The Great Resignation is here, but is it a negative thing for every company? This phenomenon has indeed created a job market that favors candidates quite heavily. Your company may even be experiencing an unprecedented number of open positions.
At the same time, the Great Resignation has brought with it some great opportunities. There are an unprecedented number of very talented candidates looking for employers who will appreciate what they bring to the table. This is your opportunity to build teams that can position your business for growth.
Skip the Rhetoric and Learn What Candidates Want
There’s no shortage of speculation on social media and the news about the driving force behind the Great Resignation. Maybe you are already struggling with staffing shortages and frustrated with the current situation. You may be tempted to buy into the rhetoric that claims that people simply don’t want to work or have unreasonable demands.
But the truth is that the past two years have created a shift in priorities for many people. Others have found that staying with their current employer is simply untenable. Whether due to childcare costs or unwillingness to risk exposure to COVID-19, for many, the Great Resignation is simply no longer being able to afford the cost of going to work.
So what do workers really want?
- Flexible scheduling, including remote work
- Competent management
- Meaningful diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Professional development opportunities
- Company values that align with their own
- Competitive salary and benefits
- Genuine social responsibility
- Reasonable policies
- Favorable work environments
Do you offer these things? Before you answer, remember that there is often a disconnect between what the C-suite perceives and what workers perceive. Collect some feedback from your employees. The information you get could be enlightening.
Treat Recruiting Like Marketing and Hiring Like Sales
On the consumer side of things, the marketing department works to raise awareness of your company, build up its reputation in the eyes of your target audience, and increase interest in the products you sell. To do this, they create marketing content, leverage the power of social media, and use a range of helpful marketing tools.
Your recruiting team should be doing many of the same things. They can use social media, shareable content, and recruitment marketing tools to reach out to potential employees and generate interest. Do you offer what job prospects are looking for? Use marketing to let them know.
Similarly, salespeople engage with interested customers on a one-on-one basis. They provided personalized, engaging experiences to convert leads into sales. To convert candidates into hires, you need to do the same with your hiring processes.
You can do this by committing to consistent communication with interested talent, simplifying the application process, and otherwise creating a better candidate experience.
Work on Your Reputation
Most job seekers state that they research a company online to learn about its reputation. If they don’t like what they find or can’t find the answers they want, they may not pursue that opportunity.
Candidates care about good work environments, employee treatment, diversity, company values, and hiring processes. It isn’t enough to offer these things. You have to communicate that information so that potential hires can find it. You can do this by encouraging your team members to share reviews and testimonials on social media.
Take a closer look at your career page as well. Don’t just use it as a place for job listings. This is an outlet that you have full control of. Take advantage of that, and turn it into a platform you can use to share information about company culture and broadcast other positive information about your organization.
Speed Up the Candidate Experience
Competition has always been intense in the job market. The difference is that there has been a shift. Where job seekers were once competing for limited job openings, organizations now must compete to hire the best talent.
If you drag out the recruiting and hiring process or take too long to make a decision, another company will make a move. A frustrated candidate who waits too long may simply move on to an organization that is more responsive.
Communicate clearly and in a timely manner. Use technology to speed things along. Let candidates schedule interviews. If you must use pre-employment assessments, offer them online. Share useful content that answers prospects’ most frequently asked questions. Finally, don’t hesitate to put an attractive offer on the table.
Build a Better Compensation Package and Talk About It
No company would ever dismiss a customer for asking how much a product costs. They would never obscure that information or insist that customers shouldn’t care about prices. If a business discouraged potential customers from comparing their prices with other companies, most people would assume they had something to hide.
Yet companies regularly engage in tactics like this when it comes to salary and compensation. Candidates are told not to bring up compensation until the hiring manager talks about it first. If they do mention it, they are often told they should care more about “opportunity” than whether the job pays them enough to survive.
One of the most compelling effects of this candidate-driven market is that these norms are being rejected. Today, job candidates want absolute transparency about compensation. They expect this information to be on the table very early in the process and will seek information about salary and benefits while researching your company.
If you are hesitant to discuss compensation, it may be time to take a closer look at what you are offering prospective hires. If your salary and benefits are fair and competitive, this should be a selling point, not something you obscure.
