The Candidate Drought – How to Adapt Your Recruiting Efforts

If you’re looking to hire top candidates right now, I don’t have to tell you that top talent is scarce. With an unemployment rate of under 4% and 6 million jobs left unfilled, it’s hard not to feel the effects of this candidate drought.

Back in 2010, the unemployment rate was around 10%. Employers had a much easier time finding top candidates. They were able to take their time and had their pick of qualified applicants knocking at their door.

Yet, the job market has since recovered. Skilled candidates are in demand and your past recruiting approaches likely won’t work in today’s market.

Instead, you need to adapt your recruiting efforts, including making your company more attractive to top candidates, expanding your search criteria, proactively pursuing candidates, and improving the candidate experience.

If you make these changes to your own recruitment process, you will succeed in hiring talented candidates for your company.

EXPLORE NEW RECRUITING STRATEGIES

If your recruiting strategy is waiting around for top candidates to apply to your job posting, then your recruiting strategy is stuck in the past.

When talent is scarce, your recruiting strategy needs to focus on pursuing and engaging with your preferred candidates, not waiting for them to come to you.

LINKEDIN RECRUITING STRATEGY

Go where professional candidates and employees hang out, namely, LinkedIn. While it’s possible to recruit candidates in your network using your personal LinkedIn account, you won’t have all the features and tools needed to perform a more complete search.

A subscription to LinkedIn Recruiter allows you to see profiles outside your network and you will have access to 100 InMails per month. You can use these InMails to directly reach out to potential candidates about your open positions. InMails are a great way to get candidates to respond too — the response rate is three times higher than a regular email.

But, these features don’t come without a price. A subscription to LinkedIn Recruiter can cost upwards of $6,000 per user each year. And, having a subscription doesn’t make candidates magically appear.  You still need a skilled user that is able to find the candidates that fit your needs. Candidates are less likely to respond to job opportunities during this low unemployment market. You will have to reach out to hundreds of candidates per open position to get four qualified candidates to interview.

NICHE JOB BOARDS

Another option is to search niche job boards in your industry, region, or job function. Many professional associations and clubs will also have their own job boards for their members. While these niche job boards won’t have the volume of using LinkedIn, you will have access to candidates with more specialized skills and relevant experience.

Niche job boards are also a great option if you’re in a high-demand technical industry or if you’re looking for candidates with a unique skill set or expertise.

SOCIAL RECRUITING

In addition to LinkedIn, using other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are also effective. They’re a great way to narrow the candidate pool more effectively and quickly find targeted, qualified candidates.

In fact, according to Jobvite, 83% of job seekers prefer Facebook over any other social network. It’s also a great option if you’re looking to hire Millennials. 73% of 18-34-year-olds found their last job through social media, according to Capterra.

There are many ways to use social media to recruit top candidates, but a few ideas are to amplify your message using a consistent posting schedule, promote your employer brand with images and videos, and even create your own Facebook groups and discussions.

SPECIALIZED RECRUITING FIRM

If you’ve been unsuccessful at finding the right candidate for your open position, it might be time to call in a professional. A specialized recruiting firm will have access to tools, subscriptions, and databases that will help them quickly source and recruit top talent for your company.

You can even hire a recruiting firm in your industry or who has expertise in recruiting for your open position. This is a great option if you’re hiring for a technical position with very specific requirements or if you need to hire someone ASAP.

EMPLOYEE REFERRAL PROGRAM

If you don’t have a strong employee referral program then you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

According to recently released data, employee referrals continue to be employers’ top source of hires, delivering more than 30 percent of all hires overall in 2016 and 45 percent of internal hires.

Employee referrals even improve quality-of-hire and retention rates while lowering hiring costs.

And your referral program doesn’t have to be complicated either. The less work an employee has to put in the more successful the program will be.

For example, have your employees provide your recruiting team with a name and some way to contact the referred candidate. You can even provide your team with an incentive if their referral is hired. It’s that simple.

CONTRACT STAFFING

Another way to handle the lack of talented candidates is to hire contractors or freelance talent.

According to Randstad Sourceright’s 2017 Talent Trends Report, more HR leaders are turning to a contingent workforce due to rampant skill shortages and a lack of qualified and available talent. The Randstad report shows 80% of HR leaders think their organizations will be affected by the scarcity of talent this year.

This is a great, cost-effective option for employers, especially if you need to get someone into the position quickly without the risk of turnover. And, just because an employee is working on a contract basis, doesn’t mean they’re not talented. Those who work on contract are hard-working, and they are looking for rewarding, well-compensated experiences, just like any other employee.

Whichever option you choose, make sure there’s a dedicated person on your team or outside resource to drive and lead your recruiting efforts. If you’re not willing to put in the hours to call, email, and text candidates, then you’re not going to find the right candidates, no matter which strategy you choose.

STAND OUT FROM OTHER COMPANIES

If you’re interviewing a top-performing candidate, be aware that they are likely being pursued by other companies as well. That means you need to make sure your company stands out above the competition as a desirable place to work. There are two places you should focus your recruiting efforts to stand out — compensation and branding.

