Let’s face it. Finding talent is hard these days. The past few years, we’ve seen a shift in working unlike ever before. From initial fears of tremendous layoffs and disrupted industries, we’re now seeing employees resigning from companies in great numbers and having more power to demand better working conditions than ever before. 

Hiring new employees is now probably one of your organization’s top priorities – especially if you’re looking for recruiters, sourcers, developers, or roles in manufacturing.  

 

What are some ways you can keep your organization competitive and attract talent in these times of urgent recruitment? Read below:

 

 

1. Invest in your current workforce.
Regardless of the market conditions at any time, prioritize upskilling your current people. Facilitate expanded role responsibilities, define your internal career paths, publish your jobs internally and actively encourage internal applicants. When promoting employees, share that news internally and externally. This will also foster a culture of growth and development, which you can in turn use externally to make your organization more attractive. 

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2. Reevaluate your requirements.
Take a closer look at your role requirements. Do you really need all the skills listed or are there any that can be removed? Non-majority demographics are more likely to refrain from applying for a role if they believe they don’t fully match the requirements on the job description. The last thing you want to do is exclude anyone from applying if s/he feels s/he does not have every bullet point listed when you’re prepared to compromise anyway.

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For example, how important is that degree for the role? Or the number of years’ experience? Review your applicants’ CVs with a more open mind. To fill the role and keep your business running, it’s okay to give the person with potential the chance and learn on the job with a supportive team. 

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3. Allow flexible working possibilities. 
Large amounts of employees are resigning from inflexible companies because they know that they can find more advantageous working styles elsewhere. If there is no operational reason for your employees to be at a physical location every day, develop work from home policies to allow for remote working or flexible working locations. This means it may be time to invest in new virtual communications technologies or a new intranet platform. 

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If your employees do need to be at a physical location every day, ensure you are promoting a culture of empathy and support if someone needs flexibility. When life happens and an employee needs to leave the production line or warehouse to unexpectedly attend an appointment or care for a family member, your flexibility will mean a lot to him/her. This culture of understanding will also be attractive to those who have only experienced working on-site means being treated like a number. 

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4. Explore new markets.
With new work-from-anywhere possibilities, investigate sharing your job advertisements in neighboring states, countries, or regions. If you can open up to larger geographic expanses to search for talent in, you’re broadening your chances of finding that talent. Companies like Omnipresent, Usemultiplier, and Remote support global and remote payroll solutions. 

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Exploring new markets also means considering profiles you may have not previously thought of – such as part-time students or parents, elderly people looking to develop current skills, people with disabilities or neurodiversity, or refugees. This will also improve your competitiveness of your organization by adding to the diversity of thought and experience. 

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5. Evaluate your rewards and recognition packages.
Are your benefits and remuneration offerings competitive enough? Are your employees leaving because of salary stagnation? Although job-purpose alignment and flexibility are critical factors for talent attraction, fundamentally candidates still place heavy emphasis on monetary progress. Get in touch with us and we’ll help benchmark you in your market. 

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6. Involve your employees. 
Employees still remain the number one source of trust among job seekers. That’s why it’s important that you have a functioning referrals program and all employees are aware of the process. Create a network of employees to be employer brand ambassadors who share content on social media and with their networks, capture stories, engage with internal and external audiences on what’s unique about working at your organization, and training others how to do the same.

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7. Build out your careers site.
Your careers site is your most important “owned” talent acquisition and employer branding channel. Your goal is to drive talent there to learn about your organization, your offerings, culture, and roles. It’s vital that your careers site provides information that candidates are looking for. Show them why working with you is cooler than anywhere else. Captivate them in an appealing way so they’ll be compelled to click “apply now”. 

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8. Host your own career fair.
Not going to live career fairs anymore? Create your own virtual “booth” to invite talent to. Communicate with local universities, employment agencies, community centers, and let them know you’re regularly hiring. Create talent pools and subscription mailing lists. Plan a virtual event with speakers from across your organization and be sure to end the call by driving people to your careers site to apply for your open roles.  

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Now it's your turn to make a step.

Need help expanding upon the above topics? Want to benchmark your organization to see how attractive it is in your market? Inspiring Employers are ones that make progressive changes in employee working conditions by trailblazing market trends.

 

We will work with you across 10 key organizational and workplace topics: talent acquisition, onboarding, rewards & recognition, learning & development, career development, transparency, diversity, CSR & sustainability, and employer branding. You’ll get a detailed report where you stand in the market with tailored recommendations specific to your organization, along with other means of support. Get in touch today. 
 

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