Eliana Willis

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    Hiring Top Candidates with Today’s Tight Talent Supply

    With a resurgent job market, demand for talent in specialized roles has surfaced gritty competition between employers seeking to quickly fill positions. Recruiters must harness the same creativity they utilized over the last year to adapt their hiring processes and candidate experience or risk losing out on top talent.
    Emerging from a global pandemic, candidates now have greater expectations from recruiters and organizations. According to Jobvite’s 2021 Recruiter Nation survey, 47% of recruiters cited the lack of skilled/qualified candidates as the biggest concern in hiring quality talent.
    By catering to candidates’ needs and offering an optimized apply process, recruiters can gain an edge in today’s candidate market. Jobvite’s latest e-book, “How to Hire Top Talent Quickly,” dives into how recruiting teams can hire top candidates by shifting their recruitment and application processes to compete for a tight talent supply. Below are ways recruiters can apply these insights to better attract quality talent.
    Begin with your employer brand
    Recruiting for highly skilled roles that require extensive training and specialized degrees means standing apart from the competition. Employers can entice top candidates to complete their applications with a unique employer identity that emerges from the cluster of competitor listings.
    48% of recruiters consider a company’s career site a top tool when it comes to growing employer branding. With greater expectations from candidates regarding recruitment processes and company culture, communicating an up-to-date employer brand will streamline attracting high-quality talent. Companies must ensure every channel – from career sites to social media – conveys a consistent, genuine message about their identity as an employer and company. Organizations with a thoughtfully designed brand spend less on recruiting because they do not have to work as hard to sign top candidates.
    Building and maintaining an employer brand is no small task, but it can provide significant long-term benefits. A company’s career site is a great place to start when cultivating an employer brand. Job postings give candidates an inside look into role requirements and create an opportunity for employers to connect with quality job seekers by highlighting their culture and values.
    Elevate the candidate experience
    Attracting specialized candidates requires engaging candidate experience. According to the 2021 Job Seeker Nation Report, the most essential factors to a positive candidate experience are great communication from the employer (54%), ease of scheduling (47%), easy application process (45%), and a quick hiring process (30%).
    Delivering the right experience can often involve taxing coordination of various aspects of the application process. And, leveraging automation can play a crucial role in a talent team gaining a competitive advantage. For example, AI-powered sourcing tools can automatically tap into resume databases and job boards to build a broader, more diverse pool of talent, identifying the relevant skills and experience needed to excel at any job requisition. Utilizing tools like text-to-apply, self-scheduling portals, and chatbots can further help create a streamlined, personal experience for every candidate without the need for tedious manual processes.
    Glassdoor recently found that 58% of candidates look for jobs on their phones, and 35% would prefer to apply for jobs from their phones. Mobile devices serve as an excellent contact point to meet top talent. Ensuring the career site is compatible with mobile browsers will help recruiters reach candidates on the go and prevent candidates from dropping off from the mobile application process.
    Build your talent pipeline
    Recruiters must also build a quality talent pipeline to promptly fill these roles with qualified employees, staying ahead of their competition when a need arises. As businesses and corporations return to full operation, a talent pool presents a readily available candidate database to tap into without letting quality candidates slip through the cracks.
    To create a robust talent pipeline, recruiters should revisit their database of past applicants, sorting candidates that are a good fit by location, skillset, role, and level of engagement. Maintaining a regularly updated database allows recruiters to generate targeted campaign messages, keeping passive candidates engaged year-round. Utilizing intelligent messaging solutions, recruiters can nurture each audience segment via targeted texts, job notifications, and recruitment marketing content so they aren’t faced with a roadblock when in need of talent.
    To round up a talent pipeline, why not tap into the satisfied majority? 82% of workers are likely to click on a job opportunity posted by someone in their social network. Employee referrals offer speed and quality with hiring skilled candidates – and they’re incredibly cost-effective. Incentives including leaderboards and other automated gamification elements can keep referral programs top-of-mind with employees.
    Highlight key job details
    Remote and hybrid work are here to stay. In the past year, 54% of recruiters have seen candidates turn down an interview or job offer due to a lack of flexibility and remort work options in the workplace.
    Another way to highlight key job details is flagging roles as “urgent” on job titles and descriptions. This helps listings stand out, allowing job seekers to filter for urgent hires. These roles can attract skilled candidates seeking a fast interviewing and onboarding process, quickly filling vacancies for specialized positions.
    As organizations scramble to fill openings in the wake of a recovering job market, competition, especially for roles requiring specialized skills and certifications, can lead to a strenuous recruitment process. Implementing a comprehensive employer brand, utilizing new technologies, and strategies that cater to job seekers’ expectations and needs can help recruiters hire top-of-the-line talent.
    By: M.T. Ray, Customer Success Manager at Jobvite.
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    Top 2022 Recruiting Strategies for Fast, Effective Hiring