COMPENSATION IS KEY

While wellness programs and vacation days are nice perks to have when accepting a new position, top candidates want competitive compensation.

If you don’t know what a competitive salary looks like today, then do your research. There are many websites and salary guides available to help you understand not only what is a competitive salary, but what salaries will help you beat out the competition.

Even if you think you know what a competitive salary is, you should double check. What was competitive even six months ago, depending on your industry, may be outdated today.

Also, compensation varies across the country. Compensation for hot markets like Austin, San Francisco, and New York change rapidly. Don’t assume you can get an annual salary report and assume it will hold for years. If you’re unsure, contact someone who deals with compensation on a daily basis, like a recruiting firm or compensation specialist.

Finally, whatever you do, don’t low-ball a top candidate — it’s a surefire way to have them reject your offer. Show them an offer that is worthy of their skills and talent.

COMPANY BRANDING

In addition to compensation, company branding also plays a big role in attracting and hiring top candidates. If your company has a good reputation then there’s a good chance a candidate will follow up with you and respond to your emails.

You can showcase your employer brand using your own website or social media. Take videos and pictures to show candidates what it’s really like to work at your company. Make sure your website features recent content and awards. The same goes for social media – make sure you’re posting regularly on your company profiles.

You should also research the competition. What are your competitors doing differently to stand out and attract top talent? What companies are you current employees leaving you for or where are candidates accepting other offers? You can learn some of this information by performing exit interviews with employees or searching sites like Glassdoor.

EXPAND YOUR SEARCH CRITERIA

If you’re still not able to find candidates using new recruiting strategies, then you should consider expanding your search criteria. While you shouldn’t compromise on things like culture fit or integrity, there are ways to widen your search so that you’re still hiring top performing candidates.

REQUIREMENTS – Take a look at your current job description requirements. Is everything in there an absolute must-have, or just a nice to have? For example, does the candidate need a master’s degree to do the job? Or could experience offset the lack of a degree? Could you provide training to help them fill in the gaps?

BACKGROUND – In the past, employers have overlooked candidates who had taken a sabbatical or candidates who are transitioning from a radically different field. In today’s market, if you find a great candidate with a good background, you should take a second look.

LOCATION – One of the best ways to expand your candidate pool is to open up the job location and consider remote candidates. Doing so will help you find the very best talent, and even find talent in non-urban areas to work for your company.

INDUSTRY – Many employers significantly reduce the size of their talent pool by only considering candidates in their industry. There are many benefits to hiring candidates outside your industry, including fresh ideas about ways to go to market.

WORK HOURS – Not everyone has the ability to work a rigid 9 to 5 job. Consider letting candidates make a schedule that works for them and use performance metrics to make sure they’re reaching their goals.

EXPERIENCE – Many job descriptions require specific years of experience. But you have to determine if you can adjust that number at all. Instead of 5 years of experience, could you change it to 3-5 and provide extra training to make sure a top candidate is up to speed? Or could you consider a candidate with a lot of experience, in a different job function?

Expanding your job requirements and considering non-traditional candidates can be cost-effective and offer diverse perspectives to your organization. However, don’t compromise on a culture fit or must-haves for the position

TREAT YOUR CANDIDATE LIKE A CUSTOMER

A common mistake many companies make in their recruiting process is to put all their time and energy into sourcing and finding candidates. They then leave little time to devote to the candidate experience.

A difficult application process, not providing timely feedback, and a slow interview process are all red flags for candidates.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Oftentimes, the first real interaction between a company and a job seeker is when a candidate applies for an open position. Too many companies have complicated application processes that require candidates to create a username and password. Some companies even have candidates fill out over ten pages of information before submitting their resume.

Instead, make the application process simple. Try a one-click application process and find ways to make it mobile/tablet friendly. And don’t forget to follow up with them immediately. Whether you’re reaching out to confirm their submission or you have an automated response sent to them, don’t leave candidates thinking their resume went into a black hole.

CONSISTENT FEEDBACK

Candidate feedback is voluntary and may not seem productive or worth your time at first. However, giving feedback helps improve the candidate experience and is a major factor in building a competitive employer brand.

Throughout the interview process, you need to be giving your candidates feedback. Reach out to them every few days to ask how their day is going, even if you don’t have any real feedback for them yet. They’ll appreciate you going the extra mile for them.

If a candidate emails you or has questions, make sure you respond to them immediately. It’s the little things that will make a candidate feel special and important in your process. And the more interaction you have with your candidates, the less time they will have to talk to competitors.

INTERVIEW PROCESS

Try thinking about your current process through the lens of a candidate. How long does it take you to make a decision? How long is your interview process?

If your team doesn’t move quick enough, you’ll risk losing out on top candidates. For example, if one of your interviewers is on vacation for a week, then schedule the interview before or with someone else. In today’s market, a week delay could make all the difference.

IN REVIEW

Today’s workplace and employment market look a lot different than they did eight years ago and your recruiting efforts need to reflect these changing times. Despite the lack of candidates, you can still hire top talent. But, you’re going to need to find the right strategy and put in the work if you’re going to succeed today.

What changes have you had to make to your recruiting process to find top candidates today?

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