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    Haunted by Ghost Jobs? 5 Tips for Job Seekers

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    As the saying goes, everything old is new again, and “ghost jobs” are no exception. Over the past decade, we’ve seen the job market favor both employers and job seekers at different times. Since then, the pendulum has continued to swing in both directions as candidates ghost employers while employers post imaginary jobs that mislead candidates.
    There are a number of reasons why employers may choose to go this route. Among the most common are to build a pipeline of candidates to backfill future vacancies, to give the impression of company growth and stability, or to appease overworked employees. Still others may simply choose to post non-existent jobs rather than seeing pre-paid job postings go unused, or find that removing postings for jobs that were filled to be too time consuming.
    Unfortunately, the challenges employers face and their choices for dealing with them can negatively affect job seekers, particularly those who have applied for numerous jobs without receiving a single response. So what can candidates do to help recognize and avoid ghost jobs, while making the best possible impression on employers who may be hiring in the future? Here are a few suggestions.
    Filter by Date
    Though it’s impossible to distinguish real job opportunities from fake ones with 100% certainty, the longer a job has been posted, the more likely it’s not legitimate. If a job has been posted for several months, it’s a good indication that filling the role is not a priority, or the employer simply neglected to remove the post after hiring. Whenever possible, candidates should filter job search results by date and prioritize the most recent listings. This won’t eliminate all ghost jobs, but job searching is often a numbers game, and targeting the newest opportunities first can increase candidates’ odds of receiving a response.
    View Company’s Career Page and Social Media Profiles
    While employers may have an incentive to post ghost jobs, they likely won’t actively promote and recruit for them. Not only would this be a waste of their time, but it could severely damage their employer brand when disgruntled applicants leave negative comments and reviews regarding their (lack of a) hiring process. Job seekers should visit a company’s career page and social media pages in order to determine which roles they are promoting regularly and most anxious to fill.
    Contact Hiring Managers or Recruiters
    When visiting a company’s career page and social media pages, candidates should note whether a hiring manager’s or recruiter’s name and contact info are attached to job postings. If not, they may run a search on LinkedIn to find an employee who works in recruiting or their field of expertise. Candidates can then email these employees or connect with them on LinkedIn and inquire about open positions. Even if the employee is not a recruiter or hiring manager, they may still be willing to help a determined job seeker, particularly if their company has a referral program.
    Tap Your Network
    Networking is not something that can be done last minute when there’s an urgent need. It should be part of both employees’ and job seekers’ regular routines in order to build a trusted source of experts and allies. If candidates apply for a job they feel is a good fit but the employer remains unresponsive, a quick search of their network will reveal if they are connected to any of the company’s current or past employees. If not, posting an inquiry can generate leads that connections may provide. Of course, there’s no guarantee this will yield results. But considering that 30-50% of new hires come from referrals, it’s worth maximizing all resources.
    Demonstrate Your Expertise
    Regardless of how tenacious job seekers are in sourcing leads, applying for roles and contacting employers, none of this matters if they don’t have the skills and experience employers are looking for. Those qualifications should be evident during their job search. Candidates should ensure their LinkedIn profile is updated with work history, certifications, projects, publications and media samples. In addition, they should join groups and share news, blogs and articles with their network that are relevant to their industry or target role. When deciding which candidates to interview out of dozens or hundreds with similar qualifications, employers will likely pursue those whose expertise is evident and who share it on a regular basis.
    As we’ve seen over the past decade, ghost jobs aren’t going away any time soon. In fact, according to Forexlive, a recent surge in imaginary job postings may have contributed to the Federal Reserve’s overconfidence in the strength of the U.S. economy. Though many employers will continue to hedge their bets in an uncertain economy by posting jobs they’re not ready to fill, candidates who know what to look for and take a proactive approach to networking and self-promotion can avoid ghost jobs while increasing their chances of landing one of the real ones.
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      Less Competition, More Talent: Here’s How to Recruit in an Economic Downturn

