Developing Recruitment Strategies for 2022
These past few years have shown us a new side of recruitment. It’s created a need for us to review how we approach what we’re doing and put the intention behind it for 2022 recruitment strategies.
Today we will be answering 4 questions that help get us closer to the solution we are looking for!
Quick Links:
1. What are some current obstacles we’re facing?
2. How do we adjust in a candidate-driven market?
3. What is your competitive edge?
1. What are some current obstacles we are facing?
The most common obstacles we’ve seen over the past year have been safety, stability, childcare, advertising inundation, and a shift to a candidate-driven market.
Safety
Safety has been very top of mind for many candidates for a while now — whether it’s nerves about new variant surges or vaccines. Candidates want to know what you’re doing to keep employees safe. Avoiding this topic can leave them guessing, which could scare away great talent.
In what ways can you make your safety practices clear?
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- Be transparent about what steps you’re taking to maintain a safe workplace.
- Include any vaccine and/or mask requirements in your job ad.
- Tell candidates the practices you’ve adopted to keep employees safe (i.e. sanitization, remote work, mask policies).
Stability
Through multiple shutdowns and re-openings, we’ve talked to many candidates who have been in and out of 2-3 jobs. Many of these job losses were due to factors completely out of their control. Think about how exhausting and disheartening it can be to learn a new role, just to have to go back to the drawing board shortly afterward.
How can you show the stability of your company?
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- If you’ve remained stable, share this to relieve those nerves.
- Incorporate stability into any discussions you have with candidates.
Childcare
For employees who have children, this is a big one for them. There’s been so much uncertainty with if schools will remain in-person or move remotely. With all of these looming childcare questions, many candidates will be looking for a job with flexibility and support.
What can you do as an employer to support your employees with children?
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- Be clear about your offerings (i.e. PTO, remote work options, flexible work schedules)
- Offer a variety of support options such as an EAP or childcare benefits
Advertising
Candidates are inundated with job ads nowadays – texts, emails, signs in store windows, on Facebook. It can be very hard to break through the noise and get your job noticed. Attention spans are limited, so what are you doing to catch someone’s attention?
What are you doing to attract new candidates?
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- Fine-tune what job boards you’re posting jobs on
- Make your message clear and enticing to get people to want to apply
- List your pay and benefits
A Candidate-Driven Market
Candidates have so much more influence in the recruitment process than ever before. Many companies are trying to draw people in with high salaries, signing bonuses, and tons of benefits. It can sometimes feel impossible to compete with all these offerings. You don’t have to compete in every way – just be sure to always be listening and adapting to meet candidates’ needs.
2. How do we adjust in a candidate-driven market?
This shift takes an open mind and a shift in how we’re viewing this new recruiting process. The truth is candidates have plenty of options and are receiving multiple competitive offers…very quickly! Meanwhile, talent is in short supply.
How can we successfully recruit in this environment?
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- Listen to what candidates are looking for and see if your offerings are competitive.
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- Shift to a “what would it take?” mindset. See if it’s possible to offer candidates some of the things they’re looking for.
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- Understand that candidates are interviewing you as a company just as you’re interviewing them. Give them a clear picture of what it’s like to work at your company.
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- Move quickly or else they might be gone. Review resumes within 2 days of being submitted and schedule interviews within 2 days after that.
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- Be open to what a “qualified candidate” really means. Consider candidates who have the core soft skills but may need some training on the technical side.
There’s no exact science to this, but a shift in your mindset will set you up for success for 2022 hiring. Without this, you may be left with a lot of job openings and no applicants.
One important thing to note is that if you’re going to be adjusting your offerings to be more competitive for candidates, be sure to do the same with your current employees. If you don’t, they may become someone else’s new employee.
3. What is your competitive edge?
Research has found there are several must-haves to help employees feel happy at work. Take a look at this list of must-haves, then think about the top 2-3 things you’re able to offer to create a happier workforce and be more competitive:
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- Living Wage: Find a balance between being competitive with your wage offerings and maintaining internal equity. Think about sign-on bonuses or employee referral bonuses as other options for small pay boosts.
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- Total Compensation: Total compensation includes base salary, plus the value of all other benefits you offer. You might pay market wage but offer other valuable benefits. This might make you more competitive than a company without these benefits.
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- Flexible Schedules/Remote Work: A SHRM study found that 55% of employees said that work-life balance and flexibility were important to their job satisfaction. Can you offer a more flexible or remote schedule to allow people a better work-life balance?
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- Culture & Mission: People want to feel like their work is making a meaningful impact and that they fit into the workplace culture. Is working at your company more than bringing in a paycheck? How would you explain your workplace culture to candidates?
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- Advancement & Growth: Candidates are looking for growth in their roles. What development opportunities are you offering to employees? Is there a growth progression for that role?
Finding your competitive edge is all about trade-offs, knowing what your strengths are, then adjusting to what’s most important to candidates.
Again – we can’t stress this enough — when thinking about what to offer to new employees, don’t forget about your current ones.
4. What is your process?
There’s no right or wrong process, but make sure you know the “why” behind everything you do. Make sure every step of the process adds value and is the same for every candidate to make sure it’s equitable.
Think about your recruitment process and evaluate the following:
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What are we requesting?
Each thing you require throughout the process could be a barrier to entry. Be intentional with what you’re asking for. Do candidates have to reproduce their resumes for your application? Do you require a cover letter?
If someone were to submit a resume and answer 2-3 intentionally crafted questions, could you get better information from that?
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How quickly do you contact candidates?
Within 1-3 days should be the goal. If you wait too long, this person may be on their way in the process with another company or have changed their mind. Don’t let this happen!
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How many rounds? How do you conduct them?
The sweet spot for most employers is 1-3 rounds over 1-2 weeks. This keeps candidates actively engaged and shows them you’re serious about filling the role.
This usually looks like 1 round for an initial conversation, 2nd round for technical fit, 3rd round for a preview of the role, team, and higher-level leadership.
Also consider which of these can be conducted over the phone, virtually, or in-person to be flexible, but still on a swift timeline.
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Who is involved?
Who on your team needs to be involved in the hiring process? Sometimes the hiring process gets held up by team members who don’t necessarily need to be involved.
We usually recommend including the hiring manager, a leadership team member, and then a final “shadow” with the rest of the team.
Whatever your answers are to how your process works, make sure every step is intentional and swift!
Closing Thoughts & Recap
We know that was a lot, so let’s do a quick recap:
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- Address the current hiring obstacles we’re facing
- Put yourself in the shoes of the candidate
- Think “what would it take?” and “how can we be competitive?”
- Review your process
- Make needed adjustments to offerings for new AND current employees
New challenges will always present themselves, but with this framework, you should be well on your way to attacking any 2022 hiring challenges head-on.
The good news is that our team over at True Calling Recruitment does this every single day — helping to build these processes and find your competitive edge to attract more candidates. Reach out and we’d love to find out how we can best support you!