If you want to boost your hiring strategy, there is one key question you should be focused on: What will make our company stand out in the final rounds of an applicant’s job hunt? Apply these top 5 tips and you’ll most definitely stand out from the crowd and secure the top talent!
Today’s recruiters have their work cut out for them: the market is arguably more competitive than ever before, and unemployment is impressively low.
While this is wonderful news for the economy, it means hiring professionals need to roll up their sleeves and dig deep.
Now is the time for your team to take steps that stand out from the crowd in order to secure the best talent - otherwise, you’re set to be left behind.
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I’ve been fortunate to work with wonderful talent at Messina Group Staffing for over 15 years, and we’ve learned quite a lot in the process. We pride ourselves on providing personal, high-touch service, and have seen precisely what resonates with candidates.
The question I will cover in this article is:
What will make your company stand out in the final rounds of an applicant’s job hunt?
Curious to know the answer? Keep reading!
These are the top five tips we’ve found in today’s recruiting field:
In a video-chat and data-driven world, it’s easy to get too caught up in our online presence - and forget that the brick and mortar office makes a major impact on every candidate that walks through the door. A good workplace is your first real-time impression on a job-seeker, and should accommodate your team while making new faces feel at home, too.
The physical surroundings in your company’s home carry serious weight in your employees’ overall mood, productivity, and wellbeing. Carefully consider what works for you, and for the candidates you hope to welcome to your team. For some, that means comfortable lounge spaces and more natural light for work. For others, it means personal retreats on-site to decompress after meetings. For Petsmart, Dogtopia, and many other animal-loving offices, it means lots of happy dogs. Make it yours!
And better yet, consider hosting an open house for your next hiring event - there’s nothing like welcoming a candidate into your space to make them feel valued.
While it feels great to see a candidate walk through your office door, they’ll likely have met your company in the digital space first. Whether it’s a lively Facebook feed, a colorful Instagram presence, or a dedication to messaging back on Twitter, authentic accessibility is key in today’s job market.
Paid posts and job advertising are critical for visibility, but that style of presence makes little impact on applicants seeking a human behind your brand. Traditional job boards are all business, but a strong social channel creates opportunities for direct connection with talent.
Host video tours, live chats, or AMA-style introductions to your team and your workplace on social media - all in real time! Invite talent to truly get to know you. These kinds of interviews carry genuine human impact, and that’s just what you need to draw great hires.
Who knows your culture best, and has a real-time eye to what talent your teams need? That’s right, current employees. While traditional networking can yield wonderful solutions, your company already organically possesses a built-in chain of far-reaching connections.
The value of a genuine recommendation is worth its weight in gold, and empowering your employees to connect directly with potential recruits pays dividends.
For some companies, this means that each employee has “recruitment cards” to offer a candidate with great potential. Others implement a full-on referral incentive - there’s nothing like good old-fashioned dollars and cents to motivate your potential talent hunters.
As Lars Schmidt wrote for Fast Company, “Most job descriptions suck.” It’s true - writing a great job posting is equal parts art and science, and it’s one of the most critical steps in your hiring process. While it’s important for a job description to incorporate key nuts and bolts of a position, your job posting needs more than just fine print to attract the best candidates.
Core values, brand vision, and big picture goals are essential to your team in their day-to-day work: don’t forget to incorporate a sense of why you do what you do into your job descriptions, too!
From top to bottom, always be clear. Communicating clear expectations is critical to helping talent determine if they’ll fit in, or if your workplace is an exciting place for them. Does this talented applicant feel inspired by what you want to achieve? According to WorkPlaceTrends, 72% of hiring managers believe that their job descriptions are communicative and clear. When asked the very same question, only 36% of the candidates in the survey agreed.
If there were a single skill that I could gift to every one of my recruiters, it would be top-of-the-line listening. We know that the best leaders are always the best listeners, but the best interviewers and hiring managers also rely on a keen ear. Listen to what your team needs, and what your candidates want. Be attentive to who they are, what matters to them, and what they hope to gain professionally. These little details are what helps make lasting, successful matches, and sets people up for long-term happiness.
We spend much time working in engineering and technology: notoriously tough, competitive fields. They’re not known for being particularly warm or inclusive. However, the team at Workday hangs that stereotype out to dry - 89% of their employees report that “management genuinely seeks and responds to suggestions and ideas,” and celebrates people “who try new and better ways of doing things, regardless of the outcome.”
That’s code for active, attentive listening. The open ear at their office starts in the interview process, and has landed Workday at #2 on the Fortune list of best large tech workplaces!
Always remember: hiring exceptional people isn’t merely sorting through resumes and portfolios. Superstar talent is shopping the market for their next great opportunity, and you’d best be ready to sell to them!
Ellen Mullarkey is a Vice President of Business Development with Messina Group. Ellen joined Messina more than 25 years ago after graduating from the University of Iowa. She has been instrumental in establishing and expanding Messina’s staffing divisions.
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