Until now, when the job market has been described as “saturated,” that meant there were more workers than available jobs. Now, the market is saturated, but it’s employers who are struggling to compete for available workers.
The companies that are able to find the workers they need will be the ones that manage to break through the noise and truly stand out. They accomplish this by understanding what it is that workers want and ensuring that they offer those things. Here are some tips to help your organization accomplish this goal.
Communicate Your Brand’s Social Contributions
Hiring teams aren’t just facing challenges finding workers; they are also contending with shifting values and priorities. People are rethinking what work means to them and what they are looking for from employers.
One trend that has emerged is a widespread desire to do work that adds social value. People want to do work that directly benefits others, or they want to be associated with employers that contribute to their community.
Take this into consideration when you develop your recruitment marketing strategy. Find ways to communicate that your company has a commitment to social responsibility, diversity, and otherwise making a positive contribution to society. This approach could help you to stand out in a positive way to job seekers who value social contributions.
Emphasize Post-COVID Flexibility And Management Styles
COVID led to the creation of work environments that offered employees increasing levels of flexibility and autonomy. Workers were given the option of staying home instead of going into the office.
This freedom gave them more control over how and where they worked. Now that the pandemic has begun to slow down, people aren’t willing to give those things up. Companies that continue to offer flexibility will be better able to attract talented prospects. It’s worth sharing this in your job listings.
Giving workers autonomy and flexibility has also forced companies to rethink how they manage their teams. Knowing that managers who are taskmasters and authoritarians are driving workers away, businesses are focused on developing leaders who manage outcomes and empower their teams.
These are the leaders who have been able to retain workers during the Great Resignation and who will help their companies attract talent in the future.
Promote Your Employer Value Proposition
As much as workers should want to show employers the value that they can bring to the organization, companies should also work to show potential employees what they have to offer. These offerings are detailed and communicated via the employer value proposition (EVP).
The EVP is a statement of the value that your company offers to workers, including direct compensation and benefits. However, your EVP should also include other perks such as professional development opportunities, training, support, and an enjoyable work culture.
If you can clearly communicate your EVP on social media, in job listings, and through your careers page, you will help prospects to better understand why they should consider working for your organization.
Provide a Path for New Employees to Achieve Their Goals
So much of the discussion around what workers want ignores the importance of employee development. Hiring managers should keep in mind that in addition to caring about social responsibility, diversity, and flexibility, workers also care about professional development.
Now is the perfect time for organizations to make smart investments in programs that focus on worker development. Then, use perks such as training programs, tuition reimbursement, management development, and opportunities for advancement to appeal to potential candidates.
Create Employee Ambassadors
In terms of recruiting, your current employees could be the best asset to help you increase your reach. If you aren’t attracting enough applicants with your recruitment marketing efforts, you may see improved results if you create an employee ambassador program.
What is an employee ambassador program? It’s a talent sourcing and recruiting program that is driven by employee testimonials, stories, and social shares.
These initiatives tend to attract job applicants because positive feedback from verified workers tends to be more credible with job seekers than corporate-driven employer marketing efforts.
When employees share their stories and testimonials, you gain access to their personal and professional networks. This access, in turn, can increase the number of new applicants you get for job openings.
Create an Attractive Work Culture
Your company culture will determine how well you are able to attract good employees and how long you can keep them. Unfortunately, many organizations simply don’t understand what culture is or how an attractive work culture is built.
Instead, they tend to focus on a few short-term, cosmetic, non-transformative changes that don’t really address what workers are looking for.
Instead, businesses should be taking a multi-step approach that includes:
- Defining exactly what your company culture is going to be
- Creating a plan to implement that culture
- Maintaining policies and processes that put that culture into action
- Gathering and analyzing data to ensure that the culture you intend to have aligns with employee, candidate, and public perception
- Showcasing your company culture to attract employees
Brands that don’t do these things often have a disparity between the culture they claim to have and the one they actually have. This disparity can lead to frustrated employees and ex-employees and impact your reputation as a prospective employer.
However, if you stay on top of creating and executing an engaging company culture, you should be able to attract employees regardless of the state of the job market.