    In December 2021, total payroll employment rose by 199,000 nationwide, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.9%. But despite the solid rehiring in the last few months, the labor force participation rate remains short of pre-pandemic levels.
    A low participation rate – coupled with a labor shortage that is giving workers more leverage than they have experienced in years – is continuing to challenge employers in attracting and retaining key talent.
    While positive for workers, the competition for talent is expected to last well in 2022. And though hard to predict what the future will hold in this candidate-driven market, it is clear that hiring will not get easier in the coming year. To overcome this, recruiting teams should turn to various tools including talent acquisition (TA) planning “workbooks,” which are catalogs of tools designed to help recruiters approach strategic recruitment in the new year with a reimagined gameplan.
    Create a high-level strategy
    The first step in improving recruiting strategies this year is creating a strategic and detailed plan to help achieve 2022 hiring goals, including anticipating the number of new hires over the next 12 months. Recruiting teams should work with their executive leadership team to understand what the company’s strategic plans are for the new year, and in turn, what roles they will need to hire.
    This is also a key time to examine if a team should:

    Conduct employee engagement surveys, which can help anticipate satisfaction, engagement, and turnover.
    Study historical trends, as some employee turnover and hiring needs can be cyclical. For example, many employees make the decision to leave their current jobs in January.
    Estimate the impact of the “Great Resignation” on your employee base and anticipate increased employee turnover as well as expectations such as increased wages, better working conditions, remote work options, flexible workplaces (especially for working parents), and improving diversity, equity, & inclusion (DE&I) efforts.
    Similarly, get a firm understanding of DE&I goals for 2022, as well as any plans for attracting, hiring, and retaining talent from all walks of life.
    Consider any internal mobility or promotions anticipated that will lead to the need for new hires. Additionally, determine the anticipated number of new employees needed by role, location, and business unit.

    This strategy should help establish goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. Recruiting teams should set a realistic number of goals that a given team could achieve depending on team size, maturity of the TA function, and the company’s strategic plans. A great way to think about goals is to put the team into the future: “By Dec. 31, 2022, the team will have hired 10,000 new employees, increased the percentage of underrepresented employees by 10%, and reduced time-to-hire by 30%.”
    Build targeted audience plans
    Another strategy recruiters can employ in 2022 is identifying, prioritizing, and nurturing the audiences most important to the organization. Specifically, this includes:

    Key talent audiences: These audiences have the experience and skill set to fill high-volume jobs, geographically targeted jobs, or critical jobs like executive hiring.
    Strategic audiences: These demographic groups that businesses want to attract such as underrepresented candidates, veterans, and military hiring, along with university relations for students, interns, and recent graduates.
    Relationship audiences: These include candidates that the business already has a known relationship with, including employees, alumni, employee referrals, contingent workers, and past applicants, such as high-potential candidates.

    Most companies are already focused on developing great content, whether it be through clear job descriptions, cultural videos, or company blogs as means to attract and engage new job seekers. To ensure this content is seen by the right candidates, recruiters should incorporate targeted audience planning into the research and development steps that come right before the content is built. Before executing any recruitment marketing effort, TA professionals should gather a team made up of a representative from marketing, recruiting, customer success, sales, and employees who match the type of hires the company is looking to attract in order to ensure materials are seen through multiple perspectives within the organization.
    Overall, organizations need to become more adaptable to labor market conditions in the new year. In addition to the above, this can include automating recruiting processes and leveraging innovative technology such as intelligent messaging and chatbots, as well as outsourcing more jobs and making more internal hires.
    These strategies are just the beginning of ways teams can ramp up hiring efforts in 2022. Because of the constant change in the TA landscape over the last year, it can be difficult to know where to begin when preparing for the new year in recruiting. But with the worksheets as a tool, recruiting teams can take stock of current programs and make data-driven decisions to get better results from future processes, ensuring a positive return on their hiring budget for the new year.
    By: Kerry Gilliam, Vice President of Marketing Strategy at Jobvite.
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    New Research Reveals Priorities for Recruiters Amid the “Great Resignation”