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      What You’ll Learn

      How a ‘down’ economy affects hiring strategiesWhat companies should avoid doing in rough economies (it’s probably not what you think)Advantages of recruiting in an economic downturn12 best practices to help gain a competitive advantage when the economy slows

      About this eBook

      If you’re in the hiring space, you’re probably no stranger to this shifting landscape of talent acquisition. Now, we’re facing the newest challenge in the labor market: rising inflation, fears of recession, and labor shortages. But no matter the economic climate, it’s your job to find and retain top tech talent. Discover how can you adapt your hiring strategy to successfully recruit, keep pipelines warm (and strengthen your own career) during an economic downturn. More

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      How to Onboard Remote Employees Really Well: Free Checklist Template

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      What You’ll Learn

      Things you should do before a new employee’s first day (beyond shipping equipment)Ways to create alignment across time zones from the top downWhich tool we discourage for remote employees, as it damages your employer brand

      About this eBook

      To stay competitive for top candidates and to advance DEI goals, tech companies continue to embrace remote working environments. Hired survey data indicated nearly 90% of candidates wanted a remote-first or fully remote job. However, as companies evaluate the employee experience, it presents a suite of new challenges. Onboarding is chief among them.  More

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      What Happens When TA & Hiring Managers Unite? Best Practices from Walmart, One Medical & More

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      Strategies for SMB, MM & Enterprise

      Key Takeaways

      Traditional hiring practices of SMBs, MM, and Enterprise level employersHired’s recommendations for each business sizeSpecific examples of tactics and strategies from talent leaders

      About the eBook:

      A common thread we’ve seen with some of our top employers on Hired is engagement with candidates from both TA and hiring management teams. In this piece, we’ll show how some companies are achieving new heights by inviting both groups to collaborate on the platform and in the process.

      In this robust ebook, we’ll also take a detailed look at how enterprise, mid-market, and SMB employers approach hiring talent, share our best practices for each, and how companies such as Walmart Global Tech, Smartsheet, One Medical, Tanium, NBCUniversal, Gem, Mercari, and more increased acceptance rates and sped up time to hire. In some cases, 11 days faster than the benchmark! More

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      How to Support Internal Candidates When They Don’t Get the Job

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      Internal Mobility and Professional Growth are Key Retention Tools

      Good companies strive to support internal candidates and employee growth. But when push comes to shove, many organizations fall short in seeing this mission through. 

      In a recent Deloitte survey, almost 60% of employees polled said it’s easier to find a new role at another company than it is to change roles at their current employer. 

      According to Randstad’s 2021 career mobility report, “Employees aren’t optimistic about getting promoted within their company, with 43.2% saying they don’t have enough opportunities for internal mobility.” 

      Even when there are opportunities for internal mobility, talent teams still face inevitable challenges. A few of the hardest questions for HR leaders to grapple with are: 

      How should we respond when internal candidates are turned down for another role within our organization? Is there any chance of retaining them after that—and if so, what does that process look like?What’s the experience like for employees? Do they feel they’ve broadcast their desire to leave their current role? 

      To answer these questions, Hired’s Rob Stevenson sat down with Comcast’s Director of Talent Acquisition, Keith Friant, on the Talk Talent to Me podcast. Read on to learn the top insights from their conversation. Finally, we’ll explore an innovative approach to retention and internal mobility that went viral on LinkedIn.

      How Comcast Supports Engagement in Internal Candidates

      Expert: Comcast Director of Talent Acquisition, Keith Friant

      Focus on providing clear feedback

      A cookie-cutter rejection email is the last thing internal candidates want to see after applying for an open role. 

      Rather, they want clear and actionable feedback that sets them on a path of continuous improvement.

      “What’s the next step in your process, outside of candidates just getting a standard disposition email?” asked Friant. “It can really feel a little deflating if that’s the only type of communication they’re getting after investing time into the interview process.” 

