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Are you ‘match fit’ to win the best talent this summer?

It’s the start of a new year. Typically, the peak recruitment time of the year as people come back from their holidays, refreshed and ready for a change. There may be plenty of workers open to opportunities and actively seeking jobs right now, but so too are there plenty of job adverts.

Resignations trigger vacancies and March is the month when job adverts spike. This means you are competing against more of your competitors for talent, often for roles seeking similar skills and experience.

So, how are you going to stand out in a competitive market and win the best candidates?

Here’s a training drill to get you back to basics:

1. Warm up: It starts with the job advert

You’ve got to be in it to win it, as they say. When a job seeker enters their job search criteria, your advert needs to come up, so understanding how to get yourself seen on the leading job boards is the first step. Yes, budget has a lot to do with it. The more you budget, the more likely you are to be shown at the top of the list. However, having the right search words within the title and the body of your text will also help the job board to find your advert organically when it looks for relevancy. You also need to make sure your advert is finding candidates where they are. That could be a mainstream job board, social media, specialist industry websites or a combination of all.

2. Are you selling your role or fumbling the ball?

Consider these 2 job adverts:

“Cleaner Wanted: Must have own car, experience and equipment.”

“Cleaner Wanted: We value your skills! Regular morning shifts, $26 per hour, great team and staff discounts.”

Which advert do you think gets the best applicants? Contrary to the old-fashioned opinion that a job advert is about what The Boss wants, it’s a fact that the most qualified and experienced candidates are selective about what jobs (and teams) they apply for. Is that going to be yours?

We have written heaps of helpful blogs if you want more advice.

3. Communicate with your candidates

When someone has taken the time to apply, it’s not only good manners to acknowledge them, it’s a good move for your company’s reputation. The engagement process begins at this point and how you handle it can make a big difference as to whether talented candidates withdraw or continue through to offer.

Best practice is a ‘thank you for applying’ email, letting applicants know how the process will work and when they can expect to hear back from you. The bare minimum is a ‘thank you for applying’ and then a decline email as applicable.

Completely unacceptable from an employer brand point of view, is the ‘only successful candidates will hear from us’ approach. Candidates don’t like that! It doesn’t matter how big or small your organisation is, candidates can also be your customers so it’s best to reflect your company values at all times.

A basic candidate management system will help you automate this process and, even for small businesses that hire once a year, you can rent a cloud-based facility ‘on demand’ for less than $200, which we think is a worthwhile investment!

4. Your candidates will be evaluating you as much as you are assessing them

Nothing is more frustrating than going through the interview process, making an offer to your dream candidate (or draft pick) and then having them decline. This happens a lot! Often, it’s because they got another offer from a competitor at the same time and it’s not always about the money. The most common reasons are timing, opportunity and ‘fit’ with the manager/culture.

When it comes to timing, again, this is where a candidate management system (like our sister company Talent Propeller) can really help. Application forms, CVs, interviewer notes, references and skills tests are all in one place. You can easily collaborate with HR and other stakeholders to make decisions quickly, without having to email back and forward.

If you are adding to your team this year, good luck and feel free to reach out if we can help. 

Are you ‘match fit’ to win the best talent this summer?