    Recruiters are confronting a dramatic shift from one year prior when the world was facing job losses, layoffs, and staffing reductions. Today, the country is seeing a return to early 2020 employment numbers, with the economic recovery allowing many companies to increase staffing levels rapidly.
    According to Jobvite’s 2021 Recruiter Nation Report, 39% of recruiters said their organizations are increasing staffing levels and hiring rapidly – an increase of 13% since 2020. However, priorities and expectations in the workplace have shifted. Companies are experiencing a new kind of worker revolution where candidates and employees feel empowered to choose a job where they feel supported and valued. As workers’ confidence continues its upward trajectory, recruiters face new challenges to win over top talent.
    Companies are Struggling to Find Talent
    While there are millions of jobs available, recruiters are finding it incredibly hard to place job seekers. Jobvite’s new report found that 59% of recruiters say their organizations have experienced increased turnover since the onset of the pandemic. The lack of qualified/skilled candidates is also the number one challenge that recruiters face right now. As a result, organizations are under enormous pressure to rethink hiring processes and adapt to labor market trends.
    What Workers Want
    In the past year, 54% of recruiters have seen candidates turn down an interview or job offer due to a lack of flexibility and remote work options in the workplace.
    2020 showed many companies that employees can be productive while working remotely and do not need to stick to a rigid schedule, which is being brought into the job search. Fifty-seven percent of recruiters believe the lack of flexible or work-from-home policies makes it harder to attract potential candidates. In contrast, 60% believe organizations will lose employees if they do not transition to a hybrid, fully remote, or remote-first culture.
    Workers also want to be part of a welcoming work environment where they feel like they belong, and this year’s report reaffirms that companies must prioritize Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) initiatives to succeed. Nearly half of recruiters say that job seekers are inquiring about D&I initiatives more than they did in the previous year – up 16 percentage points from 2020.
    And while most organizations are putting more emphasis on building a diverse workforce than the previous year, 20% of organizations still have no D&I goals. This could lead to challenges for attracting talent, as 44% of recruiters surveyed said candidates have turned down an interview or job offer due to a lack of diversity.
    How to Adapt
    The best hiring teams have adapted to this new labor market by adopting an agile recruiting strategy. Agility in recruiting allows teams to remain flexible and adjust as the market changes. Seventy-eight percent of recruiters reported that their priorities shifted over the last year – and agility helps teams quickly adjust.
    But agility is not just about being flexible and shifting priorities. It’s about executing a well-rounded recruiting strategy. According to the Recruiter Nation report, here are some ways that organizations are reimagining recruiting processes to hire top talent more effectively:

    40% said recruiting budgets have increased, while an impressive 64% of recruiters reported that they expect budgets to increase over the next 6-12 months.
    35% of recruiters are outsourcing more jobs to freelancers, while 54% of organizations plan to outsource even more jobs moving forward.
    40% are making more internal hires to meet hiring needs better, and nearly half are seeing higher participation in employee referral programs in 2021.
    Previous job experience and cultural fit have diminished in importance, proving that more recruiters are taking chances on different types of candidates to adapt to the labor shortage.
    54% plan to increase their use of texting in recruiting processes in the next year, and half also plan to incorporate more chatbots in the recruiting process.

    Social media and employer branding are more vital in an organization’s recruitment marketing efforts, as TA teams see success in sourcing and engaging candidates on social media. According to the report, today’s recruiters use social sites to post job openings (66%), reach passive talent (47%), build an employer brand (57%), and learn about candidates (30%).
    Finally, companies are paying workers more, with three out of four recruiters reporting an increase in candidates and current employees negotiating higher wages – 20% higher than the previous year.
    In Conclusion
    Companies are competing for top talent – and those that do not adapt to this ever-evolving workforce will continue to have trouble attracting the right candidates. The pressure is on for organizations to respond to these challenges by being agile and strategic while also embracing initiatives that align with candidates’ values and priorities.
    By: Jaylan Fisher, Talent Business Partner at Jobvite.
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    5 Ways Recruitment Leaders Can Transform Their Email Marketing Content