      That’s why Comcast prioritizes providing internal candidates with personalized feedback when they aren’t chosen for a job. 

      “Feedback is really valuable,” said Friant. “That population is looking to grow and move into something different. We all clearly want to care for them, which is why it’s so important that they get timely and meaningful feedback.”

      Offer learning and development opportunities

      As a next step, Friant suggests asking questions like:

      What were the candidate’s skill gaps?How can we help them grow in these key areas? Can we put them on any stretch assignments?

      Stretch assignments have been especially instrumental to driving employee growth and engagement at Comcast. 

      “We’ve adopted this gig concept where employees participate in short-term or longer-term projects when another team needs help, someone is going out on paternity leave, or anything along those lines,” explained Friant. 

      Actions like this go a long way in making employees feel seen and supported. By offering learning and development opportunities, companies can encourage ongoing employee growth—and keep engagement high even after someone isn’t selected for the job they wanted. 

      Related: Survey data from the 2022 State of Software Engineers report revealed the number one reason software developers enter the field is for the opportunity to continuously learn and tackle new challenges. More than half said it’s important to them that their employer provide professional development opportunities. 

      In the 2021 State of Tech Salaries, tech talent listed benefits such as tuition reimbursement in their top 10 of compelling company benefits. Younger, more junior employees ranked this higher than senior talent. 

      Manage employee expectations

      Picture this: your company posts an open marketing manager role. Someone on the sales team sees the job post and submits an application, excited by the prospect of pursuing horizontal growth within your organization. 

      However, the job post disappears only days later—and the role goes to a marketing associate who had already been on a promotion track. The interested internal candidate never even got a chance to interview for the role, and got their hopes up for nothing.

      Disappointing, right?

      To avoid scenarios like this, Comcast takes a careful approach to sharing job posts. “We really only try to post jobs that are viable and open,” said Friant. 

      “If someone left the team and we know we just want to inline promote another team member into that role, we can do that without having to post the job and put everyone else through a process that wastes a lot of people’s time and energy.” 

      Listen to the full episode

      Why Transparency is Important to Support Internal Candidates

      Does your process call for roles to be posted internally or externally for a certain period of time? If a manager intends to hire or promote a specific candidate, is the rule still applied? 

      If candidates see a non-viable role, or worse, go through the interview process for the sake of checkboxes, it often leads to distrust in the organization. This ultimately damages the employer brand. 

      What If We Did Something Completely Off the Wall?

      It’s often jarring to lose employees with only the standard two weeks notice. It can take weeks or months to fill the role and onboard new hires. According to SHRM, the cost of a vacancy is reportedly three to four times the position’s salary.

      In the spring of 2022, a member of the recruiting team at Zapier had an epiphany after losing several teammates. Her LinkedIn post about it drew more than 16K reactions. 

      Bonnie Dilber asked the question, what if “we normalized letting our managers know we wanted to explore new roles? What if managers helped team members with resumes and interview prep, beside them, helping land the next role? It’s a win-win,” Dilber wrote. “The employee has a better experience, is more set up for success, and the manager and company have a better opportunity to prepare for departures.”

      Dilber originally posed her question internally in a Slack group. Then a few weeks later, she commented in a public forum that she wanted the recruiting team to provide this support for anyone needing it for internal or external opportunities. 

      What Happened Next to Support Internal Candidates

      A few people stepped forward. 

      Employee A was considering leaving, but the recruiting team identified roles opening in a few months that would be perfect. Instead of working on a resume for an external search, Employee A and the recruiting team collaborated on colleagues to speak to and experiences to gain to be competitive for the role when it opened. 

      Dissatisfied, Employee B worked with the recruiting team to identify why and map out a strategy to resolve their issues. Employee B is now on a path to greater contentment with their current role.

