Talent wars may be a dream come true for skilled candidates, but competing for great employees can leave employers hanging. When there doesn’t seem to be much interest in your open positions, you might wonder what you can do better. Making matters more challenging is that all your competitors appear to be looking for help, too. And they may be eye-balling both active and passive job seekers, including some of your star staff members.
While finding good employees can be harder than expected, there are ways to get a leg up. A few of these methods involve tweaking strategies you might already be familiar with. Others could be new approaches that get you thinking outside the box. Below are some techniques to use in your quest to find talented new hires.
Go Beyond Your Conventional Candidate Pool
Certain business models, such as brick-and-mortar retail, limit hiring pools to local candidates. But if your business can accommodate remote work, you open up the possibility of finding out-of-state or even global talent. To enable your international hiring efforts, your company can work with an employer of record or establish local entities.
Creating overseas subsidiaries or legal entities can make sense if you plan on hiring more than a few employees. Maybe you’ve identified an attractive international labor market with candidates that will be good fits for various positions. This approach might also pay off if your company plans on sticking around in that market for a while.
Yet setting up a bunch of legal entities can get expensive. The average costs range from $15,000 to $20,000 in most countries. These figures are only for initial expenses and do not include the price tag for recurring admin and office needs. If you want to hire one candidate from Spain and another from Thailand, legal entity expenditures could prove prohibitive.
An employer of record (EOR) service that already has a legal entity in the location you want to hire from can help. The EOR is the employer on paper, but your company gains local staff with the desired expertise and outlook. Similar to professional employer organizations, EORs also handle the HR side of things such as payroll. But an EOR goes a step further by ensuring companies stay in compliance with a country’s labor laws.
Create a Stand-Out Employer Brand
Job seekers are encouraged to develop a unique personal brand when crafting a résumé, cover letter, or LinkedIn profile. Companies can do the same with online career and HR website pages or microsites. An organization’s employer branding should also extend to applicable social media platforms, job board postings, and employer review sites.
Creating and managing a strong brand pays off in recruiting and retention. Research shows that 75 percent of active job seekers are more likely to apply to companies that actively manage their employer brand. About 50 percent of candidates won’t accept an offer from an organization with a poor reputation, even for a raise. And employers that stay on top of branding can decrease turnover by up to 28 percent.
Candidates who don’t have an inside link to your company will first go to your website and social media pages. They’re looking for who you are as an employer, what you stand for, and what current employees have to say. Beyond a list of perks and financial incentives, job seekers want a glimpse of what working for you looks like. Consider adding behind-the-scenes videos, employee spotlight blogs, and catchphrases that emphasize your core values.
Take a Closer Look at Your Job Descriptions and Postings
Sometimes posting a generic help wanted or “We’re Hiring!” notice is enough to bring a star candidate to your door. But in a competitive labor market, where everyone’s looking for specialized skills, compelling job descriptions and postings are a must. Using worn-out phrases or getting too technical might repel qualified applicants.
Mismatched descriptions touting roles perfect for recent graduates and long lists of specialized qualifications will also turn off candidates. You’ll leave job seekers shaking their heads with postings for entry-level positions that nevertheless insist on three years of experience.
Even if your area doesn’t require you to list salary ranges, including pay rates helps set expectations. You’ll save time and disappointment if you’re upfront about hiring budgets early in the process.
Besides clear descriptions of a position’s core responsibilities and performance standards, job postings should highlight why the company is unique. You can include things like mission statements, values, and career development opportunities. But also consider who your intended audience is and why they would want to do this job in your organization. Include language that communicates the why and pulls them in. Add links to your career site and employee reviews.
Once you’ve perfected your job descriptions, find job boards, events, or professional networks that target your ideal candidate. If you’re hiring for entry-level positions, reach out to colleges and universities with career services and informational events. Some online job boards appeal to remote job seekers or those who specialize in tech or marketing. Start building a database or pipeline with potential applicants from referrals, career-oriented sites, and internal employees.
Finding the Best Match
Finding the best people proves to be more difficult when strong contenders have more choices. Cutthroat labor markets often require employers to get creative and revisit company identity strategies. You can do this by searching outside conventional hiring pools, developing distinctive employer branding, and aligning descriptions with candidates’ motivations. Putting these methods into practice can help you shorten the time you’ll take to find that great match.
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