    Every day, four billion email users are tapping into email marketing – a low-cost but highly effective digital comms tool. And for recruiters, it’s not only an easy way to engage with candidates on a one-to-one level, but it can also open up doors to new opportunities.
    However, that doesn’t mean to say that each piece of content landing in a jobhunter’s inbox will be acted upon or even looked at. There must be a compelling reason as to why they should interact with what they’ve received and ultimately place their career search in the hands of specific recruitment professionals.
    What that means today is, it’s no longer best practice to send out hundreds of bland emails to a bunch of prospective candidates – containing an irrelevant message that’s loosely received by all – in the hope that an individual might take up the offer presented to them. It’s about providing comms that are valuable and helpful to ease the strains of a monotonous job search.
    The good news here is, there are a multitude of ways in which email marketing can encourage candidates to engage, and even if they’ve never previously interacted with the recruiter too. Here are five areas recruiters should focus on if they want their next comms campaign to be a raging success…
    1. Always opt for clickable subject lines
    If a job hunter isn’t interested in the first line they see, they’ll be highly unlikely to open and digest the content – regardless of how carefully crafted the content is. After all, 50% of a user’s decision to engage with an email is all to do with the brand itself. The other half? The subject line. So remember:

    Get straight to the point: Examples such as ‘Junior PHP Developer Wanted: Near Newcastle’ or ‘Experienced B2B Copywriter Needed’
    Think about verbs: What should the recipient do? Will it be ‘Read Our Top Tips Guide On Job Interviews’ or ‘Learn How To Create A Cover Letter’
    Don’t forget the proof: In a nutshell, ‘88% Of Candidates Want Hybrid Working’
    Could there also be a question? To provoke debate – examples include, ‘Are You Tired Of The Commute?’ or ‘What Would You Do With A £45k Salary?’
    Then there’s the urgency: ‘Hurry, It’s The Last Day To Apply!’ or ‘Be Quick, Send Your CV Today!’
    And remember to personalize where possible: This is ideal when it comes to adding an ultra-individualized touch. For example, ‘Hi [name], I Was Impressed With Your CV’ or ‘[first name], [company name] Was Mentioned Today…’

    2. Be clear with what the recipient needs to do
    Once someone has engaged with the subject line, what should a recruiter do next? Here’s where the nurture comes in – and it’s easy to do.
    Simply split up valuable email content over a series of email sends to truly keep a candidate interested throughout the journey. Plus, this technique provides recruitment professionals with even more opportunities to say what they want their readers to do without it coming across as aggressive or a ‘hard sell’.
    A 10-word headline and focused call to action work well. Not only is this a succinct way of doing it, but there also won’t be any confusion as to what the end goal is. For example, ‘Book An Appointment’ or ‘Download Our Guide’.
    And never alienate people with jargon-heavy language or tiny text that’s impossible to read on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device. Think about font size, colors, and the overall sentence structure to ensure candidates are provided with ultimate accessibility to all the relevant information.
    3. Ever heard of the ‘Squint Test’?
    If not, do it now. Sit back and squint before reading the email headline, call to action, and viewing the main image.
    Does it still read well and look engaging?
    If elements are spaced out, sized nicely, and are still able to stand out – that’s gold dust! Plus, the recipient is more likely to interact with the comms because they’re not trying to figure out a clunky sentence or being taken aback by a sea of color clashes. Simple and effective is the way forward.
    4. Think about including ‘trampoline’ email content
    Whatever sits below the email headline and call to action is what’s referred to as the ‘trampoline’. Why? Simple – it’s designed to bounce the reader back up to what they should be clicking on if they want to access more detail.
    If recruiters are still unsure as to what this copy might entail, think about including reviews and testimonials to invoke trust and authenticity, or reference related products and articles such as ‘You Might Also Like…’
    5. Personalization, personalization, personalization
    For every piece of content that’s heading into a candidate’s inbox, always hyper-personalize the comms. The easiest and swiftest way to do this is by plugging in an intuitive marketing automation platform that’s built to enable users to send targeted, ultra-individualized emails specifically to segmented groups. And it’s more than a ‘Hi [first name]’ introduction – it’s all about sending the right message to the right person, at the right time.
    These are only some of the ways in which recruiters can drive a greater level of interaction and get to know candidates on a much deeper level. Having a relationship built on trust – and which is beneficial to both parties – can be powerful, and that’s before considering how much it can positively impact a professional’s conversion rate.
    By Adam Oldfield, CEO of marketing automation platform Force24
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    Revisiting ‘Passive’ Candidate Recruitment Strategies