      Employee C worked with the team to upgrade their resume with clear metrics displaying their impact. “I don’t know if or when they’ll start looking,” said Dilber. “But I’m glad they felt supported even though it might take them away in the future.”

      Dilber goes on to extol the virtues of retention and professional growth. “Recruiting teams shouldn’t be used solely to fill roles. We can and should be true partners in retaining and growing our talent.” 

      After formally launching the program, Dilber admits, this may mean they help people plan an exit strategy but is okay with that.

      “I think it:

      makes our recruiting team better partners to the departments we support. will help us to retain our people in the long-run. opens the door to more honest conversations across teams to plan for attrition and support our people to go farther faster. makes Zapier a better place to work.” 

      Historically, dissatisfied employees lived a “double life,” working on resumes at night, checking personal emails or LinkedIn messages on the sly. What would it mean to retention efforts to have the psychologically safe environment to explore new roles – internally or externally? 

      Internal Mobility is a Smart Retention Tool

      More companies are exploring Web 3.0 initiatives but finding there are few engineers with specific Web 3.0 experience. Hired CTO Dave Walters offers this advice for companies planning these or any emerging technology projects: 

      “Rather than exclusively looking for candidates with Web 3.0 experience [for example], why not support internal candidates and potential new hires with the requisite foundational skills to make the transition.” 

      “Invest in a strong training and mentorship program. Find engineers with transferable skills such as security principles, peer-to-peer networks/distributed systems, and understanding of smart contracts. Source engineers with these Web 3.0 relevant skills for a significant competitive advantage.”

      Upskilling and new projects are great ways to retain talent, support internal candidates, inspire loyalty, and provide professional growth. 

      Related: Help current employees upskill with Hired partners like General Assembly, Educative, Blockchain Training Alliance, 2U, Sales Impact Academy, and more.

      What Would Greater Transparency Mean for Your Employer Brand?

      In Hired’s 2021 List of Top Employers Winning Tech Talent, takeaways included ‘strengthening the post-employee experience.’

      In summary, when an employee is ready to leave, or recently departed, don’t write them off. Invest in your employer brand and:

      Coach managers and teams to support them and respond positively. You helped them grow and they’re graduating to something new. They may even be taking a position of influence to use your product or service. Build and engage an active employee alumni network.Turn former employees into brand ambassadors by celebrating their wins and supporting them. They’ll tell others about their amazing experiences, share your open positions, and recommend your company as a great place to work. 

      Want More Talent Insights to Support Internal Candidates and other Topics?

      Tune into Hired’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me, to learn about the strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry—straight from top experts themselves.

      Need Help with Employer Branding? 

      We cover several examples of how to do this in recent eBooks for enterprise-level businesses and for SMBs and Mid-market companies. 

      One way is to host an event, virtual or in-person. Hired helps companies with a variety of events designed to help recruit talent with specific skills, like coding challenges. 

      Panel or “fireside chat” type events showcase members of your team discussing a certain industry topic or simply what it’s like to work for your company. These foster general brand awareness, of course, as well as boost recruitment marketing efforts.  More

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      How to Build and Scale a SaaS Sales Team

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      It’s easy for founders to be salespeople. They’re often the face of the brand and the person most excited about the product or service. They often allude to this by referring to themselves as “Chief Evangelist” or “Head Cheerleader.” But, founders simply can’t do everything and build the business. So, there comes a time when […] More

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      How Can Job Seekers Make Themselves More Attractive to Recruiters?

