By C. Lee Smith
Do you have a good plan for conquering next year’s hiring challenges? I’ve been hearing about employers struggling to find the best talent. While job postings might bring a deluge of applications, you’ll still need to find the right candidate and convince them to join your company.
I have two suggestions.
First, if you’re having trouble recruiting, you may need to operate more like the marketing department instead of HR. Younger employees, in particular, pay attention to how well a prospective employer fits their vision of where they want to work.
Second, you need to review whether your job descriptions match the work that will be done by your new employees.
Is Your Brand Management Connecting with Potential Employees?
When managers recruit new employees, they may not see the kind of candidates they’re hoping for. Even worse, they may be losing top candidates to the competition. Strategic changes to your company’s branding and job descriptions can help to reduce these problems.
Organizational leaders are accustomed to tasking the marketing department with developing branding initiatives. They know prospective customers are paying attention to details such as the available products or services. Potential customers want to know about quality and price.
Socially conscious consumers and job applicants go a step further. They look for how well a brand takes care of its employees, and sometimes they’re concerned about factors such as whether an employer is a steward of the environment.
To appeal to those individuals, your business can expand the About Us page on your website. And you can engage with concerned citizens on social media. This is a great way to show your company’s support of employees and reduce hiring challenges.
What Do Job Seekers Want?
As an organizational leader, you may not realize that serious job seekers frequently check out company details. According to AudienceSCAN data, nearly 20% of job seekers consider company reputation before accepting a position. And 21% vet the company’s purpose and values. If they don’t find what they want, you will face more hiring challenges.
If your organization hasn’t been thinking about your company’s reputation from these angles, it’s time to start. The HR department may need to forge an alliance with marketing team members. Your goal is to give outsiders, future team members, a peek into the organization. Job seekers are curious about what the work experience might be at your company.
What Types of Posts Attract Jobseeker Attention?
Of course, applicants can glean some information from sites like Glassdoor. But those reviews don’t show the whole picture. When an HR department takes the time to post about employees on the website or social sites, they are sending a message. That message is all about how important team members are to the organization. Simple posts might celebrate:
- Work anniversaries
- Project completions
- Training offered by the company which led to certifications
This kind of positivity will encourage candidates to submit applications for open positions.
Do Your Job Descriptions Contribute to Employee Success?
The second strategy for solving your hiring challenges is to develop custom job descriptions. This is a multi-step process designed to optimize your hiring outcomes.
When it’s time to recruit, review the staff members who have had the most success in the open position. Using a pre-hire assessment platform like TeamTraitTM allows managers to understand the characteristics of these existing employees. The comprehensive assessment results scores motivators, work traits and likely workplace behavior.
Adjusting Job Descriptions
A trained expert should review the typical duties included in the job position. This expert compares the industry standards to the job description written by the employer. When combined with assessment data, they identify specific traits of successful employees who have held the position.
At that point, the job description should be adjusted. Unfortunately, hiring managers often don’t edit the job description. What I see too often is a job description that doesn’t match who the manager is REALLY looking for.
Closing Thoughts
With the right job description and public-facing content, employers can attract great candidates. But there’s another step in the process of reducing hiring challenges. Candidates must take the psychometric assessment, and that step should be completed before an interview takes place.
The hiring manager can focus on potential aspects of an individual’s likely work behavior to ensure the best fit. And they can use the Four FitsTM tool in TeamTrait to determine which candidate to hire.
More job seekers may be entering the market. But that reality doesn’t reduce your hiring challenges. To find the right person, improve your marketing and develop a custom job description.
Opinions expressed by C-Suite Network contributors are their own.
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