    Earlier this year, it was clear to see how the shift from a client-driven market to a candidate-driven market had impacted the way businesses recruited new talent.
    The so-called ‘Great Resignation’ of 2021 saw a record number of people leaving their jobs and reconsidering their career paths in the wake of COVID-19 — with the number of job vacancies hitting a record high between July and September 2021 due to post-pandemic reopening and Brexit-related labor shortages.
    As a result, successfully targeting and onboarding ‘passive’ candidates — people already in employment who are not actively searching for a new job but may be persuaded to change roles — will continue to play a significant part in recruitment strategies for 2022.
    The benefits of hiring passive candidates
    A recent survey revealed that 69% of workers are ready to move jobs, with 24% planning to do so in the next few months. This reshuffle will impact almost every industry and cost businesses large sums in lost productivity and onboarding processes. For example, if just a sixth of the UK’s 275,000 accountants chose to leave their companies, it would cost firms upwards of a billion pounds in lost productivity alone.
    Passive candidates make up 70% of the global workforce. As a result, having an effective strategy for targeting such candidates is crucial for businesses hoping to fill skills gaps and stand out in the increasingly competitive job market. Being approached directly by employers makes passive candidates feel respected and valued, increasing their enthusiasm for a role. They are also more likely to take their time deciding whether or not to join a new company and are, therefore, more likely to stay — boosting retention and company reputation and making it easier to attract more talent.
    Since they already possess a proven set of skills before starting a new job, passive candidates are typically 17% less likely to require skills development. So, less time and resources are needed to train them, offering a faster return on investment for the employer and an easier transition for the employee. Plus, research has found that passive candidates are 120% more likely to want to make an impact in their new position, bringing with them the contacts and knowledge that will help to upskill existing teams and springboard businesses into the next stage of growth.
    Five top tips for targeting passive candidates
    1. Keep doing your research
    To find out what it would take for a top candidate to leave the comfort of their position to join your company, you will have to take the time to get to know them.
    Taking a personal approach is vital, as the top candidates are likely to have multiple other companies vying for their attention. As such, researching candidates to learn their work history, experience and motivations will be vital in conveying your professionalism, attention to detail, and position in the industry, as well as developing the candidate’s interest in your company.
    2. Revisit previous candidates and contacts
    Have you ever considered that your perfect candidate may be lurking in your existing databases? Somebody who was not quite experienced enough to secure a role in your team a few years ago may now be the perfect fit.
    Plus, they will already be familiar with your company as they were once attracted to a position within your organization, making it even easier to minimize the competition from other interested parties.
    3. Build a referral program
    There is more to a competitive job offer than an attractive salary. Company culture, flexibility, and benefits are other contributing factors, and who better to provide a trustworthy recommendation than an existing employee?
    One survey concluded that 78% of recruiters find their best-quality candidates through referrals. So, leveraging professional networks and incentivizing staff to bring in new talent with a referral program can help to expedite the recruitment process.
    4. Work on your online presence
    As digitization continues to sweep the globe, it is becoming increasingly important to establish a virtual brand — or risk planting doubts in the minds of prospective candidates about the legitimacy of your business.
    Boosting your online presence could involve starting a company blog, upgrading your website, or developing a social media strategy. By sharing industry insights, company news, and promoting relevant events and campaigns online, you can cultivate a following, gain visibility, showcase company culture and, ultimately, attract passive candidates who may not otherwise be exposed to your organization.
    5. Refine hybrid working policies
    In the post-COVID era, it appears that hybrid working is here to stay. In fact, more than half of workers questioned in the EY 2021 Work Reimagined Employee Survey said they would consider leaving their job in favor of one that offers flexible working after the pandemic.
    But it is not enough to make a vague reference to flexibility in a job offer. Now that businesses are no longer in crisis mode, setting expectations for working hours and availability is key to the success of a hybrid working model and significantly increases the probability of high levels of engagement and wellbeing — boosting employee satisfaction and retention as a result.
    By Julie Mott, Managing Director, Howett Thorpe.
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    Why Fintech Firms Struggle to Hire Top Talent

