Guide to Hiring Top Talent Quickly in Today’s Job Market
With the national unemployment rate recently falling to 5.2% , according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s a candidate’s market – and employers must be prepared to compete for top talent. To succeed in today’s tight labor market, recruiters are adapting by reimagining the candidate experience and removing barriers that previously prevented candidates from applying.
Despite shifts in the industry, many of these pitfalls still exist, even amongst the U.S.’s most successful organizations within the Fortune 500. Jobvite recently found that nearly 85% of Fortune 500 companies lack optimized job application processes. Many are losing candidates by requiring applicants to register on their career site before applying to an open role. Some of these companies still do not have sites with functional mobile applications, and many more have not taken advantage of emerging technologies such as intelligent messaging and chatbots.
By finding ways to overcome these challenges, recruiters can better meet the needs of their candidates, hiring better and faster while talent supply is low. Below, find concrete examples from Jobvite’s latest e-book on how recruiting teams can improve efforts by further broadcasting open positions, clearly labeling roles, and going mobile with applications for candidates’ ease of use.
Simplifying the Application Process
With many employers planning to hire at a large volume, the need to simplify the application process has never been greater. Creating a seamless experience for the candidate increases both the quantity and quality of applicants. It should be a no-brainer to remove any barriers preventing job seekers from completing an application.
One culprit preventing candidate conversion is that too many online applications are frankly too long. Why require a complete application before the candidate is being actively considered?
Instead, ask for the bare minimum as a first step encouraging candidates to complete the form quickly and without hassle. Integrating applications with existing platforms, such as LinkedIn or Indeed, allows applicants to pull their experience and qualifications from those third-party tools directly, saving candidates significant time.
Similarly, using “cloud apply” will enable candidates to populate application fields from existing files leveraging cloud-based applications such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
Check In On the Mobile Experience
Having a mobile-optimized application is expected from candidates. Glassdoor recently found that 58% of candidates look for jobs on their phones, and 35% would prefer to apply for jobs from their phones.
By ensuring the mobile application has an approachable and practical user interface, the overall application process will propel candidate conversions forward, causing more candidates to become applicants.
Highlighting Unique Opportunities
A job posting gives candidates an inside look into the requirements for the role. It creates an opportunity for employers to connect with quality job seekers by highlighting the position’s highly sought-after benefits or unique aspects.
Remote (and hybrid) work is more than just a present-day phenomenon, and if a job has work-from-home or flexible work policies, that’s an important aspect to highlight in a job description. In the past year, 54% of recruiters have seen candidates turn down an interview or job offer due to a lack of flexibility and remote work options in the workplace.
Flagging roles as “urgent” with tags or within job titles and descriptions also allows a company to convey an urgent need for a role. This can quickly attract candidates looking for fast interviewing and onboarding processes, plus accelerate hiring for the organization.
Looking Beyond Traditional Sourcing Channels
While short-term fixes such as offering signing bonuses and cash incentives for interviewing may be successful in getting candidates in the door, they do not allow organizations to build reliable pipelines of talent to facilitate long-term growth.
Rather than waiting until you have a hiring crisis, nurturing highly skilled talent on an ongoing basis is the best approach. Utilizing automation and intelligent messaging via text recruiting allows employers to keep a passive stream of candidates engaged. Nearly 70% of job seekers prefer texts over email or phone communication.
It’s essential to quickly share open positions with proven channels, in addition to frequently looking beyond traditional sourcing channels. Candidates prefer to search for job openings on online job boards (60%), social media platforms (44%), and employer career sites (26%).
To adequately broaden your candidate pool, recruiters can leverage recruitment marketing tools to broadcast open jobs to a range of candidates effectively.
By keeping these best practices top-of-mind and utilizing the right tools and technology, talent teams can streamline talent acquisition workflows to increase hiring efficiency.
M.T. Ray is the Customer Success Manager at Jobvite.
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