Mobile optimize your website; this is critical for your business to attract talent. Update your ATS or intake process so job seekers can apply via mobile; I assure you, you’ll thank me later.

4. Microsites

The whitepaper explained how microsites provide an excellent way to create engagement while enhancing SEO.  It reads:

All media can be housed within these pages, providing a centralized platform to track specific behavior and create a clear call to action, all while leveraging your own SEO power. This creates a great multiplier effect, especially with the correct mapping site structure.

Don’t see a few talent attraction trends you know will be a hit in 2014? Share them in the comments below!

By Shala Marks