    Fintech is the future of finance. But, with that comes unique challenges when trying to find top talent, especially given how much competition there is in this space.
    Trying to find the right talent is one of the most important tasks for any company, but it is especially difficult given that fintech is a relatively new field. Even though fintech is still in its early stages, it has already redefined every major industry. What challenges is the industry facing?
    Gender diversity remains low
    As a fast-growing, high-growth industry, fintech is expected to transform the global ecosystem, especially the financial sector. The industry currently has a shortage of qualified candidates who possess the right skills and experience to help it continue growing.
    According to statistics from recruitment platform Ward.co, this lack of diversity is even greater among the top teams at fintech firms with major yearly revenue. There are fewer females than males in these companies, which also have fewer female leaders.
    The gender gap is one of the most pressing problems in the financial sector. While many women want to work for fintech companies, far too few are able to get hired.
    Drawing from a diminishing tech talent pool
    Despite this shortcoming, fintech still has made some progress. The industry has managed to draw on resources from other industries like IT and marketing, which are currently facing similar issues.
    One example is how machine learning can play a role in hiring. Fintech firms are currently looking at ways to use this when hiring new employees. This method involves using computer algorithms in order to sift through candidates’ profiles and test their skills, in order to select the most suitable candidates for the job.
    With this technology, it is possible for fintech companies to hire the right people faster than before, particularly the right candidates with the right experience. It is up to them to look for them among the existing pool of candidates available.
    How can fintechs hire top talent?
    Hiring top talent is a challenge that fintech firms must overcome. The industry is still in its early stages, and growth will need to continue as they become more influential in the global financial sector. We’ll discuss three main areas you can optimize in your fintech business to attract the best talent.
    Hiring process
    Fintech companies and employees would benefit from looking for ways to improve their hiring process. This can be done by trying out new technology and drawing from the knowledge of other industries.
    Human resource executives at banks and other financial institutions are grasping for ways to lure their best talent as the sector goes through a high-profile makeover. But as firms race to implement fintech innovations like robo-advisors, blockchain, and machine learning, they may be overlooking important changes in recruiting.
    In the fintech sector as a whole, employers are competing for talent from a growing population of graduates who have been trained in data science and computer programming. It’s a supply-and-demand situation that analysts say has created a “gold rush” for candidates.
    The right kind of training
    The employees who are well trained at your fintech company will do fantastic work, love coming into the office every day, and be the envy of competitors.
    Most people consider training to be something that is done when someone just starts at a new job, and then it ends. However, the truth is that training should be ongoing at your fintech company. The best companies never stop learning and growing, and they bring in new technologies and strategies constantly.
    When you make training a continuous process, not only will your employees come to appreciate it and be more engaged. But it also helps you to stay relevant and up to date with innovation in the world of finance.
    There are many ways that you can use training at your fintech business to attract top talent. Employees want interesting work projects and they also want access to the greatest training resources available in order to do great work for your company. To attract the best candidates, you need to have several training opportunities available for them to participate in. This includes both computer-based training, online training courses, and in-person training programs.
    Competitive salary
    We all know that tech talent is scarce and expensive. More than ever, tech companies are relying on top engineering and tech talent to provide a competitive edge in a crowded market. However, most recruiting professionals agree that offering a competitive salary is a highly effective way of attracting the best and brightest.
    Competitive salaries can be defined in different ways. Factors such as location, experience level, and the employee’s past salary history all affect how competitive your salary offer will be. For some companies, a competitive salary is defined as the highest amount paid by fellow tech companies in a specific area. For other businesses, it can be tied to the median income numbers for a given city or the middle point between the highest and lowest offers from other companies.
    You can attract top tech talent by being transparent with salaries from the start. Many startups make the mistake of keeping salaries confidential which can put workers off from applying for open roles. If you want top talent, you’ll have to pay for it. If you are not able to offer the highest salary in your area, then consider offering benefits that help you remain competitive with similar companies.
    By Carl Poxon of Caspianone Fintech.
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    It’s Time to Ditch Traditional Recruiting and Embrace On-demand Talent