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      Just as the labor market changes quickly and unexpectedly, so too does the recruiting industry. As the workforce rebounds from COVID-19 and unemployment rates continue to drop, job seekers have more options from which to choose, making hiring increasingly difficult for employers, and sourcing top talent more challenging for recruiters.
      Though job seekers may have more options than in the past two years, this doesn’t mean they will all be viable. The Great Resignation has made qualified candidates a rare commodity, making it even more important for both active and passive job seekers to showcase themselves in ways that make them attractive to recruiters when their skills are a match for open positions. Let’s look at some areas job seekers should focus on in order to ensure they appear on recruiters’ radars.
      Prioritize Personal Brand
      A strong personal brand is always an asset to a job search, and for some jobs, it’s essential. Recruiters want to see that candidates maintain a professional online persona. While most job seekers know to optimize their LinkedIn page for their search, if their other social media pages are filled with self-indulgent photos or negative or offensive content, this could be a red flag for recruiters who may be hesitant to submit such candidates to their clients. Similarly, it could be a turn-off to employers who may feel such online behavior shows immaturity or irresponsibility and doesn’t match their values. Despite the common belief that everyone should be free to express themselves, particularly on non-business-related sites like Facebook and Instagram, job seekers should take extra care to send a message of professionalism across all social media platforms.
      Focus Efforts
      It’s not uncommon for recruiters to receive dozens, if not hundreds, of applications for each of their open positions. Job seekers should be sure to only target those positions for which they’re qualified, and not inundate recruiters or employers with resumes for any and all positions to try to gain their attention. This approach may attract the wrong kind of attention, causing the candidate’s name to be remembered for always being unqualified. Instead, job seekers should focus on positions that relate to their skills and experience, and customize their resume for each position they apply to by including relevant keywords from the job description and supporting numbers and accomplishments. Also, candidates who don’t hear back from recruiters after applying should limit their follow-up to one time to avoid coming across as too persistent or aggressive.
      Demonstrate Knowledge
      Job seekers who use their spare time to share news, information, and knowledge with their networks will automatically have an edge over their competition. As recruiters scour the internet and resume databases for top talent, the more choices there are, the more they look for something in candidates’ profiles that makes them stand out. Those who write blogs, share articles, are active in LinkedIn groups, or network and interact with others in the industry make a far better impression than those who only appear interested in having fun online. While not all online activity has to be work-related, job seekers should try to maintain a healthy balance in order to send the right message to recruiters and potential employers.
      Stay Up to Date
      Few things are as frustrating to a recruiter as an interested candidate who has neglected to update his or her contact info. Depending upon whether there are ample qualified candidates to choose from, recruiters will either take time out of their busy schedule to source the candidate’s contact info online or just move on to the next qualified individual. Passive candidates with rare and in-demand skill sets may be indifferent to losing out on an opportunity or creating extra work for recruiters. But for job seekers with a greater sense of urgency, should ensure their contact info is updated and they are easily reachable and quick to respond.
      Continue Learning
      One sure way job seekers can endear themselves to recruiters and prospective employers is through a record of continuous learning. In addition to hiring for education, skills, and experience, most employers also want to hire candidates who are always looking to acquire knowledge. This may be more difficult for those currently employed in a demanding field. However, for job seekers needing to break up the monotony of a full-time search, taking a class or working toward a certification could give them an edge when competing with a number of other qualified candidates.
      Volunteer
      Regardless of industry, every recruiter and employer looks favorably upon volunteerism. During the hiring process, recruiters often take note of what candidates do in their spare time in order to determine how they may fit with a company’s culture. Those who donate their time to charitable causes while listing their volunteer activities on their resume or sharing them on social media show recruiters that they share values with employers committed to community involvement and that they’re interested in helping others and working for something greater than just a paycheck.
      The recruiting industry is constantly evolving. As decreasing unemployment rates have made sourcing top talent more difficult, applicant tracking systems, big data, and artificial intelligence have attempted to streamline talent identification, while also causing recruiters’ roles to change in the hiring process. In response, job seekers must ensure they remain adaptable as well. Though knowledge and experience will always be in demand, candidates must focus on those skills and attributes that will make them stand out among others with similar backgrounds, and how to showcase these to recruiters. Regardless of changes to the job market or recruiting technology, job seekers who do this will have the greatest success transitioning into the workforce.
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