    The record number of vacancies across the country is no secret. The war for talent is creating a difficult hiring environment for organizations across all industries. This has prompted a self-fulfilling prophecy, and in turn a key challenge for all businesses – the power has well and truly been put into the hands of workers (of all kinds).
    The ‘great resignation’ is the result of individuals realizing they can have more control and autonomy over their careers based on their experiences during the pandemic. As a result, most have more demands from prospective employers than ever before.
    Those sourcing workers with digital skills in particular are experiencing some of the starkest shortages. So, if businesses don’t look to overcome them soon and find the talent they need, they’re at significant risk of having to put their digital transformation strategies, which are crucial for their future, on hold.
    Priorities are changing
    A lot of digital transformation has taken place over the past 18 months, but digitizing is an ongoing process with no end game. In fact, most businesses are still playing catch up as they look to overcome the challenges created by the pandemic as many weathered the storm by adopting a reactive business continuity approach to digital development rather than taking a more strategic view on the opportunity. This is in addition to the challenges brought on by Brexit and the subsequent supply chain struggles. However, digital transformation cannot go ahead without the right people driving it.
    This increased demand for a specific set of skilled workers is having a big impact on the way businesses are looking to attract them. Some have turned to increases in salary, for example, but research shows that’s not enough – employees now increasingly value flexibility on par with, if not more than, their salaries, having appreciated the work-life balance afforded to them during national lockdowns.
    With so many businesses hiring from the same pool, organizations might need to think outside the box to get the people they need to drive their futures. After all, this landscape means it is becoming more time-consuming and expensive to recruit in the traditional way.
    Breaking the habits of a lifetime
    Especially when recruiting for digital roles, organizations are usually looking for highly specialized skills, and at short notice. Often these skills are needed for specific and individual projects, which can put HR teams under pressure to fill the gaps quickly. However, the sourcing of permanent, full-time employees typically remains the end goal, for which the traditional recruitment process is too cumbersome, expensive, and limited.
    Instead, when recruiting to make up the personnel shortfall needed to deliver these projects, businesses must embrace more flexible methods beyond the standard recruitment of full-time employees. Away from the world of fixed notice periods and poor scalability, doing so can provide faster access to quality talent that businesses might not have had the pulling power to hire permanently.
    For example, freelancers are playing an increasingly important role in plugging the skills gap faced by businesses. It’s becoming a more attractive career option for many, as individuals realize they can take back control of their own time and prospects. Many furloughed workers who have turned to self-employment simply haven’t gone back. Thankfully, embracing this more flexible talent pool is an important and efficient way of making the recruitment function – and therefore the company’s workflows – more agile.
    Businesses should remember that embracing a more flexible and elastic workforce must be matched by a more flexible way of working. To truly take advantage of the sharing economy for skilled labor, they must have a global mindset, rather than falling into the trap of settling for local candidates, something now possible with most knowledge workers based remotely. After all, the benefits of a flexible and elastic workforce will be largely redundant if the search for said skilled workers is restricted to a comfortable commuting distance.
    It’s time for change
    It’s hard to believe that so many businesses are putting potentially revenue-generating projects on hold because of hiring struggles. The incumbent recruitment strategy feels even more outdated when you consider that many of the skills they need today might be different tomorrow. However, working with skilled freelancers – or building an elastic team– to complement full-time staff, means businesses can use as much or as little resource as they like and scale and recompose depending on demand.
    This doesn’t put recruiters out of a job. Like all industries, it simply demonstrates a need to evolve. As we look to 2022, businesses will need to adopt more flexible approaches to recruitment and talent management. This doesn’t mean simply putting better ‘perks’ in a place like hybrid working – arguably the bare minimum for today’s workforce – but shifting to a new flexible, elastic model that can respond to how the hiring and recruitment landscape is changing.
    By Callum Adamson, Co-Founder & CEO, Distributed.
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    in Talent Acquisition

    Why Successful Recruiting Has Become Harder in the Past Five Years

    The debate on labor market changes and transformation has been ongoing globally for years. Yet, most organizations are still suffering from a lack of good quality candidates in the recruitment pipelines.
    In a recent study of over 200 HR professionals, most organizations are suffering from a lack of good quality candidates, even if 43% of companies are investing more into recruitment than previously. Despite increased resources, 55% of the interviewees said that recruitment has become more difficult in the past five years. Less than 20% of the companies have been able to increase the number of quality candidates.
    The effectiveness and costs of different recruitment channels are not monitored
    Recruiters are largely unaware of which advertising channels work best. This is due to the rapid growth in the importance of marketing in recruitment and the lack of attention paid to measuring the effectiveness of these channels. In general, there is a shift in recruitment advertising from traditional advertising channels to digital channels. Digital recruitment marketing allows the effectiveness of channels to be measured so that decision-making and recruitment development can be based on data with confidence.
    The direct cost of recruitment campaigns in terms of capital invested into visibility and reach varies from less than a hundred euros to over 1,000 euros. The most surprising finding in the study was that a whopping 28% of the respondents didn’t know how much money was spent on their recruitment campaigns.
    Digital tools and channels make it possible for much more detailed data gathering than traditional channels, like newspaper ads. Even so, almost 40% of the organizations couldn’t name their most effective recruitment channels. In the worst-case scenario, this leads to more investments into ineffective channels, making recruitments unnecessarily expensive and heavy for the companies.
    Of those who buy social media publications, 46% report that most of their leads come from social media. Less than one-fifth of those who buy paid job boards said that job boards are the largest source of job seekers. The vast majority of service providers direct candidates from social media ads to their own employer job board, which partly skews the estimate. A third of organizations use direct search services for recruitment.
    The importance of marketing in recruitment is highlighted, but the effectiveness of marketing is not measured. This leads to an increase in costs because it is not known which measures are working. In the worst case, this leads to organizations investing in ineffective measures, resulting in higher costs.
    Challenges vary between industries
    One of the hardest industries for recruitment is the healthcare industry, with a crippling 93% of organizations feeling that recruitment has become more difficult. Another hard-hit industry is IT, with 83% of the organizations finding it hard to recruit suitable candidates.
    Internal vs external recruitment factors
    Based on the responses, the factors influencing recruitments can be divided into two main categories: internal and external factors. The internal factors describe the organization’s own activities, while the external factors are external influences.
    Around 69% of those who experienced a negative development attributed the cause exclusively to external factors. The most common external factors influencing recruitment are industry attractiveness, the influence of Covid-19, and political and economic factors.
    External factors can have both a positive and a negative impact on organizations in the sector at the same time.
    Communicating with candidates
    The survey shows that less than 58% of respondents reported that their organization managed recruitment through a recruitment system.
    Candidate communication plays an important role in the success of recruitment. It is the candidate’s first contact with a new potential employer and has a strong influence on the candidate’s perception of the new employer. The main purpose of candidate communication is to inform the candidate about the recruitment process and to guide the candidate through the different stages of the recruitment process.
    From the candidate’s point of view, the best processes provide candidates with interim information on the progress of the recruitment process and any delays. In addition to this, candidates who are not selected for the post will be informed in person.
    Bottlenecks in the application process hinder hiring top talent
    Employer brand development is often sparked by a lack of quality or quantity of candidates, but the main bottleneck is often in the application process. Application processes have been built over time to attract active job seekers, so that today, when sectors are suffering from labor shortages, it is not possible to attract talent already in employment elsewhere.
    Less than half of organizations have optimized their application process for modern times. Recruitment processes are often designed from an employer’s perspective, which means that the fast pace of modern life and the value of effortlessness are not sufficiently taken into account for candidates.
    Approximately one-third of the interviewees in the study said that they had developed their recruitment processes. However, most of these had developed their process to be organization-driven, meaning that organizations are trusting their brand to be strong enough to get the best candidates into their pipeline instead of smooth application processes and modern recruitment marketing strategies.
    Companies that emphasize the candidate’s experience and develop their company brand to support that are more successful in getting qualified candidates.
    To receive applications, companies should emphasize a smooth application experience, and ensure that it can be done with all mobile devices. The use of mobile devices has exploded as a tool to access various services and applications. Making the experience nice and effortless for the candidate usually demands a complete restructuring of the current process.
    Challenges with applications being made on mobile phones include open text fields and the requirement of attaching a full CV into the application, for example.
    Almost a third of respondents indicated that the application process requires separate registration in order to submit an application. From the candidate’s perspective, separate registration makes the application process more challenging and discourages in particular passive applicants. The requirement to register was particularly prevalent in the public sector.
    To sum up
    Companies that are not ready to radically change their ways of working will face major challenges in their recruitment efforts. Those that have been willing to evolve their practices to respond to market changes have been able to turn the situation around.
    With efficient candidate marketing tactics, following metrics and cost-structures of different channels, and fixing the broken process, many organizations can fix the issues in their recruitment.
    By Henri Nordström – CEO, Jobilla.
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